i love style needs to get their hair did

I usually use baby powder for this -- is dry shampoo different/better in some way?

I've never bought any b/c cornstarch works okay for me but I as I understand it, you can get dry shampoo in tints? So it blends better on dark hair.

ENBB, when my hair was about your length (chin length, right?), I couldn't stand not washing it. That was a weird length for me, plus I would break out where the ends of my hair touched my face.

Shorter I can wash once a week because my hair is so fluffy when it's clean that it takes a few days to get grimy and look normal. Longer I usually do 2-3 times, depending on what I've got going on in my life. Pro tip - I wash my bangs every day.

So, asked my stylist to change up the colour so it would last longer, and she reminded me it was semi-permanent. Haha. So, I was happy to switch to permanent and she used exactly the same colours, which I really like. She said they would last longer and be 'slightly richer'.

But the permanent version came out pretty different and looks orange-y to me. Probably only seems like a huge difference to me, and no-one else, but, you know, hair paranoia. It was too late in the evening to do anything about it but she suggested she could re-do the roots slightly darker (since they're where the light bounces off and it looks orange) if I really hate it in a couple of days. In a couple of days I'll be travelling for 10 days. I could juuuust about fit in another salon visit tomorrow but it would be v inconvenient.

Is it acceptable to get the roots darkened after 2 weeks when I get back? And regardless of when I go, should expect her to do the root colour for free? I paid for highlights which you really can't see with this base colour, so I kind of feel like I should get the correction free, but don't want to come across entitled - I guess the first time a stylist tries a permanent version of a colour on a client, s/he doesn't know how it will go exactly.

I really like the stylist and always love the cut.

this probably happened because most semi-perms are deposit only, while permanent colors lift a bit and then deposit color.

i think, and this is after years of not asking for something to be changed and then regretting it, that you paid good money to have this done and your hair should look as you requested it, not orangey. she should fix it for free. if she's been dying hair even a short time, she should be able to tell what a perm color will do.

esp if she knows your hair!

Yeah :-( I'm like you and really hate requesting changes. I'm a bit happier with it this morning and am going to have real trouble getting to the salon today so I will probably live with it for two weeks (lol - this has to be the ultimate first world problem - 'my hair is infinitesimally more orange than I would like, I will have to *live with it*). Then I'll decide whether to go back.

It may be that when she said 'it will be richer' she was telling me it would be lighter and I should have said then 'how different will be colour be?' and got clarification.

Live and learn. I think it's reasonable to ask if she'll fix it for free. Just have a contingency plan in place if she won't (so agree to pay, or say that you'll just wait until you're due for a cut and color anyway).

I'm glad the short-term color problem was easy to address, however!

Perhaps you could call her and tell her that you're not currently satisfied but you have to go away and you'd like to "take her up on her offer" when you return? That would be my mode of attack - I hate asking for things too, but better to have it known in advance!

I let my stylist cut my hair finally after growing it for 2 years, and it feels so short. Hits my shoulder if I pull on it, but the ends curl up so it hovers mid-neck. It was past my armpits! But all the hair I bleached in my DIY days is now gone, so my colour should last longer. But I want my long hair back :(

okay guys so its time for the next hair experiement: Im going to try giving myself hair extensions. Ive ordered enough 24" strands of real human blonde hair from europe. enough to cover my head. now here is the experimental part. Im def not gluing. Im def not sewing. im going to try these teeny tiny bead things that you squish flat with a special hair extension bead squishing plier like thingy. This way I can wash it (did you know peeps who get bonded/glued extensions CANT WASH THEIR HAIR(!!!)), its human hair so I can dye it, its not clip on so I can swim with it etc etc. Oh also, can keep hair forevs and my own hair happily keeps on growing because it hasnt been damaged by heat/glue etc

If this doesnt work im going to try v v thin light copper wire from.....home depot??

If that doesnt work im going to invent something and become the richest woman in the southwest united states of america

oh shit ive got to show you a gluing extension disaster pic

Holy shit, you are the bravest person I know. This sounds very complicated.

i feel like i can see her brain

http://homepage.mac.com/christinaoliva/Sites/Home%20%26%20FAQs_files/theratsnest.jpg.w300h225.jpg

It seems time intensive because its strand by strand but if ive got a mirror in back, in front and maybe on the side I should be fine xp

Wait wait I'm still back at the part where you're going to use...crimp beads?

im going to try them. if theyre too obvious them it on to wire

them it = then its

Well it's not the worst idea I've ever heard! And if they fall out, you can just pry them off or cut that tiny bit out of the crimp and reinsert them 1/16" shorter with a new bead, presumably?

well heres the golden part - the pliers come with a tool for bead removal

Brill!! You're in.

How much of your own hair do you put through the bead? Like...half a dozen hairs in each? And how long are these supposed to stay in before the outgrowth is problematic?

You clip the bead into your existing hair? As it grows out, how do you prevent the hair above the beads from dreading?

xp HUH Laurel and I are sharing a brain today.

