Vibrant Pink Ombre for Short Hair

Been a while. I'll skip the obligatory apology about being busy if you'll forgive my neglect of the blog :) Deal? Deal.

 

So...I have pink hair now. I think the last post was about going Copper or lightening the red I had for most of last year. I have been continuing to work on removing the red, slowly and as healthy as I could. I have basically been growing my roots out (turns out, my natural color is pretty nice and super shiny, WHO KNEW!!) and slowly lightening my ends. I've been rocking a pretty balayage look for a few months, ended up cutting a lot of the red out and was left with not my favorite haircut ever if I'm honest.

I just know it needs to be done, so I'm dealing with it. In the meantime, because I don't want to further damage my ends by any more bleaching, lifting or color removing...I decided semi permanent colors without developer would be a fun thing to appease my antsyness and also the healthier option for my hair.

I used to have fun colored streaks in my hair (aqua streak, cobalt blue streak, fuschia streak) and when I did I really loved the Ion Color Brilliance Brights line. I used Fuschia (their spelling) and had great results. Since then they've also added a Neon selection to their line so I decided to leave my natural roots alone and do the blonde bits a mix of the Hottie Pink and Fuschia.

I eventually want it to fade to a more pastel rosy pink but thought I'd go bright at first just for fun. I really love it! These colors are so user friendly, very affordable and pretty much goof proof. Fuschia is very pigmented and still the most impressive of all the colors I've tried. Hottie Pink is a lot more subtle but goes nicely with the Fuschia for more dimension. I think Rose and Flamingo are next on my list!

DIY Super Blonde Using Drugstore Products

If you follow my twitter you know I've been on a mission for super blonde hair for about 2 weeks. I've been going slow so as not to fry my hair and I would not recommend that you do this in a 2 week span because it was not awesome for my hair. Buuuutttt...I got the color I wanted at home for about $30. So, that's a win in my book. As always, I'm not a professional. OBVIOUSLY. This is just what worked for my hair to get it the color I wanted.

I have never been this blonde. I've never done an all over blonde before, just highlights which can only get you so far. I just decided to be brave and try something new, which is hard for me. Mostly because I am impatient and I hated the idea of walking around with hair I didn't love while going through the process. But I did it and I think it was worth it for me!

ROOTS!!!! The horror.

 

I started with DIY highlighted hair with about 2 inch roots. I decided that I wanted to lift the base and then highlight to get it all over blonder without going platinum. I still wanted some highlights. So, basically I bleached my roots out with powder bleach and 30 vol on the scalp developer, washed, dried and then covered my whole hair with an all over high lift blonde (ION High Lift Ash Blonde) to get a uniform base. I then toned it all and left it alone for about a week to calm down. It was definitely blonder, but not a pretty blonde in my opinion. Kind of a dingy blonde. Which was fine, it was just the base color.



After All Over Color and Toning

Way blonder, but blah...

 

I used 2 boxes of the High Lift Ash Blonde with 40 vol developer all over my hair, processed about 45 minutes

1 box of T18 (formerly White Lady) Wella Toner with 20 vol developer, left on about 8 minutes

 



I then went back in and had to highlight twice. First, I used Revlon Frost n Glow and it looked like this. Good, but not quite there yet. It was still a little too brassy for my liking.

 



 

I was going to use the same kit the second time but the store I went to was out of it so I tried a different kit, which I kind of fell head over heels in love with. I have never used this kit before and am kind of kicking myself over not trying it. It's the L'Oreal Frost and Design kit in Champagne. It's about $4 more than the Revlon kit but it has a lot more products in the kit. It contains a lot more bleach (I have to buy 2 Revlon kits for the length of my hair and 1 L'Oreal kit did my whole head with leftover product). It also has a protectant cream that goes in the bleach which makes it this almost creamy whipped texture that is super easy to work with. It has a toning rinse included which I think is just genius. It left my hair feeling soft and not fried and also a perfect shade of blonde. I will definitely be switching to this kit from now on.



Holy Grail Drugstore Highlighting Kit. For real.

