highlighting fiasco

Hi, I'm not a stylist - just a do-it-yourselfer. But, I have kind of a similar thing going on with my hair. First of all, I'm impressed that you could use a wand and get decent results. Whenever I have tried that I get yucky bleed through dots and stripes on my surrounding hair. I have had to learn how to use foil to maike highlights. I don't like the caps because I don't have as much control.

Here is what I have learned from the boards:

1. Hair closest to your head develops higher and faster because of the heat from your head. So, bleach should be applied to the shaft and ends first and alllowed to process; the roots later to get the most even color. (And p.s. - I found this to be tricky when using foil - could use some pointers here)

2. Sounds like your hair is the typical warmish brown that goes nice and orange if you bleach it. I didn't know you could add a color corrector to bleach. I'm going to look into that, but it sounds like the color you need to add is blue. Apparently our hair is made up of blue, red, and yellow basically. When you bleach, blue is the first to disappear; red is the most resistant to bleaching. So, in order fo control the orange, blue has to be replaced. Maybe a color expert can help us both on this?

3. I don't think it sounds like you should do perm color over your whole head and "start over." That's basically what I did and ended up with the same problem only darker--the roots were still lighter than the rest of my hair. Had to use a color stripper to get the dark out of the shafts and ends of my hair because they went too dark and it dried my healthy, fine hair significantly.

4. If your roots are too light, I like your idea of getting a semi-perm color to just deepen the roots (less damaging because of the low-volume developer)--and then comb lower at the very end to blend. That's what I'm planning to do. My roots are still too light and orangey. I bought Color Charm Ash Blonde semi-perm. The ash (blue/yellow) will hopefully be just the ticket. It's hard to find just blue-based anything. I'm finding that you get to choose from ash (blue/yellow) or violet (blue/red). I would rather take my chances with ash than anything that might add more red. I am also using a bottle, not a brush to apply this time to get more control so that I only get the roots, not the rest of my hair. But,again, maybe someone can help us on this.

5. Next, as my roots grow out, I am planning to use a perm color (L'Oreal Excellence Creme - Dark Blonde #7) with a 20 volume. I read the manufacturers color book about it and it is blue based. Last time I used a 30 volume and it made my roots too light. But, I hear that gray hair needs more of a 30 devl...so, maybe it depends on how much gray you have. ???

I wrote a post similar to this - "I need minor correction help" or something a few days ago, you might want to read. My hair looks pretty good now. Quite Jennifer Annistor like with the corrections that I made. I was using 40 developer with bleach for my highlights, but tried 20 this time and I think it came out a little more natural looking.

I think I"m going to pull strips through the cap on top and lowlight it with semi-permanant. That sounds like the best deal. I would be interested to hear how you do foils at home, especially in the back. I know the cap has fallen out of favor, but it seems like it would be the easiest to control, if you could get someone to pull a few strands in the top layers of the back/crown area. Plus, if I put the lowlight color on the roots first, then through the rest of the strands only for a few minutes, then it will maybe have more color deposited. The remaining question is what to do next time when I touch up the roots as they grown out, and how to control the color.
BTW, the stuff I used I found at Sally's and it was called red/gold corrector, and it was violet. I DO want a little yellow so it will look golden honey, I just don't want the red.

give us a lesson on foil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i cant use the semi permanant color over bleach.....says it could discolor . Are yall sure I cantuse perm color??????????????????

I have had the same problem with that highlighting kit with the horrible mascara wand. I hate it. My hair is (was) the same color brown as yours before my highlighting fiasco, and there was nothing I could do to fix it. The only thing I could do was dye it all brown, and then go to a salon (later on) to see what they thought. I had brown low lights put in on top of my dye, I am still dealing with the nasty after effects 8 months later. The highlights will not come out, and I have half and half hair. The only thing I am doing now is cutting it shorter and shorter until it grows out, and dyeing it semi permanant brown as much as my hair will let me. I hope I don't scare you, but please do not mess with these highlights again. Those mascara wand home kits are horrible unless you are a trained professional.