Orange Berlin review: part ii

Since I did excessive describing in my Orange Berlin review: part i, I will keep these shorter. You now know the ambiance, the stylist, and the general vibe of the salon. After my initial appointment for a haircut, I have been back to Orange Berlin twice:

Highlight appointment :: December 24, 3pm
Brigitte was not very impressed with my at-home attempts at lightening my hair (neither was I) and was insistent in scheduling me for highlights on Christmas Eve so I could have "pretty Christmas and Birthday hair!" I was very appreciative.

She did a TON of foils on my head, as I have a lot of hair, and my hair was pretty dark. She was very meticulous and careful to make the streaks very tiny, but large in number, so they would look natural but cover a lot of hair. (Umm... and can I please mention that this took FOREVER? I was seriously there for FIVE HOURS.) I was so excited to go back to blonde. We flipped through the sample book to choose a toner color, and chose one on the agreement that what I was going for was "more Giselle blonde than Claudia Schiffer blonde."

Unfortunately, what I ended up with was hardly different than what I walked in with. The toner was way too dark, and even reddish. Brigitte is still stumped as to how this happened, because according to her, my hair was "very blonde" pre-toner (I never saw it, this stage was just in the sink). I told her I really wasn't happy with the color, so she used a product called Re-Light (sp?) to tone down the redness, and give it a cooler tone. I was happier with this, as it canceled out the red, and even showed a little more blonde through, as a result of re-washing my hair immediately after coloring--but it was still brown. I left very disappointed that my hair wasn't blonde. The highlights were done very well--natural, shimmery--but subtle.

Apparently, I shouldn't have ever used permanent hair-color on my naturally blonde hair when I decided to go dark. I should have used a toner, which slowly fades out, and makes for a much easier transition when wanting to go back to my natural color. I didn't even know you could buy this without being a stylist! Ugh. Going back to blonde that I want will be much harder than I thought. I tried it last May and totally hated the tone, so I re-dyed it to brown. I should have used a toner on that, and I probably could have stayed blonde. Oh well, lesson learned, I suppose?

I am noticing that the toner is indeed fading, and my highlights are surfacing.

Maybe this is the best way to transition to blonde? Switch so gradually that no one will notice? I am trying to stay positive.

I am washing my hair more often, thoroughly scrubbing with my shampoo, and rinsing with hot water to encourage the fading...but don't worry and use lots of conditioner :]

{ here is a before and after so you can at least sort of tell that, yes, my hair is a little lighter... }

Complimentary bang trim :: December 30, 3pm

This was a very pleasant and quick stop in. I had an appointment, didn't have to wait, sipped a Mimosa, got my bangs trimmed, talked with Brigitte about how my toner will soon fade and my hair will get blonder by the day, and went on my way. :]

{ photo 1 via a hilarious post on Mod Mom Furniture blog (Seriously! Go read it!); photo 2 via Think Big blog }