I have been known to take some risk when it comes to the products I review. I actually try them on meself: the skincare, the hair products, the hair color, even crazy stylists & makeup artists who have done nutty things to my face or hair.
Things I have done in the name of reviews & beauty
1) the colorist #1 who turned my hair orange
2) the next 4 colorists who helped me to correct that problem
3) the hair-smoothing treatment that took my then curly hair to bone straight for more than a year and left my hair thrashed.
4) the make-up artist who made me the exact copy of everyone else with foundation that didn’t match and a blotchy finish that left me looking like a patchwork quilt.
6) the stylist who cut my hair the exact opposite of what I asked for
7) the stylist who during a blow-out ripped 2 of 3 extensions right out of my head (She knew they were ther)
8) the stylist who upon hearing that I wanted a touch-up on my hair color (just roots and a couple of face-framing highlights. Max 7 foils I told her) decided she would do something different and she did a complete weave and it was the wrong color for me!
9) the facial I got that had me breaking out 4 days later and it took 4 weeks to get my skin to calm down
Talk about awkward moments when I get home and look at myself in the mirror. The worst part of awkward moments is when it takes a significant amount of time and effort to put me back to rights. ( I can’t say that the hair that was attached to the extensions is ever going to grow back!)
There are a lot more things I could go into but I think you get the drift. It’s interesting doing what I do– test products on myself to see how the products work out for the non-celebs like you and me. Why do I qualify that statement? Because for people like you and me, we aren’t celebrities and we don’t have stylists or colorists running to bail us out of mess-ups that we get ourselves into. We have to PAY for things to get fixed and it’s not always a quick fix.
The worst part of being a personal guinea pig for the sake of the blog is when I do it to myself.
I have written about eSalon.com and how much I like the product (and I do love their products! I use them on my hair and I do it myself. I buy them happily knowing that the color is perfect for me). This summer I had been pretty dedicated to adjusting the color on my personal profile on eSalon.com.
I have used it several times and had interviewed the people at eSalon.com and think their product is stunning. I know I have highlights. It’s what makes my hair blonde…. and keeps me looking like me. (Wait till you hear what Alan Eschenberg from Belegenza Hair products says in a podcast about that). I don’t always follow instructions. I have turned my hair (yes, I did it to myself) copper penny, gray, purplish wine and a few other colors out there from the point of high school to a few years ago. But those were box colors gone wrong. The most recent wrong was about a month ago. I had read the instructions on eSalon.com and the box and the one thing I NEVER did was follow the instructions completely. There’s a segment where after you have the hair color rinsed out that you add a little water to left-over color in the applicator bottle and rinse it through your hair to make hair shiny. I had always skipped that. I don’t know what prompted me to think I should do this other than “shiny hair” spoke to me.
So I did just what the instructions said – despite that I knew that I shouldn’t because it would dilute the highlights. I never asked the eSalon.com people about this. Why? I don’t know. I just thought maybe I should try it “once” . I left the color on just a couple of minutes (2 minutes tops). I didn’t apply it to all my hair . (Again, I don’t know why) The result was less than stellar and indicative that I can pull a really stupid move. Stupid doesn’t begin to tell you how I felt when I saw how RED it was from roots to half way down the hair shaft. The kind word that another stylist gave me was rather strawberry blonde. YIKES!!
The day I did this was the same day I did the google hangout test with Adam Levine (not that Adam Levine: the WrappiT Adam Levine!) I saw my hair on the monitor and the video and about died.
I was too embarrassed to contact eSalon.com to tell them I screwed up.
It was redder than it had been since I stopped being red (had auburn hair at one time) . I hated it so much that I called a stylist friend who helped me at least get highlights back in the hair — and I was very clear that it had to be very very neutral and not a whisper of RED in the formula.
That pricey move bought me some time!
When I realized that didn’t work out as well as I hoped, I knew I had no choice but to turn to eSalon.com to help me out. I had about 4-5 photos taken and uploaded them to my profile and posted a note that was a plea for help removing the red.
Thankfully Estelle Baumhauer and her crew worked out the color issues!
So now the color is back to beautifully blonde and here’s the photo that Estelle took of me when we met up for lunch about 2 weeks ago (from the date when this post goes live!)
The hair is great — and we were heading to get my hair cut that day – and you will see/hear about that too!
The point I am trying to make here is that if I can make silly mistakes that really ruin the look, the best thing you can do is try eSalon.com and have their expert team work with you on the phone to help you “right” your hair back to a shade you love – because I love mine!
There’s a lot more new stuff coming from eSalon.com and you will be kept in the loop and new products and new trend news! It’s really fascinating to hear — and learn about the trends on runways and how to adapt them for the use of most women.
One thing that really comes to mind when I look back at this series of events is that if you have highlights do not do the ‘shine’ rinse with the left-over color in the bottle! It will cover your highlights quite a bit and you will be unhappy. Also if you have questions, call the people at eSalon.com! They want you to be happy. I find the products to be stellar and I can’t get the same color from a box that I get from eSalon.com
Many thanks to Estelle Baumhauer and her team of color wizards. They are remarkable!!
Bisous!
Stevie who is very happy with her hair.
Stevie Wilson,
LA-Story.com
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Reading your article on “Who Saves Me from Hair Disasters? eSalon.com “Saves Me BIG TIME! #haircolordisaster” I found it very informative. Thanks for your own opinion on this topic. Look forward to read more article on this topic.
It looks perfect and natural. I had green hair to the point that I was told by a stylist I had to live through the karma…you can truly ruin your hair.
red is such a tricky colour. I once ended up russian red thanks to some bad hairdressing. it takes a lot to get it back to normal so well done estelle