ibm girl
New Member
I am really annoyed. REALLY. Where do I begin? The frustration of continuing to believe in another stylist who is clearly letting me down? The fact that I still have (relatively speaking, anyway) a decent head of hair, in spite of all the trauma said stylist has inflicted over the last two years? My fear of starting the process of looking for a stylist (I canNOT self-relax) all over again? I miss my guy in Miami!!! But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
I moved to Michigan from Miami two years ago for a new job. I felt fortunate to have found my new stylist quite by accident...there was a salon in the building where my new employer had arranged my temporary housing. Clean place, he did a nice job, used affirm relaxers. Everyone's hair at the shop looked great...lots of naturals getting blown out. Yes, he was a bit more expensive than I was used to paying, but all's cool.
From the beginning, he was begging to put highlights in. After a few months (this is all before finding LHCF, by the way), I agreed...stunned to see him putting the color in the same day as the relaxer. But, since my hair didn't fall out and the color looked good, no problem. I balked at putting the color in as often as he would have liked because I was still a little unnerved by the relax/color/one sitting business, but each time he put highlights in, I had to remind him that my job dictated a more subtle, less showy kind of look than he was giving me. I also noticed that all the growth I was getting during the time I lived in Miami was g-o-n-e. ??
The day before leaving on a flight for my wedding, I had an appointment with him...couldn't find someone who could do a relaxer in Rome, so I didn't have much choice...I was going to be there two weeks prior to the wedding. I was nearly blonde (I'll try to attach photos later). I couldn't do anything about it since I was getting on a plane, so three weeks later when I returned, he darkened it. By this time, I had discovered this board, so I started stretching relaxers and refused more color.
Fast forward to May. My bosses want a more natural, subtle look. (gosh, subtle sounds kind of familiar...Oh, that's exactly what I've been saying for months, but someone doesn't want to listen. and I frankly, am trying to avoid looking for a new guy. Shame on me) So my hairdresser agrees to come in and look at how my hair looks and talks to the consultants. They provide him with a sketch of the "look" they're going for and several times talk about 'chocolate' and 'warmth' and 'depth' and my 'natural color'...which is clearly evident since the last highlights I had were in OCTOBER. He even zipped me over to the salon for a quick wash and style to show what he could do. We're all happy, all on the same page...excited with my impending fabulosity. Right.
To spare you all the ugly details, when he turned me around in the chair three days after this meeting with my hair soaked...I'm thinking, "Gee, maybe he's doing the base color first and then those jazzy chocolately highlights will come later?" Yeah, um...no. The xxxx was straight BLACK. His response was the best part. "Girl, you just don't remember your natural hair color! Just wait 'til it's dry and under the lights, you'll see."
OK, it's dry and OK, it's still black. And as for me not remembering my own hair color? The girl who had about four inches of it grown in???!!! WTF?? I take digital photos at home, check it in the sunlight the next morning. Black. On Monday when I go into work, my boss says it's black. Where's the depth? He wants to send me to get it taken care of immediately. Friday...exactly one week later, I'm back at a salon where they do not deal with relaxed hair (I was the ONLY person of color there besides a towel lady) and after five hours, got the look I was supposed to have in the first place. By the grace of god (and I think the vitamin regimen I started after finding LHCF) I still have any hair at all!
P.S. My FORMER stylist insists my hair is not black, it's called Sable...and despite what my boss says, everyone in my life says, the lights say, and every person on the PLANET besides Stevie Wonder, Jose Feliciano and Amadou and Mariam can clearly see...it's dark brown. Silly, silly me! This stylist should know better. I certainly know better now. I may be flying back to Miami just to get someone who takes caring for a relaxed head of hair a lot more seriously. What I need now (besides a new, local stylist) is advice on caring for fragile, color-treated relaxed tresses. My last relaxer was at the end of March...I'd love to come out of it, but I'm afraid my hair might not be able to handle much more abuse. *Whew!* I feel a lot better now!
