How to handle a hair colour gone wrong

Sometimes, bad hair colour happens to good people. If you’ve had a disaster and been through the horror of the hair colour correction process, you’ll know how it goes: hours of excitement as you sit and have your foils popped in, a moment of doubt at the backwash as your colourist confers with another frantically, and then the slow, creeping dread that sets in as your hair dries a completely different colour to what you were expecting. Whether it’s blonde gone brassy, highlights applied with all the precision of Picasso or hair gone the colour of dishwater after one dye too many, it’s a minefield out there.

We caught up with Jonny Long, colourist supremo at Lockonego, who’s seen more hair colour mishaps than you’ve had hot dinners. And – luckily for us – he’s a dab hand at fixing them. ‘Your colourist wants you to walk out of the salon happy. That’s all they want.’ he told us, ‘So no matter how dire the situation, there’s always a way to rectify it. Read on for Jonny’s tips for doing damage control on a dye disaster…

By Daniela Morosini

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• 1 Speak up the moment you realise you're not happy with your hair colour

  When you look into the mirror and realise it’s all gone a bit pear-shaped, stay calm. Jonny’s advice was clear ‘It might be hard because you’re in shock, but it’s much better to tell your colourist then and there that you aren’t happy rather than waiting until later. Firstly, remember that some salons have very odd lighting – ask to take a mirror outside and check in the natural light to get the size of the situation. If you’re not happy, state the reason why and be patient. Is it that the tone is wrong? Does the colour not suit you or is the application bad? Ask to speak to the senior colourist or the colour director and talk to them about your concerns and see what they suggest.’
• 2 There's a myriad of ways to correct colour gone wrong

  Even if the situation feels beyond repair – deep breaths – it isn’t. We promise your only options aren’t wearing a paper bag over your head or doing a Natalie Portman circa V For Vendetta. ‘Depending on what’s gone wrong, there’s a number of solutions’ Jonny told us. ‘For example, if it’s highlights that are far too chunky, your colourist can take some of your natural or a slightly darker colour and work it through the hair. If it’s a case of a blonde gone brassy, we can use a purple shampoo or toner to cancel out those yellow tones. There’s always something. You might want to go for a ‘bleach bath’ – it’s not as scary as it sounds. It’s basically a very very small amount of bleach mixed with water and shampoo, no peroxide, to gently strip out the colour and get you back to a better, more blank canvas.’
• 3 Know that It might not be an overnight fix

  While bad colour can happen in a matter of moments, fixing it can be another story altogether. ‘Depending on what’s happened to your hair, it could take a number of sessions to correct’ explained Jonny. ‘For example, chunky highlights might be rectified in one day, but in a case where the whole head is the wrong shade altogether, it could take a few sessions to get it where you want. You don’t want to over-process the hair, and all the treatments take a lot of time.’
• 4 Need-to-knows

  • Pictures can be misleading. Jonny said clients often come in with one picture of a celebrity as their inspo, but don’t realise the filters or retouching on the photo. ‘Just like any kind of Photoshop, hair tones are often edited in pictures, even Instagram snaps. This can make someone’s hair look more reflective, or brighter than it is real life, and the effect in the picture might not be achievable in real life.’ His advice? Bring a whole moodboard! The more pictures you bring in, the better.

  • It’s not just things in the salon that can screw up your colour – Jonny said ‘Cities are full of pollution and quite often clients don’t realise how badly this can affect your colour. All those toxins can make your hair dull very quickly.’ We’ll add to that that any shampoo or conditioner that claims to lighten or darker your hair, however gradually, probably isn’t such a hot idea. The colour can end up being deposited very randomly throughout your hair – not ideal.

  • You need to be brutally honest with your colourist – ‘I’m always amazed by what people don’t tell us. We need a full and complete hair history, especially if you’re a new client. You might not think it matters that you had bleach eighteen months ago, or that you had an ombre disaster years ago. Your hair remembers, and we need to know because it can massively affect how the dye takes to your hair.’