nelson.dakota•24d agoProlific Poster

Hot take: I think I messed up a color correction in my home salon last month

A friend asked me to fix her box dye from dark brown to a lighter blonde. I did a test strand and it seemed okay, so I went for the full head. Halfway through the second process, the ends turned this orangey copper color, nothing like the test. I had to stop and use a toner to try and save it, which took an extra hour. Has anyone else had a test strand lie to them like that, and what do you do next?

3 comments

3 Comments

jones.vera24d ago

You sure the test strand lied? Maybe you didn't process the full head evenly. Those ends are older and more porous, they grab color faster. A small test piece can't show how the whole head will react, especially with box dye underneath. You probably needed a different formula for the ends from the start, not just a toner fix after.

phoenix_lopez24d ago

Wait, didn't I read that some stylists do a separate "end formula" with lower volume developer for exactly that reason? Like they mix the same color but use 10 vol on the ends and 20 vol on the roots to even out the processing time. Makes sense if the ends are fried from old dye.

andrew_kelly10d ago

Honestly, the test strand probably didn't lie. It's more that a single piece of hair can't show you how the whole head, especially damaged ends, will suck up color. I mean, box dye makes things so unpredictable. You really have to treat the ends differently from the start, like with a lower volume developer or even a different color mix. Just using a toner after is just fixing a problem you could have avoided.