So I'm pretty experienced at dying my own hair since my mom was trained as a hair dresser and I've been dying my hair on and off since I was a teenager. I changed jobs and moved states this year so I really haven't done anything to my hair in a really long time. When I saw an ad for eSalon I figured it couldn't be riskier then boxed dye (spoiler alert: it can and it was) so I gave it a shot.

My hair is naturally light brown/dark blonde and I hadn't dyed my hair in a LONG time so that was the shade I was at when this adventure started. I took their little quiz and selected my desired shade as a light to medium cool blonde (only a few shades lighter then my natural color). Things arrived in a timely manner and they even provided free additional color because my hair is long and thick. The directions weren't really all that different from boxed dye and could have been a little confusing if you didn't have hair dying experience. I followed the directions to the letter (even if I was unsure if some of them would give the best results). My hair was minimally lightened (maybe by one shade) and SUPER brassy. I looked like I had a penny on my head. Considering I indicated I wanted a cool blonde, this was unacceptable. I notified the company and they responded by giving me a credit for my next color and sending me a toner to help with the brassiness.

I should have cut bait right here but you know what they say about hindsight. I figured they would really fix things by adjusting my color for my next order and decided to use the toner product so I could stand to look at myself in the mirror in the meantime. I have never had this happen with a toner before (I usually use a blue shade toner and what they sent was purple) but it didn't just decrease the brassiness but it also darkened the overall shade of my hair. So now my hair is more or less back to it's natural color except with lingering brassy undertones (which I still hate).

I probably would have gone to a salon and said fix this but with Covid 19 that wasn't really an option, so I stayed the course. When it was time for my next color shipment I uploaded new pictures of my hair so they could see the current shade and indicated I wanted the color to be lighter and cooler (like the color I had originally selected). In the comments section where you indicate that you want a color adjustment I outlined the whole situation up to this point including the lingering brassiness and the darkening effects of the toner.

After my new color was formulated and it was too late to cancel it I get an email from my "stylist" stating that the color can't be lightened because color can't lift color (duh) but if I want my hair lighter I would be a "great candidate" for their lightening set and that I could purchase that from their website (it's 35 dollars, btw). She even noted that if I ordered it soon it could be shipped with my upcoming color (you know the one it was too late to cancel).

So it is here that it hits me the kind of scam they are running. They $#*! up your hair and make little to no attempt to fix it and then try to sell you more expensive products to get the results you had initially been looking for. Super shady company and business practices and the products really aren't Salon quality. They are maybe a half a step above boxed dye at best. If you really want to dye your hair the boxed stuff is probably safer because its not just a scam to sell you a lightener kit later on.