This Super-Long Ombré Hair Transformation Is a Feat of Color-Correction Magic

Earlier this year, I went through the emotional Space Mountain that is finding myself with a horrendous, unwanted hair-dyeing result and subsequent seriously excellent color correction, the latter of which was achieved by a reputable professional in just a few hours. But that was more or less a miracle; depending on the starting point and the goal, not all corrections can — or should — happen in a day, and colorist Hannah Edelman recently shared an example of why it's worth the wait.

"BEFORE YOU SAVE THIS FOR INSPO, please know, Jasmin has been my client for YEARS, comes in 3-4 times a year, and cumulatively has spent $1000s," Edelman wrote in one of the captions of the most recent photos she posted of her client, Jasmin, whose hair truly is inspirational. Her thick, waist-length waves are all her own — no extensions — and the incredible ombré is the stuff of highlighted dreams. But the amount of hair Jasmin has, her naturally nearly-black color, and the fact that this started out as — brace yourself — a box-color correction all contributed to the lengthy journey.

"Jasmin had many layers of black, brown, and red box color of all different brands. Because she has so much hair, it was unevenly applied," Edelman tells Allure, explaining that most people who color their own long hair don't realize one box isn't enough. "There were areas of warm brown, some reddish spots, dark bands, lighter brown bands, and then her natural black hair at the root."

From there, Jasmin initially wanted a dimensional brunette, but, "Quickly after, the blonde bug bit and we’ve been going lighter ever since," Edelman says. But anything resembling blonde was still a ways off — and that's a good thing. "Anytime there is as intense of a color history as hers, all bets are off. I explained, your hair could lighten, or it could turn bright orange, or it could also do absolutely nothing." And initially, in November 2016, it lifted to "a million shades of red, brown, and orange."

Jasmin visited Edelman a month later for another round, and the photos she posted to Instagram reveal a beautiful medium brown with significantly less red. "Jasmin has box colored her hair black, red, and brown '7 or 8 times' and has coarse, straight, level 2 hair. In other words, very difficult to lift! If you have box colored your hair, prepare to remain some form of brunette for a while," Edelman wrote in the caption. "I'm sure there are colorists out there who will take a more aggressive approach, but it ain't me."

The next time Edelman posted about Jasmin's hair in May 2017, blonde was finally starting to rear its gorgeous head. "This is Jasmin's hair after drastically thinning it out," she wrote in the Instagram caption. "This is our third session working through layers of brown, red, and black box color. Her hair pulls impossibly warm every time and I would always need to tone her down, so to get have any type of blonde is cause for celebration!"

Edelman tells Allure that for the first few appointments, she did full painting using the balayage technique, but then switched to foils and color melting Jasmin's toners, bringing us to 2018.

"As time goes on, her color has become cooler in tone and lighter," Edelman tells Allure. "It’s a smoother, more perfect blend every time. Now her maintenance is relatively easy — usually foil, a partial highlight, which takes care of the hair in her crown area. Essentially it’s a veil of brightness. In six months or so, I’ll go through and foil all of her hair."

Clearly, the patience paid off, because Jasmin's hair looks incredible, and it's still in great condition — a lesson for anyone who's in search of making a major change to long, box-colored hair. "Hair is a porous, sensitive material. Even innocuous things like air, water, sunlight will affect the hair cuticle. More obviously, bad products, heat-styling and coloring will compromise the hair as well," Edelman explains. "If you compound these damaging things for seven to ten years — the approximate age of bum-length ends — you can see why long hair simply isn’t robust enough for aggressive coloring. If you push the chemical envelope just a tiny bit too much, you could be in for years of growing before it’s back to how it was."

More must-see color corrections:

• This Woman’s Hair Transformation Took Her From Blue to Super-Silky Brown

• How My Colorist Corrected My Splotchy Hair-Dye Mess Without a Drop of Bleach

• This Woman's Transformation From Brown and Pink to Platinum Blonde Is Truly Epic

Now check out 100 years of blonde hair:

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