I'm devastated after my experience at Salon Bangles turned my hair black, which is not what I wanted or expected at all and my new look is receiving a lot of negative attention. A colleague was shocked that my bad dye job had come from a salon and not a box.
I went to Salon Bangles because they have 4.5 stars on Yelp and the prices are fair, but after this experience I will not be returning. I used to have healthy medium brown hair with caramel highlights, which I had touched up every two months or so at my old salon. Several months ago I moved to NJ, where I had to find a new salon. The first thing that went wrong with my hair is that the previous stylist went a little too warm and it had a reddish tint that intensified as it got more exposure to the sun. I was ultimately really unhappy with this and decided to go with a L'Oreal box (admittedly a bad idea) of brown color with caramel highlights. This worked out fine for a bit, but started to turn brassy over time and some of the red also started coming through again. When I went to Salon Bangles, my hair was definitely damaged (from sun and the box dye) and several different shades of color, so I was really desperate for some help, which Sal assured me he could offer.
We looked at the color palette and I selected medium brown, but he said he wanted to go with dark brown (4N) because he wanted to cover everything, going over the darkest shade in my hair to start with a fresh base, which I completely understood. I trusted his judgment even though the dark brown was definitely darker than what I wanted for my hair. When he finished, I held some hair up and told him it looked way too dark, possibly black, and he said it was because it was still wet (I didn't have it blown out there.), but when I went home and blow-dried it it was pitched black. I immediately called the salon and told Sal my hair was black and he said, "It's not black. We looked at it together and agreed it was brown," which was not true because at the salon I stated that it was much darker than anticipated.
I would have gone straight back, but I had work and when I went in I heard comments from over twenty (!!!) people about my black hair. As previously mentioned, one colleague was in awe that the color had come from a salon and not a box. I was extremely embarrassed and felt like crawling into a hole because honestly it looked like I was wearing a witch's wig.
The next day I went into Salon Bangles when they opened, explained that Sal had convinced me to go with a dark brown over medium brown and that my hair had turned black and the manager just kept insisting that it wasn't black. Every time I said it was black she said it was brown and when I told her that my mother, father, brother, brother's girlfriend, two cousins, and over twenty colleagues said it was black, she continued to repeat that it was brown. I asked her to bring me the color palette and compare it and sure enough it matched with black as opposed to brown, but she still wouldn't admit it. When I asked how we could rectify it she gave me three options: 1. Highlights (which would probably look ridiculous with my jet black hair), 2. Lightening (which would further damage my damaged hair), and 3. Waiting for it to fade. My mom had bought me a clarifying shampoo so I opted for option three and am trying to speed up the process with that and the manager at Salon Bangles gave me two deep conditioning samples since clarifying shampoo can be a little harsh.
When I got back from the salon I was still extremely upset about the whole experience and didn't even feel like going outside because I felt so uncomfortable with my appearance thanks to my jet black hair, which does not look good or natural with my complexion. My mother called the salon because she saw how distraught I was and the manager just kept insisting that it wasn't black, though she did admit that it was darker than I had wanted or asked for. What really upset me was that the manager also said Sal had warned me that my hair was porous and could absorb more color and turn darker than anticipated, but this was not the case. I only learned that this was a possibility when I talked to someone at work afterward who does hair as well. If I had had any indication whatsoever that my hair would turn black I would never have let him touch it with color. As previously mentioned, I was already hesitant about the dark brown so the black was a complete shock. Honestly, regarding color, I would have been better off with another box.
It's simply ridiculous that so many people agree that my hair is black, but Salon Bangles refuses to acknowledge it. To prove what color it is, I've uploaded a photo of me wearing a black shirt and holding up an Alex and Ani box, which is obviously known to be black, to my hair. In sum, Sal should have warned me about the consequences of dying my hair when it was so porous and I definitely would have reconsidered dying it there. read more