Meche Highlights

Woman who is unhappy with her hair
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Q: I am a natural brunette and decided to go blonde. I went to a hair salon and got a full head of meche highlights. About four weeks later I got the same thing done again. I then went to another salon a month later and she put a blonde tint on my roots which looked ginger.
 
I am very unhappy with it, so I used treatments for four weeks to condition my hair and then went back to get highlights done. But because of breakage to my hair the stylist said that it would be too risky to do anything more. Now I'm left with slightly ginger hair and dark roots. What can I do next? Can I ever go blonder or even back to my natural color? All help and advice will be greatly appreciated!
 
A: Well, your stylist's concern is valid. From what you've described, you've put your hair through a considerable amount of color processing (going from dark color to lighter colors is always a stressful process on the hair) in a relatively short period of time.
 
Most salons only book color services and retouch services 6 to 8 weeks apart, and in those cases it is mostly only to apply color to the areas of the hair that are newly grown and have no artificial color.
 
I can't really make a judgement on the condition of your hair, since I cannot physically examine it and make that determination. However, I can offer you this advice. Talk to your stylist about your hair and how to best restore the health and vitality to it. You will also want to explain that you are not happy with the color as it stands now, and that you would like to possibly return to a near shade to your natural color.
 
Using a deposit-only color formula, your stylist should be able to bring your hair back to a uniform color (your natural color) and you can then deal with the condition of the badly stressed hair while the damaged ends grow out.
 
The deposit-only color is the least stressful of the color processes, and can often help to leave stressed hair looking better if not actually in better condition. If the stylist is still opposed to using any permanent hair color, ask about semi-permanent and temporary colors that you can try to help you work past the awkward stages.
 
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See also:
 
Hair coloring
 
Chemical processes and hair breakage
 
How to care for chemically treated hair
 
How do you get your hair's elasticity back?