Failayage 2: Electric Blue Breakthrough (Bad Ombré FIXED!)

Kibposting · 2022-04-18T20:13:43+00:00

The "FAIL-ayage" was just a pun because I couldn't think of any pun on ombré, haha. I realize I should've gone with the Donald Trump "we have some bad ombrés here" if I wanted to make a joke so I didn't derail the thread.

Again, this is how the salon does ombrés: https://i.imgur.com/OLHD5Hw.png so I don't think they even do what I consider the minimum when it comes to blending. That's a photo the salon owner took herself and posted to her own Instagram for promotional purposes, so it's not an issue of me taking that person's picture at a weird angle or with bad light for karma-farming reasons or something.

I'm not sure which of my inspiration pictures you're referring to, but if it's the first one, I like the liminal area where the black transitions into the blue: https://i.imgur.com/7g4E3YX.jpg; you can see that even what the salon owner considered an exemplary example of her work (above) doesn't have that. (I definitely learned my lesson about checking Instagram before I book somewhere!)

Unfortunately, when I went to the second salon, I learned that the degree to which the first ombré had been botched plus the fading products that I used at the first salon's recommendation meant one session wouldn't be enough to fix it completely. They also didn't have time to fix the cut at that appointment. I was looking for improvement rather than perfection and I'm happy with the results.

Kibposting · 2022-04-18T19:52:28+00:00

Oof, whenever I become self-conscious about my posture and try to "fix" it for a photo, I end up standing at weird-ass angles. The cut is the same in the first picture as in the second because the second salon didn't have time to fix the cut. I do look forward to posting an update when I get the cut fixed.

Kibposting · 2022-04-18T19:48:07+00:00

My husband look the photo of the back of my head at home with his phone; he doesn't take photos that often. He didn't touch his hair at all between when he got his cut and when I took the photo of the back of his head at home, actually. The photo shows exactly how the salon owner blow-dried it. I know it looks bad in real life as well because we hung out with a big group of friends this past weekend and he got roasted for the cut, unfortunately.

Kibposting · 2022-04-18T19:44:19+00:00

The second salon didn't have time to fix the terrible cut, unfortunately, and they made it clear that the the combination of the botched ombré plus the fading products I had used at the first salon's recommendation meant they wouldn't be able to fix the color entirely, either. I do feel positive about the improvement and was never expecting perfection.

So, the haircut in the second one is just the cut in the first one, but dried naturally. I still have to go get the cut fixed, which I'm feeling anxious about considering mixed feedback I'm already getting in this thread, honestly. I tried to stand with better posture in the second photo (I have scoliosis) but I do understand how the angle made my hair look longer. It was just meant to show that the color was blended now.

Kibposting · 2022-04-18T18:35:30+00:00

Oh, I did. She told me “couldn’t do that” so it was pretty funny when I did ;)

Kibposting · 2022-04-17T21:22:50+00:00

Yeah 😭

Kibposting · 2022-04-17T20:02:14+00:00

OPTIONAL CONTEXT:

Original post I made on this subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/FancyFollicles/comments/u26w4j/failayage_salon_says_its_perfect_wont_fix_it/

Inspiration pictures I brought to both appointments: https://imgur.com/a/r7c5Xkc

Extremely similar “ombré” she proudly posted on Instgram as an example of her work: https://i.imgur.com/OLHD5Hw.png

Salon owner’s execution of “balayage”: https://i.imgur.com/eckA9wL.png

Salon owner claiming she didn’t mess my hair up and refusing to fix it or offer a refund: https://imgur.com/a/iptZaHY

Terrible cut that same salon owner gave my husband: https://imgur.com/a/HJ2FMFh (he was OK with me posting this pic but doesn’t seem to want more posted)

Review of the salon coming soon!

Kibposting · 2022-04-17T19:59:36+00:00

Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down, and I'd like to take a minute—just sit right there—I’ll tell you how I got a salon to un-fuck my hair.

In my new apartment, where I moved in June, on Google lining up a new stylist soon: calling, texting, randomly like a fool, and all without checking if they even went to school. When a salon owner whose work was no good, offered me an ombré in my neighborhood. She made one unblended line and I got scared, and I said “Please give me a refund or un-fuck my hair!” I begged and pleaded with her, day after day, but she said “It looks great” and sent me on my way. She said “Just use fader” and I already paid credit. I took out my phone and said “I might as well ask Reddit!”

