The German Hair Experience - before and after photos

About 4 weeks ago I had my hair cut and colored off base. Ms. INGA (everyone here is Helga or Inga) said she could lighten my roots and give me a trim - no problem. "It will be EASY" she says. Easy for her, the process was a nightmare for me.

I endured 2.5  hours with a plastic dry cleaning bag over me, a cup of hot coffee, sci-fi hair heater along with a moderate hangover. It was a personal sauna, and I wanted to THROW UP.

See the plastic bag? Who does this?

The hair cut was 'MEH' and the color looked 'ok'. 3 shampoos later, the color had washed out and it was a frizzy BRASSY mess thanks to dull scissors and extra hard German water.

YESTERDAY:
I rode Fifi into another town and found a very clean, modern and English speaking hair salon. Yes, it's called 'HAIR FORCE' (I know, it's a cheesy name but I really wanted it to be great). The prices were good and the OWNER herself was happy to squeeze me in.

Without going into extreme detail, she put bleach on my roots and walked away. I knew what was happening, but I WAS STUCK. If I had her rinse the bleach out, it would be YELLOW. If it stays in I'll have WHITE ROOTS and yellow ends.

I CONVINCED MYSELF she had toner. After a horrifying shampoo (an entirely different post), I was rewarded with YELLOW SUPERHERO HAIR.

I tell her its too bright, and she says, "Nooooo... I think its pretty. This is perfect. You stupid American are just not used to it".

"Do you have toner", I ask?

She says, "What? What is this toner you talk about? No-no, your hair is pretty just like this" .

I wanted to spaz, but me 'CHUCKING A TANTY' (thanks Luan for the Australian lingo!) was not going to help.  I was screwed. Did I tell you Mr. C is flying in next week? Great, between the gun and my new hair - he's now dating a bonafide superhero.

ON TO THE HAIR CUT: There was no magazine flipping going on here. I watched her scissors like an SNIPER watches their target. Then I don't know what happened, but with a speedy move she snuck in an EXTRA SNIP on my bangs (with thinning shears no less).  Fantastic, I now have 5 year old like bangs along with my YELLOW hair. 

THANK GOD I had shipped toner from the states as a precautionary measure. Take a gander at the before and after photos: 

See how yellow it is? The tips are white in the back (bottom) and at the roots.

Natural lighting. This is so bad!!!!!



I put conditioner on the tips to keep them from turning purple.



 2 tbsp of toner, 4 tbsp of developer.



Shampoo'd twice and put on a deep conditioner, wrapped in saran wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes. The color is now 95% even - and no more yellow!

I can live with this.

I was able to fix the color problem, and I can disguise the bad haircut with plenty of product. Now the trick will be to see what tap water does to this color. I might have to start using bottled water, which would be a complete pain.

Does anyone else have a hair horror story? How do you screen a good hairdresser when no one around you has good hair AND there is a language barrier.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just found your blog via Ramblin' Blonde!

Oh goodness! Your hair is lovely. I wish I could work platinum blonde! :)

I have several hair horror stories...
Here are a couple...
1. Age 19 - Wanted highlights, ended up w/ platinum blonde hair all over. Called the Hubs (then fiance) to cancel our picnic b/c it was so awful. Not to mention that Hubs really isn't into blonde hair.
2. Age 16 - For some reason, I thought it would be a *good idea* to get my hair cut on Halloween. Not only did I end up with a mullet, but it took three hours and I was supposed to be at home passing out candy to trick or treaters.

Normally, I would say to interview other people with good cuts and color, but you say that isn't an option. :(

I would love to find an awesome hairdresser. There's not even a language barrier here! I use a lady now that does an excellent trim for bangs and long hair and also cuts an excellent asymmetric cut (longer in the front, shorter in the back), but I haven't tried her for color yet.

Hot Pink Combat Boots said...

Hi Tangled in Texas!!

A mullet? OMG - you have me beat, hands down. The hair cut took long enough that you missed out on handing out candy? Thats alot layering! What is the saying about that style......PARTY IN THE BACK AND BUSINESS UP FRONT? Ha. Any pics to share???

Anonymous said...

Bahahaha! Unfortunately I don't think I have any pictures (thank goodness!) My mom might though...I am dying to buy a scanner so I can upload pics from years ago!

Yes, the hairdresser just kept talking and talking and cutting and cutting...then I realized three hours had passed!

I'm kinda jealous that you're getting to experience Germany. I took German for three years in high school and just fell in love with the language, the culture, the people. Hoping we get to visit Europe before we're too old!

Selina. said...
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Selina. said...

i think the hair looks cute although i can't see the bangs so can't comment. i wish i had a hair horror story to share (well i don't but..) i however am scared sh*tless of cutting my hair because i always hate how it looks and have not cute it in about 2 years and prior to that it was 3 years.

yay thanks for following ^^, yeah well i live with him so see him all the time but i can't wait to show him off to my friends and family <3

Ramblin' Blonde said...

OMG I think I would be livid! The work you did yourself looks great and you cannot even tell that a hairdresser yellowed your hair!

Anonymous said...

bad hair situations=story of my life. i dont even know where i would begin.

but i like your final result alot!

Hannah said...

Gosh you are so brave! If that had happened to me, I would probably cry, lock myself up and inevitably 'do a Britney' ie. Shave it all off!

I admire your strength and determination Michelle! You are a braver woman than I could ever be :o)

xxxx

Anonymous said...

omg, i'm so sorry love! i hear ya w finding a good hairdresser. the color look sgreat now though thankfully! i got your post card and i'm so stoked! i'll be hunting an awesome one down for you this weekend and it should be in the mail by monday!

