Why your balayage turned orange

Indian hair is dark because it holds a lot of red and orange pigment underneath the black. Lightener removes that pigment in a sequence — black, then brown, then red, then orange, then yellow. It cannot skip a stage.

So when a balayage goes brassy, what has usually happened is that the lightener was rinsed at orange. Toner was then put over the top, which neutralises orange for a few washes. Once the toner goes, the orange that was always there comes back. Nothing has changed except that the thing covering it has gone.

This is why a correction takes longer than the original service and sometimes needs two sittings. You are not re-colouring; you are finishing a lift that was stopped early, then toning what is actually underneath.

What to ask before you sit down: how many levels of lift this will take on your hair, whether that is achievable in one sitting, and what the plan is if it is not. A straight answer to that question is the whole difference between colour that lasts and colour that looks fine for a fortnight.

At AMI, colour is quoted after that conversation rather than before it, and the tube is opened in front of you.