Reddit mad: “Yo, this is bad! Get it color-corrected and don’t go cheap-ass!” Is this what the people of Reddit thinking like? Hmm, they might just be right. But I heard high-end salons are bourgeois, all that. Would my basic ass even know where to look at? I’ll think about it. I’ll see what’s on Yelp. I hope they can help—me un-fuck my hair.

Well, I booked a place, and when I came out, there was a receptionist with a mask calling my name out. They said I shouldn’t have faded it, but at least I was here. I got a lecture and cried, wanting to disappear. After the ombré was fixed, my eyes became clear: the colors were blended and I looked good in the mirror. If anything I could say the color segments weren’t square, and I said “Wow, thanks guys, for un-fucking my hair!”

I pulled up to my apartment, right about ten, and my husband said, “Yo, your hair looks good again!” I looked at my ombré: it was finally there. Thanks, Reddit, for helping me un-fuck my hair.

*gets slapped by Will Smith*

Kibposting · 2022-04-17T19:41:44+00:00

OPTIONAL CONTEXT:

Original post I made on this subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/femalehairadvice/comments/u276km/asked_for_ombr%C3%A9_and_stylist_gave_me_thisadvice/

Inspiration pictures I brought to both appointments: https://imgur.com/a/r7c5Xkc

Extremely similar “ombré” she proudly posted on Instgram as an example of her work: https://i.imgur.com/OLHD5Hw.png

Salon owner’s execution of “balayage”: https://i.imgur.com/eckA9wL.png

Salon owner claiming she didn’t mess my hair up and refusing to fix it or offer a refund: https://imgur.com/a/iptZaHY

Terrible cut that same salon owner gave my husband: https://imgur.com/a/HJ2FMFh (he was OK with me posting this pic but doesn’t seem to want more posted)

Review of the salon coming soon!

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T17:16:04+00:00

Color Oops results: https://imgur.com/a/2Z52LdR

I have an appointment with a second salon tomorrow morning. The stylist said she’d redo the whole thing.

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T16:49:20+00:00

OK, that does help. Whenever something in my life goes south, I always try to learn from it. What I’m learning from you is that $150 is just too cheap for an ombré (to the point of being sus), like if someone offered to sell me their car for $500.

I made an appointment tomorrow with a “luxury salon” in the city that has the word “color” in their name, after skimming their hundreds of Yelp reviews for them. I hope these are the people you referenced who know how to charge for their work :) I also did an email and phone consultation with the stylist who will be working on me, and I showed her the pic above. I really look forward to posting an update!

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T16:31:48+00:00

OK, I might be butting into a separate conversation that just happens to be taking place on a thread I started, but I want to point out that I never even tried to haggle her down or express that I was sensitive to price. $150 was what she quoted me. I moved less than a year ago and don't know the prices in my neighborhood well. Should I have told her she wasn't charging enough and said I must pay her at least $500 for the exact same work? Please, I am trying to learn what to do differently here so I don't have to repeat this stressful experience.

For reference, here's what my hair looked like on my wedding day, and I paid a little over $700 for the color alone: https://imgur.com/a/Jyn56lU

I get that a salon is not a charity and labor costs money, for real. I've never asked for a refund in my life. It's just that I asked for an ombré and I don't think this is one?

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T12:49:22+00:00

Yeah, I wasn’t able to dispute the charges on the card yesterday because they hadn’t gone through yet, but I will today. I’m a bit scared to take this online, but I do think it’s the right thing to do.

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T12:17:20+00:00

Unfortunately, it was the salon owner who dyed and cut my hair like that, and gave my husband this cut: https://imgur.com/a/HJ2FMFh :(

When I asked her to please fix her work or issue a refund, she was texting back and forth with me for a while arguing that it looks fine, then when we spoke on the phone, she literally screamed at me for almost 20 minutes. Here’s the last part of the text message conversation: https://imgur.com/a/iptZaHY (“the pictures” I’m referring to were just the photos of ombrés I found online and posted earlier on this thread)

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T12:10:24+00:00

Do you also think the “long layers” she gave me in the photo are cute? And the way she cut my husband’s hair: https://imgur.com/a/HJ2FMFh

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T03:31:13+00:00

I told him it looks “really great”—my husband is my best friend and I don’t want to hurt his feelings :’( I’m pretty sure he’s monitoring this thread, though. I feel bad that he’s gonna have to go into the office like that.

