The Worst Beauty Blunders and How to Deal!

So you tried to do your hair at home and ended up with a disaster? Join the club of, um, every girl that has ever lived. Seriously, I’ve done and seen it all when it comes to beauty blunders and I’m here to tell you not to panic! Even if it’s Saturday night before date night and your hairdresser can’t see you until Tuesday afternoon, there is a short-term fix to keep you looking fabulous all weekend long. So relax, take a deep breath and let me show you exactly how to work with those uneven bangs or get that tangled brush out of your hair!

Problem: You got a little overzealous with the kitchen scissors and now have too short, uneven bangs.

Solution: First, section the bangs into two separate sections while the hair is dry. Take a horizontal parting halfway through the bangs and clip the top section out of the way while getting ready to work with the bottom section. Take a medium tooth comb and comb straight down onto the forehead to where you can see the uneven perimeter line. While keeping the comb in place to use as a guideline to trace out your new perimeter line, follow your shorter length and cut along the comb line until the whole perimeter is nearly the same length or as close to it as can be.

Then, take your top section down and holding directly out from the forehead, cut into the length from the bottom. This is called “point cutting” and it will allow your bangs to look less dramatic and lay a bit wispier, taking away from the heaviness and making it look much more intentional.

Lastly, wet down the fringe area and blowdry straight down onto the forehead without the use of a roundbrush. Finger the hair back and forth across the forehead to give extra volume and texture while drying. If you can push your bangs to the side and wear as a shorter, side-swept look, do so and spray with hairspray to hold. If they are looking much better as a front facing fringe, rock them that way.

Problem: You tried to color your hair at home and ended up with bright roots.

Solution: If you just bought a box and tried to lift the hair to another level and ended up with orange roots, then put a hat or headband on and get your butt to the nearest Ulta or Beauty Brands. There, you will find a product called Color Wow. This product can be applied to your roots and in just minutes, give you the pigment on your roots to match the rest of your hair. It washes out with shampoo and works instantly so that you can look put together all weekend long. I would suggest buying and applying a shade that’s one level darker than your ends because it will need to be dark enough to cover up the orange or brighter tone. Doing so should give you a perfect match between the ends and the freshly color roots. For $35 and five minutes in the morning, this is a pretty solid short-term solution before getting in to your hairdresser.

Problem: You followed a tutorial online on how to cut layers and ended up with disconnected chunks.

Solution: I am so horrified seeing these ponytail layer tutorials going around. No disrespect at all to my sisters teaching others about beauty, but I remember letting my older brother do this to my hair when I was in middle school. And then I remember having to wear a short bob for the next year because all this did was take unapologetic chunks out of my fine hair and I could no longer wear it long. As a professional, I would never recommend doing this. If you have found yourself on the losing end of this battle like me, I have a great short term solution.

You’ll probably need a friend to help you out with the sectioning in the back, but in any case, start by taking small vertical sections all around your head and keeping them separated with clips. Start on one side of the head, taking your vertical section and holding it straight out from the head. Look at the length of the top and bottom of the section and take note of the difference. Using the same “point cutting” motion from our fringe disaster above, cut into the hair to even out the difference in length between the top and bottom of the section. Don’t cut more than you need to, just enough to even out the layers.

Then, take down your next section and hold it out from the head at the exact same angle as the first section you cut. Use the same cutting motion and keep moving around the head section by section, keeping your angle the same as your move along. When you take your hair down, your layers will still be uneven because they haven’t been cut on a guideline to be the same length, but they should lay much more blended and connected. You shouldn’t see any chunks or heaviness. To rock your hair through the weekend while waiting to see a hairdresser, add some curl or movement to take away from the uneven length of the layers.

Problem: You took a too-hot curling iron to your hair and ended up burning a section.

Solution: Hopefully you’ve ended up with a better situation than the girl who lost a huge chunk of hair. But seriously, who didn’t laugh until they cried watching her reaction? First things first: let’s prevent this from happening again! Get yourself a heat protect-ant immediately and turn down that curling iron. You shouldn’t need your iron on higher than 350-400 degrees, depending on the hair type. Also, when curling at home, you should never leave the iron on the hair for more than 7 seconds according to the amazing Ted Gibson. He also suggests not using heat tools on a daily basis, which I completely agree with.

My biggest recommendation would be to repair the hair that was damaged. For this, I recommend Pureology’s Essential Repair Split End Correcting Treatment. This miracle product uses jasmine, rosewood and ylang ylang to help seal split ends that have been severely damaged. All you have to do is apply it to damp hair and leave it in! Over time, this amazing product will help repair those broken, burned ends. If, however, you need a quick fix through the weekend, add some texture or curl, clip one side back with a bobby pin and rock a retro look to hide the piece you need to grow out.

Problem: You were a little sloppy with that at home color and stained your forehead.

Solution: This one is an interesting problem as every woman has experienced it and though it may seem that it can ruin your weekend, it’s actually really easy to fix! If you still have some hair color left, rub a little bit of your color onto the stains you have on your forehead, ears or wherever the stains are. Color will remove color, so if you can get to it quick enough, you’ll be in the clear! However, if the color has set a bit too long and the color does not take the stain away, there is another household trick you can try. Grab a small piece of a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (because who doesn’t use these?) and work the color stain away with that. Just be very gentle as the eraser can be harsh if you work it in too aggressively. But if you work slowly in gentle circles, you’ll be completely clear from color stains in no time!

Problem: While attempting to round brush, you got a chunk of hair stuck in the brush and it won’t come out!

Solution: First, take your conditioner (I suggest the oil or deep conditioner shown above) and rub it all through the hair on the brush and even inside the brush if you can get to it. Then, add a little bit of heat from the blowdryer to the hair. Be careful not to leave it on too long because the heat will travel quickly through the conditioner to the brush and you don’t want to end up damaging your hair, but a little shot of hot air will help to loosen it up. From there, you can work the hair at the end of the brush out and continue in to the center until all the hair can be finger-combed out of the brush. Add more of the conditioner or oil if you need to as you work the brush out, but just be sure to work slowly and cautiously. This technique is pretty foolproof, but in order to avoid having to cut any hair, you’ll have to take your time.

Obviously, these are all quick fixes for when you need to fix a beauty blunder on the fly because sometimes you just don’t have the time to make it in to the salon and you still need to look fabulous! As a professional, my overall recommendation would be to check with your hairdresser when you can get to her and give her the final say on helping you fix any problems you run into!

**I am so happy to announce to all of you amazing Gigglers that I have been nominated for the People’s Choice Award as Favorite Hairdresser in Colorado for the 303 Magazine Hairstyling Awards. I would love to ask any of you that read my column here to please submit your vote for me if you’d like to see me take the title when the winner is announced April 6th! I would be so appreciative and grateful for the support and regardless, I want to say a huge thank you to those who have shown me and this column love! ? If you are interested in helping a sister out, you can submit your vote here!