My Hair Horror Story: What I Learned From Coloring & Breakage

April 9th, 2012 - By madamenoire

The finished product had me on the verge of tears. After agreeing to pay $150 for a color and cut, I was hoping for the best of course. But my disappointment was written all over my face. I didn’t get the color I wanted, as the highlights came out much darker than I desired. I wanted light brown highlights and I came out with a subtle orangish-dark brown color. My stylist said he couldn’t get the color I desired because of the semi-permanent color I had in my hair. Funny that he didn’t mention that as a challenge in the first place. A thorough consultation, which a colorist would’ve done, could’ve avoided this. He agreed to do a free color correction and I returned two weeks later.

Get A Semi-Permanent Coating?

I returned two weeks later for my color correction. He used a peroxide to strip my color and add lighter pieces. I loved the way the color turned out but noticed that he didn’t treat it with any color rinse/semi-permanent afterwards. Let me explain why I expected this.

I’ve had color done when I lived in Los Angeles and never had any issues. My stylist there would strip my color and then put a Sebastians cellophane (aka rinse aka semi-permanent color) over it because she explained that once you strip color, you need to deposit something over it. Makes sense, right? Contrary to popular belief, semi-permanents are actually good for your hair. They have no ammonia or peroxide and actually work to coat your hair and add major shine.

When I explained this process to the stylist currently working on my hair, he said that it would take too long to do it that, as if to imply that would just be too much for him. SMH. In any case, many stylists on the East Coast, for some reason, don’t use semi-permanents as part of their coloring process but I’ve found that it’s pretty common for stylists in the West Coast to take this more protective approach to coloring.

Hair Breakage

In the weeks following, I noticed my hair falling out in clumps, with the lightest parts breaking off like crazy. Faced with the option of either cutting it all off and starting over, or finding a way to stop the breakage in its tracks and donning head bands for the next month or so, I realized that I wasn’t ready to just give in to this bad experience and cut off my hair. I’ve made an appointment to get an Aphogee treatment, which is an intense protein treatment done at salons and which promises to stop hair breakage, and am moisturizing my hair every night (which I never did before since oil made my hair greasy and limp). I have gotten an Aphogee before and noticed a difference – it was another experience provided by my beloved Los Angeles stylist. Let’s just hope it works to stop my major fly aways from getting worse. I’m guessing it’ll take me a year to recover from this damage, and although it’s been traumatizing, I’ve reminded myself that it’s only hair after all. And now that I know better, I”ll do better.

 

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  • http://www.facebook.com/emily.liberty.7 Emily Liberty

    I also bought the Shielo Shine Hair Oil and O.M.G… After one use of the Shielo Hair Oil the texture, look, and feel of my hair is almost unbelievable! Going into this my hair was breaking, full of split ends, over-processed, frizzy, and poofed out at the ends because of the damage brought on by heat products and blonde color. I have A LOT of hair that is naturally curly and about a medium thickness and Shielo has done wonders.

    My hair is sooo soft and looks 100x more healthy then before and I’ve only used the product ONCE! I cant wait to use again and see what my results will look like down the road.

  • gigis83

    Hair horror cracks me up. I love coloring do it all the time. No problems and never time it

  • Guest

    Someone recommended Aphogee two weeks ago. Methinks, I want some hair. Thank ya’ Jesus for a good word.

  • mochaaa

    i actually put a warm bronze in my bangs myself in November. I regret it because i’m tired of the color and the breakage is totally not worth it.

  • http://www.youtube.com/freshmilkonline Ms Naja

    APhogee works. Im a blonde/brown afro and have been using it for years. It does stop breakage in its tracks!

  • Kareenc

    Please tell me this stylist in LA because i would love to go there.  Thanks 

  • Pingback: What I Learned From Coloring My Hair & Breakage | Black Hair … · Hair Styles For Hair !

  • kidrebelny

    I’m suffering from breakage too, but I made the horrible decision to color my own hair, and yes I did it twice to get a blonde brownish hue. OMG, between my homegirl doing my weave, she braided my hair so tight, that even after taking out my weave 3 months ago, I have thinning around the perimeter of my head. She braided it into a circle, the middle of my head is so thin, I almost cry when I touch it. My bff instructed me to try aphogee, its the best thing that I have done to my hair since and now my ends are thick, but its still thin at my roots :(

  • Amija James

    I know there are good stylists out there but since going natural I’m a DIY.  If you are going to get your hair colored, you should always deep condition you hair multiple times before you get it done.  If you go to a stylist speak up!  It’s your head and you will be the one walking around looking crazy if they mess up!  Especially if it’s something that you know has worked for you in the past.  

  • Naturalista27

    Dang, I feel for you, girl! One of my friends got color applied, and it broke her hair- she’s back to shoulder-length, now, though… Thank you for writing this!!! I’ve been considering getting coloring for a few weeks now. At first, I wanted to use henna, but I wasn’t sure if the color would be noticeable on me (I have 4b/c curls and they’re VERY thick). The only things keeping me from coloring were a) fear I wouldn’t like the color or it wouldn’t fit me, b) the idea of having to go back and get it reapplied was a no for me… I like my Saturdays lol and c) the fear of breakage. Thanks for sharing your experience with color! It really gives me an idea of what to expect if I ever color it. Wishing you luck on your journey back to your normal hair! : )

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