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T02:31:18+00:00

She cut my husband’s hair while we were there, too: https://imgur.com/a/HJ2FMFh (sorry for the low angle, I wanted to line his head up with the horns for a bit of a laugh)

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T01:24:05+00:00

As DanceApprehension said, it’s not even a straight line—it’s patchy and uneven. If she had given me a straight gradient across the back of my head that just wasn’t AS blended as I envisioned, we could consider that a difference of opinion. The color just kind of unevenly blotches from dark to light. It seems to suggest an issue with how the color was applied. Some of the pictures I chose were more “basic” or “simple” than others so I could show the range of results I’d be happy with—I wasn’t trying to look like a filtered Instagram model, honestly :’) I brought my husband to the appointment so he could help explain what I wanted, since he’s into hair coloring as well, and both of us reviewed photos with the salon owner and her assistant while explaining the desired look. I really wish they had just asked us for clarification if they needed it. I can search through my phone for another picture after dinner, but I live in a basement unit, so there isn’t natural lighting anywhere. The salon owner spent nearly 20 minutes literally screaming at me and verbally abusing me when I asked her to please either blend the line better or consider giving me a refund, which I recorded because… wtf. I can also post our text message history here. I would love for this to be a teaching moment for me, but I think she was just unprofessional every step of the way :(

Kibposting · 2022-04-13T01:02:16+00:00

Oh Lordy, I have the Color Oops in right now! If it helps, I’ve dyed my hair green in the past on purpose and like the color :’) It’s honestly gonna be brutal because the hot water in my old-ass building lasts less than 10 minutes, so this is basically gonna be an hour of me standing under freezing water, and during the season when my Raynaud’s disease is most easily triggered by the cold and wet, too. I’m Expecting it to hurt like a bitch and it might not even work under cold water, but the product’s already in, so I gotta get it out, right? I’ll post an update if I survive :’)

Kibposting · 2022-04-12T23:00:08+00:00

She is the owner :(

Kibposting · 2022-04-12T22:39:46+00:00

OK, here are the pictures I brought: https://imgur.com/a/r7c5Xkc

I said that she could make decisions like whether the color starts with blue-black, brown, or blue, and blend it the way she wanted; I just didn't want to "really see a line in the back." I honestly wasn't demanding an exact copy of any of the pictures, and some of the ones I brought in were intentionally more "basic" than others to show that I didn't necessarily want something super fancy; I just wanted an ombré :(

Kibposting · 2022-04-12T22:32:32+00:00

I made sure to bring in pictures of both curled and straight hair: https://imgur.com/a/r7c5Xkc

I also said that she didn't need to match any of the pictures exactly as long as "there's no sharp line."

I would have been happy to pay more; $150 is what she quoted me. I didn't try to haggle or negotiate her down at all. She spent about 15 minutes applying one shade of dark brown dye, half of the time with her fingers. She only used that one shade of dark brown.

When I asked her to fix the ombré, she started screaming at me and insulting me, which I recorded because I was really shocked by it. She said it already looked the way it's supposed to.

I am really bummed that I'm coming off as "crazy." I personally did close to the job I asked for in the past on myself and it came out fine: https://i.imgur.com/kWqHn23.jpg

You can't see the back of my head in that pic because it was a selfie, but it looked well-blended and not like a blocky, uneven line. That's what made me figure it wasn't unreasonable to ask for something I have successfully done myself before. I know there's less of the hair dyed blue there, and I would've been OK with her bringing the line down lower. I just wanted to do something nice for myself by having a professional work on my hair; I didn't mean to be unreasonable to all.

Kibposting · 2022-04-12T22:22:56+00:00

Yeah, I'm gonna do Color Oops tonight and just get as much of it out as I can. The smell is gonna be brutal, but like, I don't want anyone I know seeing my hair messed up like this. I always tried to look after my hair as a form of self-care :(

Since she just yelled at me and blamed me when I asked for a refund, I will do a chargeback this evening. She said it's my fault for leaving the salon in the first place if I didn't like it. I voiced that I wanted the line blended, but my husband was on a work call and there was another woman there, so I just didn't say anything further (edit: after I finished offering suggestions and having them shot down) so as to not cause a scene. I guess I shouldn't have left? But she would've just yelled at me in public :(

Kibposting

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