An all over colour has bled across my highlights!

Hi,

I had professional highlights done four weeks ago to obtain a lighter caramel effect and to disguise a heavy greying hairline, and to generally lighten my hair to soften my features.

I recently returned to the salon where they applied a permanent colour to my emerging roots but the colour has bled all over my highlights and made them a lighter tone!

Is it possible to reverse this process and get my highlights back? I have blonde highlights on my brown hair.

Charmaine, Crawley

Hi Charmaine,

My suggestion is to run a caramel coloured, semi-permanent toner through the hair, leave it in for five minutes and then when you rinse it out the colour should have taken to the highlights and given them a beautiful warm, soft caramel tone again.

Alice Gazagnes, Senior Stylist & Colourist at Simon Webster Hair, Brighton

Hi Charmaine,

The sad fact is that many hairdressers get over confident and apply colours without professional care, or with not enough training. Your hairdresser obviously did a brilliant job the first time when you had your highlights applied, which quite naturally gave you the confidence to return to the same stylist. The leaking of colour could only have happened due to carelessness during applying the colour, or it could have happened during the shampoo by whoever washed off the colour.

It is quite easy not to touch the already coloured hair by blocking it off with cotton wool, tin foil or other protective means, so that the new colour application does not run into the old highlights.

As long as your hair is in good condition, a good colouring expert can repair the damage and give you back the colour of your choice.

One point I would like to make is that you invest in some good professional salon products to wash and condition your hair at home. Many shampoos bought in stores supermarkets strip colours and leave the hair dull and lifeless - especially if the hair has been over processed.

It is a wise investment to buy your hair products from a professional salon recommended by a professional hairstylist or colourist, which is why you see many celebrities with healthy shiny hair.

Charmaine, I wish you happy hair days in the future 

Pierre Alexandre of Pierre Alexandre, Manchester

If you have lost your highlights due to a colour being applied over the top of them then you have to have the hair re-highlighted to get them back. It sounds like there was some confusion between the colourist and what effect they wanted to achieve.

If you are unhappy speak to your colourist to see what they can do to rectify the matter.

John Clark, Head of Colour at Brooks+Brooks, London