Warning: Took me 5 hours to fix a bad toner job I thought was fine in 20 minutes

So last week I had a client who wanted a cool ash blonde, and I used a toner I had used before no problem. But I rushed the application, didn't check the processing time close enough, and it came out this weird muddy greenish color. I thought I could just throw another toner on top and fix it, but that made it worse. Ended up spending almost 5 hours doing a color correction, stripping it back and starting over. That whole day was shot and I had to reschedule two other clients. My advice is always test a small strand first and set a timer, don't trust your gut on timing. Has anyone else had a toner turn on them like that or was it just my bad luck?

2 comments

2 Comments

umathompson2h ago

Ugh that greenish muddy color is the worst, I've been there lol. What worked for me was using a red shampoo first before even trying to re tone, it helped cancel out the green so the new toner actually stuck right. Also learned the hard way to always slap that timer on my phone the second I start applying, no more guessing games with processing time.

evaallen1h ago

Oh the timer thing is genius, @umathompson, I totally need to start doing that because I always end up forgetting and leaving it on way too long (which is how I got the greenish muddy disaster in the first place lol). Actually your red shampoo tip reminded me of this time a friend of mine dyed her hair at home and ended up with this weird orangey-brass mess, and she tried using a blue shampoo to fix it but somehow it turned her hair purple instead. It was like a whole science experiment gone wrong in her bathroom, but she ended up just rocking the purple for a week until she could get to a salon. I guess the lesson is these color-correcting shampoos are powerful stuff, you gotta be careful with them or you end up with a whole new problem on your hands.