That hair extension pic is a nightmare.

I struggle to even blow-dry the back of my head properly so there's no way I could do this but I'm really interested in how it turns out!

something about this scenario reminds me of that scene from affliction where nick nolte performs his own dental work and i can't help but worry
are you sure this is a good idea?

Here is a photo of the tool sans hair. The 'beads' are actually some kind of plastic that is soft and squishable with your fingers but once squished with the pliers seem to stay that way. Also, you add them right at the scalp so no dreading. Most people need to touch up every 3 months but since my lame hair grows like 1.5 inches a year I might be able to stretch it out a little longer.

Also note the bead ive used the pliers on is thin enough that i cant stand it on its side

I put the penny in for perspective.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6059/6241381279_b247aa8744_b.jpg

of course the trick is getting the new and old hair in that thing. there must be a tool for it surely

Flexible wire needle-threader imo

LL if i were gluing id be concerned too but this seems like no matter how bad you fuck up you can go back to how you looked pre-experiment in under an hour

thats genius, laurel

Or a beading needle! It's how you get nymo thread through crimp beads, should work on human hair. :)

Eh whats the worst that can happen?? You gabe to try pretty hard to seriously damage your hair, and if you did, well you just have to cut it and wear a funky wig for a while!

I think the wire thing def won't work, though - it would take forever and ever, would probably cause severe tangling and knotting, and would be difficult to remove. I could see the bead thing working, but if you can get a few extensions in with that method, I would leave it like that and wear it for a week or two to see how it handles (problems with tangling etc.).

How do you hide the beads at your scalp, especially at your part?

I'm sorry -- that picture was totally traumatizing! I wish you the best of luck. I wish I could be so cavalier about my hair but I feel like I have to hold onto every little strand. Would really love extensions tbh, but they are too expensive and I am clearly not ballsy enough to try to do it myself.

Needles like these.

Laurel....YES! Thanks!

LL ITS GOING TO BE OKAY! DONT FRET! <3 that pic is of someone who had their hair professionally done with glued in heat bonded extensions. balding and a burned scalp is apparently not an uncommon result for heat bonding. there is NO WAY id ever do that. im just squishing a bit of plastic that is soft and easily removable. you really seriously cannot harm your hair with these bead things. well no more than a ponytail band would.

Justine, 'bead' is probably a really bad descriptor because it makes you think of hard plastic or glass. This is very soft plastic that when squish w pliers is becomes and stays very very flat. When you get sick of it or screw it up the pliers have another section that will push the bead apart again and your hair just slides on out. Anyway, when in it is so flat that I honestly dont think youd notice even if they were exposed. They come in diff colors too to match your hair. Also standard hair extension technique - always add back from the hairline and away from any natural parts.

many xposts - thanks for the advice - I have decided I am making a great big fuss about nothing and to just wait it out and do it a bit darker next time. I like FFM's technique for asking for things, though. noted for next time.

Sunny, I admire this! I wish I was less risk-adverse re: hair.

ljubljana, if you get annoyed with your colour again there are toning conditioners that adjust hair colour, aveda has some that are pretty effective.

There's an Aveda place near me, when I get back to town I will ask them - thanks.

Sunny I would like to hop on a plane and see this shit go down!

Thank god you're back I have a haircut next Tuesday WHAT SHOULD I DO?

I just made an appt for my husband to get his hair cut at the salon I go to. This is literally his first professional haircut in 10+ years and his fear of telling hairdressers the wrong thing coupled with his amazing skill of always unintentionally using British words for things when people here won't understand them is making me a little scared. But I got fed up of cutting it myself and went on strike and he looks pretty homeless right now.

Ha also he is confronting this fear and then immediately going shopping for not only a SUIT but multiple pairs of trousers - his actual three worst things together on a day of pain. I promised we could go to the dessert bar afterwards.

Did you just get married?!?

nope, 7 years ago. I cut his hair for the wedding, actually!

Sunny, are there after pics now???

Laurel, are you thinking of something drastic?

Kinder, Jeff and I go to the same salon (used to go to the same stylist) and his hair always looks great. Since I like at his head the most, I think it's a worthwhile expenditure.

I'm planning to cut off like 10" of hair, so, yes!

Fuckin A!

Look I know this is presumptuous but I demand before and after pics.

Oh shit hey. There was this "big hair" tutorial on the Hairpin recently and it involved hair powder. Any experiences with hair powder?

Also - clipless curling irons?!?!?! It is the future.

Xps my bad - I've never seen you refer to him as husb, so I just assumed!

I have much experience with hair powder (aka dry shampoo)! My protips are to avoid the aerosol ones (hard to control) and to sniff before you buy--some are strongly scented. My favorite is Oscar Blandi, but The All Nighter is good if you want to do a shaded powder and need some tackiness for volume/stylability.

I've never used a sticky powder/volumizer! I just use corn starch! It does add tons of styleability but I've never done a thing like she's doing there. Maybe I'll try it over the weekend when my hair is good and dirty.