Need to cut hairdresser costs

orangesmartie

As a child I had very blonde hair and as I've gotten older its gotten darker, so I have it coloured by the hairdresser, roughly every 4 weeks. I try and stretch it to six but to be honest the dark roots really depress me. And my hair seems to grow really fast. Within about 10 days of it being coloured, there's regrowth obviously showing.

Really i need to reign my budget in over the next few months and I think this cost should get the boot.

Home dye kits are not really an option for me. I looked into my local college but its not particularly convenient.

So, if I went to the hairdressers and had it coloured darker, closer to my roots' colour, would this reduce how often i needed to go or would i still need to go every 4 weeks for a touch up?

Sorry if this is a daft question - I am quite clueless really!

Fuzzy_Duck

I dye my hair close to it's natural colour (basically just an enhanced shade as my natural hair is quite dull) and find my roots blend in very well. I usually end up redying because it's faded rather than because I have visible roots. If I can be bothered I dye it once a month, but I can easily go two months if necessary.

I think if you want highlights/lowlights and/or have some grey you may still need to touch it up regularly, but you might still be able to save some money using a mobile hairdresser instead.

laughingcow81

Perhaps you could try shopping around, or perhaps going to a salon where they require "models" for training?

sonnythecat

how much do you pay for your monthly highlights? And is it a whole head or T bar?

ailuro2

why not go back to your real colour with some blonde or coloured sections underneath - that way the regrowth doesn't show up but you still have some brighter bits in your hair - besides, blonde has been popular for so long it's noticeable that dark shiny brunettes are starting to come back into fashion.
it's also cheaper to just have a couple of chunks of colour than a headfull of easy-mesh.

mum2one

I know you have already mentioned the college - but def worth a try as I know our local college does evening sessions as well.

Or as others have mentioned ask around if theres model nights / trainee.

deedardingle

orangesmartie wrote: »

As a child I had very blonde hair and as I've gotten older its gotten darker, so I have it coloured by the hairdresser, roughly every 4 weeks. I try and stretch it to six but to be honest the dark roots really depress me. And my hair seems to grow really fast. Within about 10 days of it being coloured, there's regrowth obviously showing.

Really i need to reign my budget in over the next few months and I think this cost should get the boot.

This is exactly how I was a short while ago and I was also resenting the time spent at the hairdressers, when I could be doing other things. I didn't want to have my hair dyed nearer to my own colour, I just wanted to stop having it done altogether.

My hairdresser suggested having it cut into a short, spiky style and just letting the colour grow out naturally. This was a big step for me because the shortest I'd ever had my hair was a chin length bob. I decided to give it a go, thinking that if my dark roots looked really bad against the blonde, I would have it died darker just the once and then let it grow out. As it happened, by having it cut so short, my own colour appeared much lighter so the regrowth was hardly noticeable at all.

I've had my hair trimmed a couple of times since and now only the tips are coloured. As for my new short style, I absolutely love it - it's so easy to do and I've had loads of compliments saying it suits me and makes me look younger.:)

orangesmartie

Thanks for the replies.

I don't have highlights, its a solid colour. The hairdresser touches up the roots all over, not just the top, becuase if I wear my hair up, I hate seeing the roots underneath. The colour costs me £25 per month and I have a cut every three months, which in total costs £55.

I tried a mobile hairdresser and she cost £30 for the colour and a trim but to be honest I hated the colour, it always came out as a very brassy straw yellow.

Unfortunately I am very unadventurous with my hair and don't want to be a 'model' because you have to give them free rein. Deedardingle, I will think about that...could be the same for me. My hair is very long and consequently very light at the bottom, which could account for the really dark looking roots.

I don't resent the money I spend at the hairdressers because I look at it as an investment in my job, I need to look professional and smart and I think having 'good' hair is part of that package. I just think that if I were able to get out of this blonde rut I could reduce the cost a bit.

hot.chick

You don't have to give free reign to be a model - they do what you ask them to, but it's trainees that do it whilst being supervised -after all tey are learning how to be a hairdreser and part of that is doing what the client wants

jenniewb

I get my hair coloured as a model, infact I only ever get it cut as a model and coloured too whenever I can find an offer which is cheaper then the DIY boxes (not easy!). Its not about being adventurous, its about having the time. Students play it very safe, it can be frustratingly so if your not used to it. Cuts can take about 3-5 hours, colours can take about 2-3 hours and its done very slowly so they can get it as perfect as they can manage. Its rare you'll get whats called a "creative" hairdresser who will 1.be fast and 2.say at the outlay they want to be "creative". These people often need models for competitions and also they want their models to look like models (hyper slim, wicked bone structure, tall and with lots of free time) so don't worry about having anyone "set loose" on your hair to do anything, its rare and hard to find (and trust me, I have been looking!). Vidal Sassoon have a "creative" cutting school in London but it can be a little too extreme as they really do have their own ideas and don't tend to listen, they need you to be "open to everything" as its their education and not yours. But it is the only place I know who does this.

Toni and Guy have an academy, Saks have an academy both in London, and elsewhere Mahoganny hair has a training salon but also many salons will require models. If you cannot find your local beauty school as in your local salon where their students get their training.

The suggestion of highlights was a good one. It shows up far less then a block colour which is a reason why it tends to be a popular option. Its also a good idea if your hoping to grow out the colour as fact is, it is going to be expensive for the up keep.

A free colour is very rare and often only given if you have a cut with the same salon as a model and again, rare. I'd say around £15-£30 is the going price for hair to be coloured each time as a model and you really need to think seriously if you can afford this. For me, I can hold out for about 3 months between colours, yes I get roots, about 3 inch long roots! I have my hair tied back and use a colour depositing shampoo which helps but at the end of the day, there are roots. If I had the money I'd get it coloured more but fact is I don't. Unfortunately its the nature of the game, you either have to budget very very hard to afford it all or get used to having roots.