Extreme breakage hair disaster

[Hannah1991]

Hi everyone,

I'm a beauty therapist with level 2 in hairdressing (though I don't practise hair) so I hope I'm ok to post this here.

I'm devastated. I visited my a salon I'd been to a few times and had scalp bleach every time. They use Loreal Infinie platine bleach and although it lifted brilliantly I was concerned about (minimal) breakage around the hairline and general discomfort having it done. I've been platinum blonde for a long time now and spend lots of time and hundreds of pounds on treatments to maintain the condition. In the past I've had foils and my hair has always been better then. So this time I asked for foils thinking it would reduce breakage, boy was I wrong.

I notified the salon when I realised what had happened who said it was my own fault for asking for foils instead of scalp bleach. I'm trying so hard to get my priorities straight but I've found myself so depressed, it makes me feel sick to look at my hair, my pride and joy. I'm leaving treatments on overnight and air drying with no heated tools. I'm balancing my protein and moisture treatments and all I can do now is wait for it to grow back. I cover it with a synthetic curly bun every day and that's the only style I can do, Ive tried 3/4 wigs but they are all too big for me

In terms of colour, also bad. Those pictures are a WEEK after the incident as you can see I have a lot of root. I'm too scared to have someone colour it but I need to in the future because not only have I been left with hardly any hair, I'm not happy with the colour! (Usually a clean creamy, icey blonde)

I'd be so grateful for any advice, this incident has really affected me and even my relationship with my boyfriend who I don't let touch or see my hair under my hairpeice.

[photos inviting critique removed]

 

[FlawlessBeauty]

I'm not a hairdresser but I know how devastating it is to feel like you hate your hair.

That salon had a responsibility to discuss with you if they thought this would be the outcome. I think they have done something wrong but hopefully someone will come along soon to give you some advice.

Lean on your bf hun. He loves you and he will support you and tell you you're beautiful when you need it most xx

 

[Starboltz]

If you had foils instead of scalp, how is that more damaging? With foils, all your doing is the root since everyone knows not to overlap bleach

I don't have a clue what they did, but you should just keep going back until you get a refund

 

[Rachul123]

They have over lapped and over processed causing breakage I'm assuming the next time you washed/dried your hair?

When going from on scalp to foils you need to have a few weeks regrowth, otherwise its hard not to over lap.

(Plus with foils you will always have a bit of root when you have it done thats normal)

That being said, this is their mistake and they should be doing all they can to help you and effectively stop you from suing them!
If you've been there a couple of times before its obviously their colour on your hair before.

I would be mortified if I knew I had done this to somebody.

I think I'd recommend you go back and - firstly ask for refund - then ask for free cuts and treatments as compensation.
(This is something I would have offered!!)

And strictly no colour until its in better condition.
Having roots is better than having a bald patch.

Feel so terrible for you :-( looking at it you should be able to cover it by twisting your hair back into a quiff or just use your hair piece for afew weeks x

 

[Starboltz]

It's awful how someone could not feel bad for doing this, I'd feel so upset with myself and offer what was mentioned above.

You're taking the right steps thiug h, keep babying your hair, lots of treatments, might even be looking at a cut too

 

[Hannah1991]

Thank you for all your comments. It's so annoying because I'm not one of these people who has their roots done as soon as they show, I probably go too long between appointments to be honest but I'm just trying to give my hair a rest. I made sure I had about 10 weeks growth before I went in to reduce any overlapping!

They did offer treatments but it's just not feasible when I'm having to treat my hair overnight every time I wash and leave it to air dry. Plus I don't really want to go back into the salon. The stylist has harassed me over Facebook saying how much I have upset her while she's out on a hen do and that she can't believe I've turned all this around on her!

I'm going to be so scared when I eventually have it coloured again. But... What kind of time scale would I be looking at? And what would be the best course of action now?

x

 

[Hannah1991]

Unsure why my photos have been removed?

 

[tsparker78]

See if you can find a new stylist that uses olaplex and get a series of treatments done.

 

[Sugarplumfaery]

Hannah, where about are you? I know your pain. I really feel for you. I do loads of scalp bleaches mainly because I had such bad experiences when I used to bleach my hair that I wanted to specialize in bleach.

Ten weeks is a little too long for a regular scalp bleach - 6 weeks is the max otherwise you tend to have to do two stages and this is where problems of overlapping can start.

In regards to treatments, I wouldn't recommend you leave them overnight. I think you are doing all you can with regards to alternating moisture and protein. And if you can get a hold of Olaplex this could be greatly beneficial too. It's a shame the photos have been removed.

 

[KHS]

Unsure why my photos have been removed?

Moderator removed it, If you look at under your original post it tells you why too

 

[verbina]

I totally feel your pain! I came on here searching for the same answers as ten days ago I went to a new hairdresser (as I have just moved to a new area). I have done my research and she is the salon owner with some Loreal colour award or other. I had a consultation before I booked my appointment, where I explained that I just want my half of head root regrowth highlights done , but as I'm trying to be kind to my hair I don't want her bleaching all the way down my ends/midlengths . She reassured me she will only do my roots and I booked an appointment.

