"My 14 year old client Noa came in for her consultation about 4 months prior to her appointment," says Alyssa Wiener (@lysseon) of Sylin' Salon, Norwalk, Connecticut. "Her hair was mostly virgin besides the ends - which were a faded purple, done with splat - dirty blonde and down to her waist. She wanted a deep blue to light blue ombre. I was so excited! I never get my hands on virgin hair. I told her that as long as she doesn't touch it until our service, everything would look just like her inspiration photo."

The week before the appointment, and Wiener received a call from her mother. "Noa wants to cut off all of her hair," she told her. "She wants to make sure it can still be blue." Wiener said this no problem, and to tell Noa to bring some inspiration photos of haircuts.

Noa was the last client on a loooong Saturday. "I wish I had a video recording of my face when she came in," she says. "They had not informed me that Noa had taken matters into her own hands and bleached her hair about a month before. Her mom said one thing, Noa said another. Regardless, it was lightened and covered with a splattered Manic Panic rainbow."

Instead of panic, Wiener got all professional. "I suggested we might not be able to get her to blue...purple might happen, but I try not to promise things. I said the color would be determined after we cut and lightened it."

Here the artist shares the steps for this dramatic transformation:

Step 1:  As part of the consultation, ask her for photos of the desired cut and color.  "She had none whatsoever, so I pulled up Pinterest and tried to find something she was into, but I don't even think she knew. So I said, I'm just going to start cutting - I think this will work with your curl pattern nicely."

Step 2: Lighten the freshly cut hair with Wella Blondor + 30vol + Brazilian Bond Builder.

Step 3: Process for about half an hour. "Fortunately it lifted out the hot pink spots I was worried about. She came up to a clean canvas." Shampoo and dry completely.

Step 4: Mix 2 different blues:

Blue 1 - Urban Shock Blue + Joico Sapphire Blue

Blue 2 - A dollop of conditioner + Manic Panic Voodoo Blue (my favorite, it's in my hair currently. I always go back to it.)

Step 5: Apply the first blue formula to the shorter parts, and then as the hair gets longer do so at the roots and melt the lighter blue through the ends. Process according to the manufacturers instructions.

Step 6:  Rinse out in cold water ("I typically never shampoo my vivids") and fine tune the haircut. 

"Moral of the story is...be prepared for anything!"