I moved to Michigan from Miami two years ago for a new job. I felt fortunate to have found my new stylist quite by accident...there was a salon in the building where my new employer had arranged my temporary housing. Clean place, he did a nice job, used affirm relaxers. Everyone's hair at the shop looked great...lots of naturals getting blown out. Yes, he was a bit more expensive than I was used to paying, but all's cool.
From the beginning, he was begging to put highlights in. After a few months (this is all before finding LHCF, by the way), I agreed...stunned to see him putting the color in the same day as the relaxer. But, since my hair didn't fall out and the color looked good, no problem. I balked at putting the color in as often as he would have liked because I was still a little unnerved by the relax/color/one sitting business, but each time he put highlights in, I had to remind him that my job dictated a more subtle, less showy kind of look than he was giving me. I also noticed that all the growth I was getting during the time I lived in Miami was g-o-n-e. ??
The day before leaving on a flight for my wedding, I had an appointment with him...couldn't find someone who could do a relaxer in Rome, so I didn't have much choice...I was going to be there two weeks prior to the wedding. I was nearly blonde (I'll try to attach photos later). I couldn't do anything about it since I was getting on a plane, so three weeks later when I returned, he darkened it. By this time, I had discovered this board, so I started stretching relaxers and refused more color.
Fast forward to May. My bosses want a more natural, subtle look. (gosh, subtle sounds kind of familiar...Oh, that's exactly what I've been saying for months, but someone doesn't want to listen. and I frankly, am trying to avoid looking for a new guy. Shame on me) So my hairdresser agrees to come in and look at how my hair looks and talks to the consultants. They provide him with a sketch of the "look" they're going for and several times talk about 'chocolate' and 'warmth' and 'depth' and my 'natural color'...which is clearly evident since the last highlights I had were in OCTOBER. He even zipped me over to the salon for a quick wash and style to show what he could do. We're all happy, all on the same page...excited with my impending fabulosity. Right.
To spare you all the ugly details, when he turned me around in the chair three days after this meeting with my hair soaked...I'm thinking, "Gee, maybe he's doing the base color first and then those jazzy chocolately highlights will come later?" Yeah, um...no. The xxxx was straight BLACK. His response was the best part. "Girl, you just don't remember your natural hair color! Just wait 'til it's dry and under the lights, you'll see."
OK, it's dry and OK, it's still black. And as for me not remembering my own hair color? The girl who had about four inches of it grown in???!!! WTF?? I take digital photos at home, check it in the sunlight the next morning. Black. On Monday when I go into work, my boss says it's black. Where's the depth? He wants to send me to get it taken care of immediately. Friday...exactly one week later, I'm back at a salon where they do not deal with relaxed hair (I was the ONLY person of color there besides a towel lady) and after five hours, got the look I was supposed to have in the first place. By the grace of god (and I think the vitamin regimen I started after finding LHCF) I still have any hair at all!
P.S. My FORMER stylist insists my hair is not black, it's called Sable...and despite what my boss says, everyone in my life says, the lights say, and every person on the PLANET besides Stevie Wonder, Jose Feliciano and Amadou and Mariam can clearly see...it's dark brown. Silly, silly me! This stylist should know better. I certainly know better now. I may be flying back to Miami just to get someone who takes caring for a relaxed head of hair a lot more seriously. What I need now (besides a new, local stylist) is advice on caring for fragile, color-treated relaxed tresses. My last relaxer was at the end of March...I'd love to come out of it, but I'm afraid my hair might not be able to handle much more abuse. *Whew!* I feel a lot better now!
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Anyway, I'm sorry to hear about your color fiasco. I'm in the midst of one now myself. I hope everything works out for you.
It took a few weeks for me to catch on that I should not have done this, and even though I don't see any breakage in that area, it is dry, so I've been making sure that part gets moisturized good. I also deep condition my hair, so it doesn't look that bad.
erplexed Heat, backcombing, you name it...ugh.
