Highlighting Advice Please!

dogsandfrogs

I just got a call that the hair stylist I've used since moving to the area 5 years ago suddenly up and quit and moved to California or something.  She has done highlights for me before, and I was planning on having her do them again about 2 weeks before the wedding (so about a month from now).  Now that she's gone, I have to trust someone else to do it!  I'm so picky about my hair, and any other time I've had someone else do my hair it always ends up too bright.

My question is, should I stick with my original timing plan of doing it in a month and keep my fingers crossed that whoever does it can do it well, or should I try to do it earlier (and risk root growth) so there's time to get it fixed if it goes wrong?

irishangieb

I would stick with your original plan.  If you go too early, you'll risk having a good amount of new growth. You could go now, get a highlight and then go again about 2 weeks before the wedding and get a "retouch" where the stylist will pull through some highlights just to make it so that there isn't a line of demarcation.

As a stylist, I'd personally suggest sticking to your original plan. If your highlights are too bright you can have them "tone" them.  Toner is a demipermanent color that will be able to "tone" down the color of your hair.  OR depending on your color, most get shades of blonde highlights, and the color is more platinum than honey....the toner will change the tone of your highlight from a cool (ash) to a warm (honey).  Just make sure to speak up, you wont hurt your stylist's (a good stylist's) feelings if you tell him/her that you're not in love with what they've done.  They would MUCH rather have you walk out of the salon happy. 

good luck!!

dogsandfrogs

Thanks for the advice!  I used to get my hair highlighted on a regular schedule, but it was one of the things I cut out to save for the wedding.  I still have some of the old color closer about halfway down my hair (how fast my hair grows is INSANE), so I'm hoping I can point at it and go "I want this, just, you know, in all of my hair"

I always feel bad about speaking up about not liking what someone has done, I feel like I'm insulting their work, so it's nice to hear it from someone on that side that you actually aren't going to be offended if I say it's not quite what I wanted.  I appreciate it!

irishangieb

No prob, I'm happy to help!  I can only speak from personal experience and the conversations I've had with other stylists, but yeah....speak up...always, but especially for your wedding!!! All stylists, good ones, ones that care, never want a client walking out even slightly unhappy with their hair.  I know I've personally stayed hours later than I had planned on for two different occassions to make someone happy, once she wanted more highlights ( thought there weren't enough) and another time, the color wasn't exactly what she wanted.  Its our job and we do hair because we love it and cannot make money unless we retain clients.

Hopefully the person you go to will be great and become your new stylist since your old one left!!

Also... if you already have highlights in part of your hair, your stylist should be able to have a pretty good idea of the effect you're looking for.  The one thing I will say though, depending on what color youre after, sometimes blondes can get brassy or faded as time goes on (if its halfway down your head, its probably been a while).  Your stylist should be able to highlight the new growth and sort of "fan" the color through the part that's already highlighted. That way the highlights will be blended and look great but it won't be as damaging to the hair that's already been highlighted.  A color gloss might be a great thing to consider too, just to give your hair a really pretty shine and restore some moisture.  it'll be great for your pictures, not to mention your color wont fade as fast and your hair will feel amazing!!

Good luck!!