When “warm” doesn’t mean brown

When you hear someone say they want a “warm hair color” what color do you think of? Do you immediately think “red”? If you do, you’re in the 99 percentile. That remaining 1%?…. would be me.

I got my hair done yesterday. This would be the cut and color I went on and on about that would cost $300 that I deemed justifiable a month ago. The same cut and color I knew would be amazing and perfect and completely worth the money. I have good news for you… it only cost $200. Amazing, right?? Is that a better amount to swallow? It was for me when he told me the amount was under $200 before tip!

I’ll be honest though, the appointment wasn’t the smoothest of appointments. We each had pictures of the color I wanted. We discussed for 20 minutes the coloring, what I wanted, how I wanted to look and what the end result would be. I said “warm” a lot. She said “red” a lot and we agreed I wanted “warmth” that would have some “red” tones in it…

I was incredibly excited as she mixed it all together while I waited.

She began slathering it on and I began taking note of the color drying on my scalp. Red.

I told myself I wouldn’t freak out. Its only the “dried” color, it won’t actually look like that, but couldn’t hold in me commenting on the “red” I was seeing. She assured me not to worry and said to wait until it was all washed out. So I calmed down and sent a sneak peak to Instagram thinking I’d trick everyone into believing I was going red!

Little did I know, I was actually going red!

After it got washed out, I went into their dark restroom and noticed parts of hair poking out of the towel and forced myself to wait until I returned to the brightly lit chair to see if what I was seeing was real, before truly freaking out. I sat down, the towel gets removed and I begin to freak out.

Its Irish copper orange!

I wait as she starts blow drying on the chance it magically darkens when I couldn’t take it anymore and blurt out, “It’s ORANGE!! It’s Irish copper orange! Like I’m from Ireland!”

She immediately shut off the blow dryer and asked if its “too warm”. I’m staring at her with my eyes bugging out, wondering how we went so wrong and what the heck does “too warm” mean! She has me jump up to take me back to the sink where she put a toner on to darken it up. I’m not laughing anymore. I’m tense. She keeps reassuring me it’ll work out and soften the warmth considerably so I’d be happy with it.

I’m back in the seat and staring hard at my hair in the mirror. Its darker but still quite red. I never wanted red! I wanted a dark brown. A warm brown! A brown that I thought meant having red undertones but an ultimate brown! She dried the roots and asked how I was feeling, and I didn’t need to respond, my eyes did all the talking. They showed panic! At that point, we talked about what I was truly wanting. How warm to me meant a rich dark brown and warm to her meant red.

We thought we were on the same page the entire time. It wasn’t until we were 2 hours into the appointment that we were truly on the same page, and that meant the third coloring of the day…dark brown. I still couldn’t relax and it was obvious she was freaking out too with how much I was freaking out.

After the last rinse, I stare in the mirror and see just small traces of red. She dried it and I began to relax. Its just what I wanted. The “rich dark warm brown” I envisioned in my head. We’re able to laugh and joke about it as she began cutting my hair to perfection. Fixing all the mistakes made by past stylists, giving me exactly the cut I’ve wanted for months.

The formula for the 3rd color was written down and saved. We now both know what I want and how I want it without even needing to discuss it any further. I’ll be able to walk in, say I want it just like the last time (minus the freak outs) and sit back since I know it will be done right.

My favorite stylist didn’t disappoint. She did what she thought I wanted, fixed it twice when it wasn’t, until it was right and gave me the best haircut I’ve had all year. I walked away a very happy customer.

And as I got into G-man’s truck (did you know I’m with G-man??) the first thing he says is, “its BROWN!”. Clearly he expected red after I told him it would be “warmer”.

What do I know!?

Pin It Now!