To cut the long story short, she foiled my hair (mixed a fresh batch of bleach halfway through), then left me to process and went off to do another client. When its been almost an hour I got a bit panicky and asked one of the girls who work there to call her over.She checked the bleach and said its still quite yellow and I should wait some more.

After about 90 minutes (shock!) she told me one of the girls will be washing it off in 5 minutes, once she has finished blow drying some ladies hair.
I was really panicky by this point knowing that extra 5 minutes for my baby fine natural level 7 hair could be deadly.

In the end the girl shampooed everything off and applied some new purple toning thing which they said would clean up my old highlights lengths. I tried telling them it will only grab and stain them further, nevertheless the girl left the stuff for a few minutes.

When she took me back to the chair and I saw myself in the mirror I could see my roots and midlengths were luminiscent white with purple glow and everything else was really dark, despite my hair being wet.

My hair felt like a chewing gum to touch and when the girl started combing it through, I decided I cant let her go through and blowdry it and that i need to take myself home and assess the damage without making things worse by agressive combing and blowdry,

So I paid for my colour and went off home with my hair wet and in a state.

Needless to say I immediately put protein treatment in it and afterwards let it dry naturally and only washed it once in these 10 days with a sulfate free shampoo. But, the hair around my face has already broken off and I got a chemical haircut fringe. I know there will be a lot more breakage to come and its pretty much unavoidable as the damage is quite bad.

The worst thing is I spent the last 5 years babying my hair and growing it and getting it in a reasonable condition. Now its all trashed.
I'm really excited about Olaplex and hope it lives up to their claims. I'm now looking for a hairdresser who I would be able to trust with my highlights and who would help me nurture my poor hair back to life again...

I was considering Brazilian keratin treatment, but I think its too risky to do it at the moment, so Olaplex sounds like the only option.

Sorry to highjack your thread Hannah, I wish your hair a speedy recovery! x

 

[PreviouslyPrettyHair]

I'm so sorry that happened to you. I also used to have beautiful long beached blonde hair for a long time, but it has been successively damaged by new salons in the past 2 years. Here are some new hints while you are growing out new hair, that have helped me a little:

(1) Use sulphate-free shampoo and conditioner for brittle African hair, such as Dessert Essence Coconut shampoo & conditioner. Only wash hair at most every other day.
(2) Have an Olaplex #1 and #2 treatment done by itself, right away, even without any hair color. I did that to my hair and it really helped. Find an olaplex salon and have olaplex mixed in with any bleach or hair color you have done from now on.
(3) Sleep with your hair in coconut oil (liquid, fractionated) every once in a while, the night before you shower your hair. To get new healthy hair to grow, use African American hair growth scalp serums overnight sometimes, like Bronner Brothers or Nubian Heritage. Keep your diet healthy with vitamins, mean, seafood, and eggs.
(4) Like you mentioned, don't use blow dryers, curling irons, straightening irons, or hair accessories. Let your hair air dry, then spray a gentle alcohol-free, silicone-free soft gel on it, like Loreal Everstyle curl defining gel, then smooth it down and make the best of it.
(5) Don't ever, ever, EVER!! let a professional salon put lightener on your hair, then put you under the dryer, or even a cap if your hair is already damaged. That's a no no. If they sit you down under the dryer, stick up for yourself, and get yourself right out of that chair. A snotty bossy salon did that to me and eventually burnt off all the hair on the crown of my head; it went from 12 inches long, to bald spots & 2 inches long in patchy spots. And they were going to keep doing it, until I confronted them and they knew they were caught.
(6) If you still want to have bleached blonde hair, you must find a salon that uses "Joico Vero K-Pak Creme Lightener" bleach. That is the gentlest bleach I have found for my hair.
(7) Only use 20 volume developer with the bleach. If your hair is dark, just let it sit longer until it lifts. This is tricky, because even if your hair is damaged, some salons will still try to put 30 volume on your hair. They do this to hurry you up, and fit in more appointments. But this is no benefit in this to you. It makes your hair weaker and more prone to breakage later. It's basically a sneaky mean thing to do to clients.
(8) If you still want to do on-the-scalp bleach, if you can find a hair stylist who puts bleach on using "the skinny-tip-bottle-method", you have struck gold. This will get you the healthiest, longest blonde hair. But finding one of these hair stylists is like finding a needle in a haystack.
(9) If you have to use the brush method, don't let hair stylists take that bleach brush, and swipe along your hair line. That is lazy and sloppy. They should carefully section the front hairs in little rows, just like the section the rest of the head. A professional ritzy salon burnt off my bangs and dissolved them under the follicle by saturating my hairline like that.
(10) If your hair is bleached or damaged, be careful with the duckbill metal clips that they use for sectioning. Even the weight of those little clips broke through my hair and cut it in sections like a knife.

Good luck, I hope you feel better.

(Moderator comments: this poster is not a qualified hairdresser and the tips are anecdotal)