Hi everyone ! First of all, I am from Belgium 🙂 My natural color is a dark blonde, and I have lightened it for a few years using a John Frieda lightening spray. I really liked the end result, my hair was golden blonde but I knew I couldn't keep going using that product as it was damaging my thin hair. Recently, I tried to become a strawberry blonde and went to a salon to dye it. I loved the result but I didn't know anything about hair porosity : the colour wore off after 3 days because my hair had become overporous. The hairsalon made me feel guilty for using the spray, saying I had ruined my hair and that I would never be able to hold a colour until everything had grown back, which they told me would take up to 5 years (I have quite long hair). I don't feel like the spray caused that much damage. I have always deep conditioned my hair at every wash, and only washed it once or twice a week. I have some split ends which is normal in my opinion as I have a lot of hair and it is very thin, but it doesn't feel dry, the ends move and aren't stiff. Bleaching or using peroxide isn't that common in Belgium, and hairdressers tend to be very defensive when it comes to dealing with bleached hair.
For the past 2 months, I have let my roots grow and the rest of my hair is back to peroxide blonde. I haven't applied any heat on it and used oils, masks and conditioners. But I still very much wish to be a strawberry blonde. I have done some research and I came upon protein fillers. If I am correct, that product will allow my hair porosity to go back to a more normal state (along with care and deep conditioning), which will make the color hold this time.
The problem is, hairdressers in Belgium aren't really up to date with that kind of product, most salons don't even know what Olaplex is for example. I had a really hard time finding a protein filler that shipped to Belgium, I don't even think there is a french translation for it. Now my problem is : I know that the dye must be applied right on top of the filler so I would need to bring the protein filler with me to my hair salon...
- Will the hairdresser feel offended that I would pretend to know more about hair then they do ? (since they didn't seem to know about protein fillers)
- Will it be weird to ask them to use it before the dye ?
I'm afraid they'll find this product weird and won't believe me about what it can do. "I researched it on the Internet" doesn't really sound serious to a hairdresser... Sorry for the long post but I hope you understand my problem 🙂 Thanks in advance !
Posted : February 1, 2017 9:25 pm
I'm a bit confused why the filler would be used before the dye? The filler adds protein (temporarily, it washes out) that's been taken away by using the dye. Also, what dye? Blonde dye? Bleach?
And, sorry, but the hairdresser is right. Those lightening sprays are absolutely awful for hair. They're up there as the worst products you can use for the condition and strength of your hair.
Posted : February 2, 2017 11:18 am
Hi, thanks for your answer ! This is how I've read the neutral protein filler (Colorful Neutral Protein Filler) must be used in order to hold the colour (in my case it would be a strawberry blonde) : the filler would even out the porosity of my hair and the colour wouldn't glide off as it had when I first colored my hair. That's just based on the research I've done, I could be wrong of course.
And I'm not saying I don't agree with my hairdresser when he said the spray was damaging : of course it was and I've read horror stories of people having used that product. I'm never touching that again ! I may have sounded bitter because that hairstylist actually contributed to damaging my hair even more by trying to retouch my roots (which were a bit too red) with even more red, and I ended up with terrible hot red roots. He then proceeded to tell me it was because of the lighting in the salon etc but then the owner saw what he did, scolded him and fixed my hair 🙂 I think he was angry of his mistake and was a bit rude when he told me I had ruined my hair. But of course I agree, it damaged my hair. Though I wouldn't say it ruined it, that's all 🙂
Posted : February 2, 2017 12:12 pm
Protein fillers and porosity equalising sprays are quite common in the US, they are applied before a hair colour to "fill in the gaps" in the hair so the colour will go on more evenly. The effect is limited if you have really damaged hair though. Regular Olaplex no. 3 treatments are also meant to improve the porosity of damaged hair.
You can only ask the salon, they might agree or they might say no.
You could use semi-permanent dyes to get a strawberry blonde shade I think. These are non-damaging and you could reapply as often as you want.
Posted : February 2, 2017 12:17 pm
I am not really sure what you want to explain to them.
you mentioned olaplex which is not a protein filler at all; it is a bond reconstructor.
If you already have a protein filler, cant you just use it yourself at home?
As Janine said, protein fillers are temporary and wash out so the condition of your hair is not really going to improve in the long term. Olaplex would help but it is very expensive to get a hold of if you dont work at a salon. You can google salons that use it and go there. There are some in Belgium as there is a specific olaplex website for there. You just need to take time and find one.
Posted : February 2, 2017 12:17 pm
Thanks everyone ! I just used Olaplex as an example to show that we don't always have the newest products in Belgium, I don't necessarily want to use it 🙂 kababra, you're right, that's how I would like the protein filler to work : fill in the gaps in order to make the color hold. Then maybe it won't have any effect since I used that spray for so long ? And I would use a "coloring shampoo" (that's the term the hairdresser used, maybe it's the equivalent of semi-permanent dye ?) as I did the first time, which is not damaging
Posted : February 2, 2017 12:23 pm
I've used protein fillers when I was using red hair dye and it did make it last a good bit longer. But I mixed mine right in with my hair dye, and I got the one that was specifically formulated for holding red hair dye longer, I could get a good 6 weeks before my hair faded, and a full 2 months before I was even touching up my roots and it still blended nicely, but like I said I only did it for red hair, I'm not sure how they would work for all colors.
Posted : February 2, 2017 2:29 pm
Same thing for me i have used red protein fillers for my red hair and found it held the color for me for a good 2 months. I used protein filler twice which gave my hair some time to grow so i could get some of the damage trimmed off without losing the length.
It does help to hold the red when you have very damaged hair like my ends were. No idea how it would work with the clear protein fillers for blonde, i think part of the reason red works so well is that the filler itself is actually red.
Posted : February 21, 2017 6:46 pm
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