Hello my lovelies,
I know the blog has been a little more quiet than usual this week, but fear not, I am still here and I am preparing a few outfit posts and other goodies for you!
For this week's Skin Deep post, I wanted to know your hair dying stories. I think after a long while, I am going to go back to my natural brown to give my hair and skin a rest. All the bleaching I do to keep it whitish blonde is doing nothing good for my body so I think I need a break. Since I have been dying my hair for at least 11 years, if not more, I feel that I have tried a lot of things, products and techniques, so I'm going to share a few with you today. I'm not a hairdresser or an expert but I do my dying at home (only having been to a salon a couple of times) so I'm happy to share my experiences with you knowing that you are probably capable of achieving similar results on your own
Blonde/White Blonde: was achieved by doing at least 2-3 40 volume bleach sessions with a built in blue toner and washing with a purple tinted shampoo to keep it bright. This really hurts your hair and I wouldn't recommend it for longer hair that doesn't get a trim often, trust me, your ends will thank me.
True Orange/Ginger: For this colour I had to bleach my hair once, up to that awful yellow orange that brown hair turns after being bleached, the nice thing is that you don't have to do multiple bleaches. I then applied a Live colour over top and left it on for a minimum of an hour before rinsing.
Blue: This required 2 bleaches and then the application of the blue - you can see there is still a bit of yellow/green where the blue didn't take. Getting a proper full blue head is tough and getting it out to go back to blonde for another light colour is extremely difficult as well so consider your future plans before going blue.
Pillar Box Red: This is similar to the orange/ginger, you want all the dark pigment out of your hair so the colour really pops. On my naturally dark brown hair, 1 bleach session was sufficient to bring it up to a brassy yellow blonde before applying a Live true red colour.
Ash Blonde/Lilac: This colour was achieved by having bleached several times over 2 months, but then doing a purple rinse. I will say that you never know what is going to come of doing this, it was hard to tell but I was happy with the results. Also, when doing a silver or purple rinse, check your ingredients as some contain a bleaching agent which could lighten your hair and not give you the grey/lilac effect.
Dark Brown: This is my go to colour when I need a break - slap a dark almost black brown over top of my many colours and I often find that I get full coverage and a nice colour. I use whatever is cheap at Boots, like a Clairol colour for example as I find them to be very similar out of the box. This is slightly darker than my natural colour so roots don't usually show too much.
Purple/Lilac: For this colour I had the first photo taken after being at the salon. I had a student do it for me, going from an auburn colour to this. I am happy to report that she used all the same products that I use at home. A 40 Volume developer and bleach, doing 2 sessions in a couple of hours, followed by two applications of the lilac Directions dye. It's hard to see in the photo, but the coverage still wasn't great. I loved the colour but it is so hard to lift out reds so there were light redish patched in certain areas. If you blonde hair this will be easy but for us darker heads this is a tough colour to get. The second photo is a month later, after another bleach at home and a darker purple over top - this time I got it bang on I think and it faded into a lovely light lilac grey.
Flamingo Pink: Flamingo pink required 3 bleach sessions and a lot of sad split ends but I loved the colour so much. Before the colour, I needed my hair to be almost white blonde - a toner is key here. The colour also faded in about 4 washes, being a Stargazer colour.
So there you have it, it's scary but all of these photos are from only 1 and half years so I do a lot to my little head. My top tips would be as follows:
1. Make sure you consider the health of your hair - mine is very thick and grows quick and I keep it short, so my options are more flexible as my ends get cut often.
2. How much time do you have - can you keep it up?
3. Have hair treatments/masks at the ready for when your hair needs it.
If you have any colour related questions I will definately try and help so get in touch by email toodalookatie @ gmail.com or
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XX ToodalooKatie
