My cat passed away recently, and I wanted a way to treat myself while still recovering from the expensive vet fees. That's when I found an advertisement on Facebook marketplace for hair models from @manesbyapriljayne; I messaged her to see if she still needed participants. I was upfront about my hair history, like I always have been with my salon appointments at other places. I told her I hadn't dyed it in years, and that I was fairly certain I had cut off all the previous color.
I was super excited for this appointment as the last time I had dyed my hair was back in 2022, and I had purposefully grown out my hair since then so I could dye it when it was healthy. I even brought her Starbucks as a gesture of goodwill. I started becoming nervous when she started applying the mixture she created straight into my hair instead of placing foils on. I asked for a light brown color, so I assumed it would need to be lightened first (those with Asian hair know how stubborn it can be to lighten), but I didn't want to interrupt. She brings me back to the chair to rinse me off and applies a mixture that suddenly makes my head BURN. I thought she was applying toner, but instead, she tells me she applied a bleach bath to my head because the lightener she put on previously didn't work (obviously, it wouldn't??). I've been dying my hair since fifth grade, so I've spent many days in a salon, sitting with tons of foils under a heat lamp, so I know from personal experience that sitting with something on my head for such a short period of time isn't going to do much. When she brings me back to the chair to start finishing me off, MY HAIR IS RED. Not brown. She immediately starts blaming me, accusing me of still having previous color in my hair, and that's why my hair didn't lighten, despite my assuring her that the only thing I've done to my hair for the past three years is haircuts to chop off the blonde. I ask her to at least even out the top because it's extremely light. She begrudgingly applies more toner, which unsurprisingly doesn't do much. In an attempt to compromise, I ask if I could come back in a few days to lighten my hair again. Her response was to wait a week or two to see if I liked it, then, despite it not even being close to chocolate brown. We get to the register, and she tries to charge me the full price despite acknowledging that this wasn't the color we agreed upon. That's when I had had enough, telling her I'm not paying for something I didn't ask for. They then accused me of theft of services (it's not theft if you didn't provide the service I asked for) and called the police, who showed up three hours later to tell them they have no standing and that I was free to go LOL.
Attached, with time stamps, are photos of the various times I've had lightened hair, as well as proof of my natural hair growth. Before letting my hair rest for the past three years, I had repeatedly been blonde with no issues from various salons. (If you're in San Jose, colorme_cin does an amazing job. I also highly recommend E.hennesseystyles in Roseville, blendsbyveronica in Modesto, and thesnipsnip in Elk Grove.) I've also included the screenshots of me repeatedly telling her my hair history.
I'm not sure what kind of salon tries to charge people for hair that they messed up on or accuses clients of lying with no evidence. If you don't have experience working with Asian hair or the skillset to do so, then just say that and apologize. A quick Google search literally explains that, "Asian hair is hard to bleach due to its naturally dark pigment, coarser texture, and a thick cuticle layer packed with stubborn red and orange melanin, which requires more time and powerful lightener to lift through multiple pigment layers for a clean, pale result, often necessitating toners to neutralize brassiness". This clearly explains why my hair is red on top and black on the bottom; she did not properly lighten my hair even though she adamantly says so. Quite literally the worst salon experience ever. read more