Restoring colour to your hair

Hair: Royston Blythe Artistic Team
Photography: David Goldman

Dear Hair Doctor,

After many years of having fine, woven blonde highlights in my hair, I have had an absolute hair disaster!

I live overseas so therefore my hair has always been lightened naturally by the sun. My regular hairdresser was on maternity leave and not available but I was assured that instructions for my hair had been left with her colleague. This turned out to be the problem as after putting my normal coloured highlights in, she then pinned up the foils and this resulted in my hair no longer being highlighted but a very awful shade of bleached blonde! After attempting to re-highlight, without success, I left the salon very upset and paying for this service. A friend recommended another salon but I am gradually losing hope.

Since then I have had other colours put in my hair but I am still not getting a natural look of sunkissed hair that I always had. I now seem to have two shades of colour in my hair and a root line!

Can you please recommend a top hair salon that I could visit in the North East of England and can this be repaired as this is now the third colour attempt?

Many thanks,

Anon, UK 

Hi there,

It is definitely possible for the colour you want to be achieved, but it will require a bit of time spent having a thorough consultation with a hairdresser and possibly two to three visits to the salon. It can be tricky to achieve a person's natural hair colour as salon colours may not appear exactly the same, but it is certainly possible to mimic the result with a little patience.

Michelle Lawley, Royston Blythe 

Hi,

Yes I think it can be rectified. Go to a reputable salon and ask for a colour consultation. Do this a few times at different salons, then follow your instinct on who gave you the best advice. By the sounds of it you need lowlights to go back to a more natural look, as you seem to be too blonde. It is a very difficult case to answer without seeing the hair.

Anne Veck, Anne Veck Salons

Hi,

To find a reputable salon that's been recommended by the Good Salon Guide, you can use our powerful search engine where you're able to insert keywords to find the exact type of salon you're looking for and in the location you desire. 

Click here to read more about it and give it a go by typing the relevant criteria in the boxes located at the top-right of the page.

Andrea Selwood, Good Salon Guide

Hiya,

Sorry to hear about your colour disaster! It sounds to me as if your carefully woven highlights have been turned into a full head of blonde colour! Unfortunately this does take some colour expertise in fixing and so I suggest that you go back to your competent colourist or search for an experienced colour specialist.

Once the hair has been lightened there is very little in terms of fixing it to get that natural-looking colour back , other than lowlighting finely woven pieces throughout your head to give it a more broken up, natural feel. This will fade so you have to be prepared with the upkeep and the regime of building the colour up. It will take a little patience and although it is not your fault, this is the only way in returning your hair back into a colour you will enjoy once again.

John Clark, Brooks+Brooks