Maggie Ly from David's Hair and Nail, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, specializes in haircolor and color corrections. "My guest had her hair lightened before somewhere else then gave up maintaining her color," says Ly about this situation. "She box dyed her hair red twice to cover up her old color. When she came to me, her hair was in bad shape. She is Asian and her hair wasn't strong or coarse as expected. It was soft and limp, almost 'mushy'. She wanted to go back to light, possibly blonde, if she could. I explained to her that I would take her to her goal if she was committed to go all the way with me on my plan." Ly then added that "she must also be committed to coming back to maintain it and never to box dye her hair again. My idea was to safely remove the red dye in a few sessions, 3 months apart,  because of her budget and hair integrity. I didn't want to overprocess her hair even when I use Olaplex. She agreed."

FIRST SESSION:
Formula: Wella Blondor lightener+40vol+Olaplex.
Tone all over with ISO I.Color 6NA+6vol.
"I used a classic foil placement with bleach to remove about 60% of her box dye. It toned most of the red, and she had a nice soft natural brown to start with."

SECOND SESSION (pictured here), 3 months after the first session:
STEP 1: Prelighten by using the same formula, but fewer foils, adding some balayage.
STEP 2: Base Color (shadow roots): 6NA+10vol+Olaplex
STEP 3: Front sides and top foils: 9AA+10vol+Olaplex
STEP 4: Tone the rest of her hair with: ISO Illuminate 8V+6vol+Olaplex.

Ly has arranged to see her client in 3 months. (MODERN will follow up!)

Ly adds this advice to all of her color clients: "It's not a race to get to your hair goals. We will get there some day, please be patient. My intention. for my guests, is to always go for strong, healthy, shiny, amazing looking hair. We must communicate, and stick with our plan together."

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