Hair Disasters and Their Remedies

Did you ever walk into a beauty salon for a trim or perm only to come out like you were fitted with a wig—your hair, or rather your hairstyle, didn’t quite belong to you. Or, having been drawn to their attractive come-ons, you ask for a subtle hair coloring job and got a total makeover instead.

If this ever happens to you, you need not hide behind dark glasses and scarves until your hair grows out. Hair experts always say that most disasters—no matter how horrible—can be remedied.

Here are some hair disasters and their remedies.

1. The perm that took too well - Don’t be tempted to straighten your curls with a solution to  relax the hair, unless very necessary. It contains harsh chemicals, so you could end up with severely damaged hair. If you have the patience and need no drastic solution, use a good re-moisturizing conditioner after each shampoo to restore the hair’s elasticity, curb bad ends and give your hair the illusion of being straighter. Next set your dryer on cool as you gently pull a natural-bristle brush through to stretch hair. If you prefer even straighter hair, wrap large, barely damp sections around 2-inch-wide rollers and allow drying for 10 minutes. When you comb through your hair, you’ll have soft, smooth waves rather than ringlets.

2. Hair color from hell - You wanted to warm your dark brown hair by adding a hint of red, but you wound up with glow-in-the-dark, semi-permanent auburn. How do you calm the color until it washes out in a couple of months?

First, remove the red tint, say the hair coloring experts. This is best done at a salon with a removal kit. Then, hair needs to be re-colored since it will probably look bright red. The expert recommends using a semi-permanent product to bring it closer to your natural shade. Re-coloring can be done immediately after color removal.

3. Zebra stripes – When your highlights come out looking like stripes, you need to consult a colorist about a process called reverse highlighting. This involves using a non- or low-peroxide tint in a smoky shade just a bit lighter than your natural hair color, weaving the tint through the hair in the same way highlighting is done. The new color offsets any brassiness and helps reduce the thickness of the streaks.

4. Lackluster color - You tried to cover your gray with a medium-brunette tint—your natural color, or so you thought. But the result is a mousey brown. Is there anything to do besides grow it out?

Fortunately, yes. Your professional colorist can remove all the color, then recolor it in the right shade—a golden or reddish brown. When a medium-brown tint turns a woman’s hair mousey brown, it’s probably because an ash brown was chosen, which doesn’t capture and reflect light well. Also, using ash brown on hair that has a touch of yellow results in green since ash colors are green- or blue-based.