Anywhoo, after several different processes I basically went from dishwater blonde with highlights to all over blonde with platinum and honey strands mixed in. I couldn't be happier with the results! I am trying to minimize heat tools for a while to let it recover from this crazy blonde ambition, so please excuse the boring, straight hair. But you can see the color results pretty clearly. Love, love, love!

 

 

 

August Favorites

Summer is officially over. Little man started first grade today and I'm wearing jeans so with that, here's my list of favorite items for the month of August!

1. Ion Smooth Solutions Keratin Shampoo and Conditioner. I got these with a BOGO coupon from Sally's and kind of fell in love. They are sulfate free, no sodium chloride and feel so nice in the hair. Usually sulfate free shampoos leave my hair a tangly mess, but not this one. The conditioner is a bit thinner than I'm used to but works really well!


photo courtesy of sallybeauty.com


2. Earthly Body Marrakesh X High Tide leave in conditioner. My girlfriend gets this for me at a real beauty supply store and I can't live without it. There are 3 different scents, I prefer the High Tide one. This spray contains hemp and argan oils and detangles, controls frizzies, seals in hair color, protects hair from the sun, prevents split ends, all the good happy things you want for your hair.


photo courtesy of amazon.com

 3. Revlon ColorStay Liquid Eye Pen in Blackened Brown. I was on a no eyeliner kick for most of the summer but started using this again lately and remembered why it's so awesome. It's just the easiest eyeliner ever and it stays PUT.



photo courtesy of revlon.com





4. MAC Paint Pot in Bare Study. I seriously think I abandoned all other paint pots when I fell for Maybelline Color Tattoo in Bad to the Bronze, but changed it up in August and started using Bare Study again. I still think that the Color Tattoo's are more bang for your buck, but I just love the color of Bare Study. It's a peachy champagne that is so pretty under lighter eyeshadow colors.

photo courtesy of amazon.com


5. Hair Stylers Mesh Chignon. I've been pretty obsessed with sockbuns this summer and especially in August. I've made my own at home and also use this one I got at Sally's. It is the perfect shape, weight and texture. It holds your hair in the bun without getting heavy and doesn't move. LOVE this thing!



photo courtesy of sallybeauty.com



Blonde Hair Care

I get bored every so often and try to go darker, but I always come back to blonde. I feel better blonder, my husband loves it and it really is my favorite look. After about 4 months of my natural color I've slowly started going blonder. I do my own hair, mostly because I'm very picky and if it goes wrong at least I have no one to blame but myself. Going as blonde as I like can be really hard on your hair and blonde hair can fade pretty fast so I have a few little tips to keep your blonde looking as pretty and bright as the day you got it done.

Trim often. I know for girls like me growing your hair out, trimming seems counterintuitive. But bleach will dry your ends up really quick and unless you trim that part off about every 6-8 weeks your hair is more prone to breakage and will not look pretty and/or healthy. Keep your ends clean!

Deep condition. I use ION Extreme Moisture Cream once or twice a week. Let me tell you, this stuff is THICK. I apply it over wet hair, comb through and then wrap it in a towl for about 30 minutes while I do other things around the house. Rinse it in cool (not cold) water. Makes your hair so happy!

Purple Shampoo...this stuff is a MUST with any blonde hair color. I used to use Shimmer Lights but never cared for the smell. It smells "old" to me. I switched to Shiny Silver a few years ago and never looked back. It smells much better and is more moisturizing on my hair. I use this about every other wash and leave it in about 2-3 minutes to neutralize any brassy tones working their way in. This is a product I ALWAYS have on hand.

Limit heat tools. I try to really only use styling tools once or twice a week. I usually Wash and blow dry Monday, Dry Shampoo Tuesday, Wash and let Air Dry on Wednesday, Dry Shampoo Thursday and then Wash and Blow Dry Friday. I just wash and let it dry on it's own on the weekends unless we are going out or I need it to look nice. It really helps keep my blond looking fresher and helps keep the damage to a minimum so I can grow it out. There's no point in having long hair that looks fried.

Moisturize. I really swear by using oils on my hair. I only use them from the jaw down, never near the scalp or I'd be a greaseball. The ones I really like are MoroccanOil, Aveda Light Elements Smoothing Fluid and Pearatin (Smells so good!!).