Kristen from Love Lipstick and Pearls
http://lovelipstickandpearls.blogspot.com/

(blogger comments is still being lame)

Unknown said...

omg....why did you go to the hairdresser if you had all those hair tricks.....I think Mr. C would like a supershero......put on your mime costume, a cape and your supershero hair....hum never know what might happen....said the minister

Jello♥ said...

oh my... you talked about it so i was kinda curious to know what the whole thing was all about... they're no 2 ways about it... it sux. bad hair stories however... i have tones. TONES! worse of the worse would of been my decision to bring my hair back to blonde...from black... 2 months before my wedding!!! oh and i forgot to mention; trying to bleach hair at home has to be the worse decision of all! ever since i've been paying for it... should i mention the fake RED extensions i once had or the extensions glues onto my head??? oh boy, am i ever so glad "that" periode is over in my life.
thanks for sharing tho ; )

Jello

Unknown said...

oh yes...I have a great hair story...two weeks before Big Daddy and I were to get married--big church wedding by the way, Big Daddy bought himself a new beard trimmer thing....which had hairclippers like the barber--se my hair illiteracy. Well I was at work and i get a call and he says, "I've shaved a part in my hair"...(that was when basketball players and stuff were shaving stuff and designs in their hair). I think no big deal..
omg...I get home and Big Daddy has shaved the state of Idaho right in the middle of his head...after I got off the floor laughing, I called my beautification specialist (my hairdresser) and begged her to come to my house...
she told me to put on a cap and bring him to the shop....
when he took off the cap..her mouth fell open and she almost died from the laughter. The only thing she could do was a complete shave down....two weeks before the wedding.....smile....that's life with Big daddy....you hair looks fab you did a great job

Nikki's World said...

Michelle to be honest with you. before you got this hair cut I loved your original do. Your hair inspires me for my next hair cut. I might have to let my hair grow some more before I can get my hair like urs. I love your style of cut.

Green Tea and Cupcakes said...

I cant believe how well you fixed it all up it looks so good now. Many haircut disasters but my worst is my eyebrows, my eyebrows are quite big and I like them that way. I went in with eyebrows and came out with the thinest eyebrows you can ever imaginge. I decided to color my hair a bright red hoping people would be to busy looking at my hair to notice my eyebrows. It didnt work everybody even men noticed my lack of eyebrows.

Sarah Elisabeth said...

You have such nice hair! I envy you for being able to have it so short, not everybody can make short hair work but for you it totally works!

Unknown said...

wow, what a hair catastrophe that you missed! I can't believe you were able to fix this so easily.

I think the cut looks really pretty on you :)

Talitha xx

Claudia Moser said...

Well Michelle, I have a very good hairdresser 100km away from you, wanna try? :)

Hot Pink Combat Boots said...

Hi Everyone!! I'm on a quick break for lunch and have been dying to respond.

JELLO: you went from black to blonde? AND you've dealt with bad extensions (red, no less)? Wow, I too would be claiming bad hair. So what is your hair goal now?? Are you still growing it out? It always looks cute in your photos.

Does anyone have pics of these horrible hair days?

Ms. HANNAH - I am not brave, I'm desperate. Huge difference. Most girls would darken thier hair so they wouldn't have to deal with the maintenance of color. If I was smart I woudl do the same thing. But noooooo... I have to have impossible platinum hair. I bring on my own drama. :)

NIKKI - I think my old angled bob would look fantastic on you. It takes daily straight ironing to pull off the look.

Hot Pink Combat Boots said...

PLEEMILLER - your comments crack me up. Its funny your husband is the one with the bad hair story. Its usually us girls messing around with extreme colors or perms. Hey - no one has mentioned a perm yet.....

Ms. GREEN TEA AND CUPCAKES: Eyebrows - that is almost worse than bad hair since it can change your entire face. Did you paint them back on? Ha.


Thanks to everyone for thier VERY KIND comments. I was LUCKY it turned out, considering it should have broken off or fallen out after that much time with bleach on it. Only 4 more weeks until I have to go through this process again. Ugh.

Exciting upcoming post - there were NEW CELEBRITIES at WORK TODAY!!!!

Aimeecakes said...

You've done an amazing job of fixing your hair - it looks awesome now!

I've had the yellow hair deal before, back in school I wasn't allowed to have crazily coloured hair like I wanted, so in the Summer holidays I'd dye it pink, blue, red, green.... and then the weekend before going back to school I'd chuck a bunch of bleaches through it (seriously, I'm lucky to still HAVE hair. it was after one of these bleach-a-thons that someone told me I looked like a character out of the Simpsons.

I also tried to go straight from bleached blonde to black and ended up with a lovely shade of grey....

Aimeecakes said...
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The Fashionable Traveler said...

Oh dear! Finding a good hairdresser when relocating is a problem that we don't talk about enough. My hairdresser and I joke that our "relationship" has lasted longer than either of our romantic relationships.

When I moved to Little Rock, my Dallas hairdresser wrote my formula down a card, and told me not to go to anyone that didn't use goodwill products (they had the best red's back then) I didn't follow her advise and came home feeling like a cat that had been shaved. I wanted to hide....needless to say, I"ve been with Tim, my current hairdresser ever since.

Tanya said...

I don't have any hair horror stories, but I always go pretty safe. Dark hair is really hard to screw up. I have an appointment for some bring red highlights on tuesday, so hey, maybe i'll have a story for you then :D

Vern said...

OMG what a fricken nightmare!! Please let me know if I can send you anything!!!! When does C arrive?!? J was telling me we need to cut back on trips this year since the much anticipated Europe trip needs to be planned.. I told him that there will be no compromising our trip to WA when you return AND our annual;) Miss you sooooooooooooooooo much.