I haven’t visited a hairdresser since I last made steps to go blonde from very dark brown back in March 2012.. madness! I had a hairdressing a contact, friend of a friend type who used to come over and do my highlights for me for a while but it was the same every time and there was no consultation involved, I’m fairly certain she used on level of bleach for everyone so I haven’t had a proper colour in a long time. After my recent dalliance with crazy colour and my many attempts to fix it I got to a dark blonde stage I could live with but the ends were still drastically different and tinged with blue *sigh*
I decided to seek profession help and visited my local SAKS Salon in Doncaster. I’ve never been there before but it’s so lovely, having been to a lot of salons over the years it’s definitely one of the nicest and the staff are really friendly too. It wasn’t as expensive as I’d initially expected either, especially as I was booked in with a senior colourist. She took a look at my hair and decided on sporadic highlights (chunkier around my face on my instruction) and an all over warmer colour to (hopefully) even everything out. I wasn’t convinced but decided I was in capable hands. I waiting for my colour to process, very much enjoyed the vibrating chairs at the sink while I got a head massage from the girl removing my foils and then was the moment of truth. When it came to drying I was nervous.. there were some very golden tones and despite the toner I was told I’d been treated to I thought I was going to hate it.. much warmer than I was used to. Once it was totally dry however I’m happy to say I loved it, she did a brilliant job and I will definitely go back. The colour needs osme time to settle, highlights usually look a little piecey at first but that doesn’t really bother me because the overall colour is great, I wanted to be a little blonder but she chose colours that would be more flattering, I think I will go back for more highlights in a month or two and I’m hoping she will be able to give me a better blonde for my skin tone since I’ve historically had ‘blonde as you can get me’ highlights or dyed my hair myself – and lets face it I have NO idea what I’m doing.
The only thing I wanted that she didn’t really seem to grasp was roots. I was hoping that going to a ‘swankier’ salon she would be a little more open to newer techniques/trends but out came the foils and standard highlights and that’s just not quite what I wanted. I’m more than happy with the lengths but I don’t like visible highlights in my roots and I’m hoping that’s something I can discuss with her next time, I have a feeling I will have to travel further south to get anything close to ‘balayage’ – it’s grim up North 😉
Do you have a go to hairdresser? I never have but really want to try and develop a relationship with someone who will hopefully understand what I want from my hair.. 2014, the year of no more DIY? …mmm we’ll see. The stylist I had was Becky and you can find more info about the salon here. I wasn’t paid to review Saks Doncaster or compensated in any way but there aren’t all that many blog reviews of northern hairdressers and since I would recommend this one I thought it was worth plugging them!
Until the next hairy adventure
Miss BB
Haha I’m from Liverpool and we have balayage here. And Trevor sorbie in Manchester offer balayage too xx
I too have found it near on impossible to find a hair stylist open to new ideas and one who actually listens to what you want but gives an honest opinion too, so much so that I didn’t get a hair cut for around 5 years!!! However, I came upon the fabulous Conrad Blandford who is nothing short of marvelous. On the pricier side of things for sure but well worth it, I cant rate him and his salon enough. He’s based in Sheffield on Ecclesall Road, well worth a look if you’re interested in someone relatively local to you.
I always go to a hairdresser! Defo not as adventerous as you are! If you dont want the obvious highlights in the root you should as for a toner next time. I get a full head of highlights then a toner in the roots to make it look that bit more natural 🙂 dont know if it would work as your base colour is still quite dark but migbt be something to suggest 🙂
I really hate going to the hairdressers, I have a really dry scalp and I worry about it reacting badly. Also, it costs a small fortune and never seems to end up how I want it. I’ve been DIY-ing it with a pair of hairdressers scissors from boots and watching some Youtube vids. lol. Fortunately, it’s quite long so I can get away with it being a bit “wonky”. I too would love a stylist that gets what I want though as I have no clue what I’m doing either.
I think it looks great! Ive been around that block and back again several times too – I almost never go see a hairdresser, started highlighting it myself which was ok but then I full-on bleached it (looks like we have the same dirty blonde natural hue) and now I’m back to a natural dirty blonde color that I get soft highlights in twice a year at a salon. ARRGHH haha!
I don’t know if you know but if you still feel the tone is a little too warm some day you can buy a blue shampoo and use it once in a while, it neutralizes brassy tones.
Thanks for sharing your hair-history! made me smile!
xoxo anne
http://powderandpuff.wordpress.com
Looks good, I wish I was more adventurous with my hair but I think I may have to be now to save money as I can’t really afford the hairdressers at the min!
http://thebravestindividual.blogspot.co.uk/
I love your new look, definitely flattering. Just recently I found a hairdresser who totally understood what I wanted to do with hair, priceless, will be sticking to her forever;)
I’ve had the same hairdresser for around 18 years and have a fantastic relationship with her. She knows what suits my face, and knows what trends are in when I’m unsure what I want. I also 100% trust her opinion if I have absolutely no idea and go for an extreme change!
And if I don’t like what shes doing, or want something a certain way, all I have to do is ask, I don’t think I’d feel as comfortable if I had different hairdressers each time I went…..
p.s: I love your blog and youtube channel! Your entertaining and engaging to watch, keep up the good work!
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thank you! I definitely want to try and stick to one hairdressers.. I’ll try it for the year and hopefully manage to leave it alone.. no DIY for a while lol
I wish I could do all this to my hair and it still be sleek and shiny but it seems that I straighten my hair once and it goes dead, dry and frizzy! 🙁
LydiaGraceXO – UK Beauty Blog
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I am lucky, my hair seems pretty resilient to the crap I put it through