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!

Crimson, Red, Auburn, Burgundy...It's all GOOD!

Ta-da! Another hair change, what's new??!!

This color has been one in the deep compartments of my brain for a VERY long time. I've always been obsessed with dark red hair. I've had the underneath section of my hair died various shades of red multiple times but could never dive all the way in and go for it all over. My dalliances with any shade other than a blonde have usually just been deep brown. Until now!

I was in Sally's a few days ago picking up some supplies and saw that they carry a new line of hair color from Clairol. My hair has always gotten good results with any version of Clairol hair color so I was interested. It's called Flare. It's a permanent cream color with a built in gloss. Sounds great...then I read the first line about Alpha-Red Technology and was like, DO IT!

sallybeauty.com

 

I actually ended up buying 6 tubes of different colors and figured I'd come up with the color recipe later. What I ended up using was 2 ounces of the 4BB (Light Intense Brown-Chocolate), 1 3/4 ounces of the 3RRV (Intense Red Violet-Crimson) and 1/4 ounce of the 5VVR (Light Intense Violet Red-Burgundy). Ounces are clearly marked on the side of the tube which makes measuring super easy. 4 ounces of the Flare 20 volume developer and apply with brush and bowl and GLOVES. For the love of all things holy use gloves!! I applied vaseline around my hairline, ears and neck, then I sectioned my hair off into quarters and applied in small, thin sections. I don't ever just flop dye on my hair and hope for the best. The neater you apply, the better your coverage. Make sure to saturate each strand and be tidy. I let it sit about an hour, on accident. I started cooking dinner in the middle of processing and kind of got distracted. Rinsed, and rinsed, and rinsed and rinsed some more with cool water until it ran mostly clear (oh my gosh my shower looked like some kind of gory halloween set.). Applied a leave in conditioner and let it mostly air dry before blow drying the final bit. I would not go to bed with this hair color wet...you'll end up with pink pillows. So definitely wash and dry before bed or wash in the morning. Also, use OLD towels for the first few washes.



Scary red on...turned VERY dark, almost black before I rinsed it off.

Makeup-free and RED! Fresh after drying and crappy kitchen lighting!

I know that from going so blonde to this color I will have some definite fade out for the first few times I touch up. I plan to combat with cool rinses, skipping as much shampoo as I can, using sulfate free shampoo and making a red conditioner. I found a recipe mixing Manic Panic with a deep conditioner and using once a week, we'll see if it helps.

So far...I am completely in love. I just feel so DIFFERENT with red hair, but it's so much fun and talk about SHINE. Blondes never get shine. It also definitely makes blue eyes POP! It's not a natural red color but also not a "punk red" or clowny red. It's a flattering unnatural shade I think.

I am really impressed with the "Flare" colors. They are thick and creamy and don't smell too offensive. It really deposited the color I was hoping for and the color is deep and rich. My hair was left soft and vibrant, I will definitely use this line of colors again and highly recommend.

Blondes Have More Fun? DIY Platinum Blonde

This post is going to be all about how I went platinum blonde by myself and without completely thrashing my hair. I've said it before, I'm not a professional. I am just an experienced at home hair colorer who likes to share her experiences. These are just my opinions on what works for my hair. It takes patience and a willingness to have less than desirable results in between stages, but it's worth it to take longer and get good results than to rush it and melt off your hair.

If you've read this blog for any length of time you will notice that I am pretty willing to experiment with my hair and I change it a lot. I've been brown, burgundy, blonde, blonde with fire engine red underneath, blonde with pink and turquoise streaks, short, long and everything in between. But I always feel my best blonde. I've just never been brave enough to go blonde all over without changing it back fairly quickly. I tried it before and just couldn't get it the color I wanted so I went darker. Since then I've been highlighting it myself with foils at home and as it does, it just got blonder and blonder and it was getting hard to get the roots as blonde as the rest of my hair. I knew I didn't want to add lowlights so I took the jump and just went for it.

This time, I am actually super pleased with it and loving the results. It's a brave look for me, it's a comittment to keeping up with the roots and using all the right products to keep it platinum and not brassy. But for now, it's worth it and I wanted to share how I did it in case anyone is interested.

To start, this is pretty much my regular hair color...

That lovely mousey dark blonde shade. It's fine but I just feel like it's very blah on ME, personally. And that hottie is my cute mama.

So after 2 or 3 rounds of DIY highlights in foils I got to this point. It's a medium blonde that goes brassy very easily. Not exactly the end result I wanted.

 

After about 3 more foil sessions (over 2 month period) I got this color. Which was a very pretty blonde on the ends but my roots always looked funky. Just a different shade of blonde than the ends of my hair that I couldn't get to match.

 

So I decided to just bleach my roots. I used the Salon Care bleach powder from Sally's (I buy the tub rather than the packets), 30 vol developer and applied to the roots only. I applied the Wella T18 toner, which any DIY blonde girl knows will be your best friend. The roots were still slightly warmer than I'd like. So I let that rest for about 3 weeks.

 

Then last night I did the roots again, left the bleach on about 25 minutes until it was a pale buttery shade. I rinsed the bleach out, towel dried and toned the roots only (same bleach, developer and toner) . My ends are already ashy enough for me and I didn't want them to go purple. I left the toner on about 7 minutes and I got the ideal (for me) platinum blonde. I'm not looking for white or silver. Just light blonde. Since it's only about 24 hours old it does look very, very white, but I know that on me in 2-3 days it does tone down and I like it the best with about 1 week worth of grow out.

 

I can let it go 3-4 weeks between touching the roots up. I don't mind the roots but I know if I go much longer than that it gets harder to get the roots to lift without the heat from my scalp. I have only bleached the section from my ears up, so the underneath is still my natural color. I like this on me because it's very hard for me to bleach the back of my hair by myself and I do wear my hair up a lot (ratty buns are my best friend). I've always liked the look of a different color underneath my hair and I feel like having that natural in the back just looks fun and a stays little healthier than all over blonde. I do think that after the next touch up I will add a few blonde lowlights to keep it from going "playboy bunny blonde".

Maintenance for me consists of Shimmering Lights purple shampoo (sold at Sally's) about twice a week. I leave it on for about 5 minutes while I do other shower things and then rinse and condition. It's the best purple shampoo I've ever used and it lasts forever. It does have a slightly more "mature" scent to it but the results are worth it. It's powerful stuff. I've also used Shiny Silver which smells better but it's not as potent as the Shimmering Lights.

Since it's bleached it does need a lot of moisture. I do masks twice a week and do argan oil on my ends every day. I only heat style once a week and shampoo every other day. I just blow dried this morning and can tell the difference. I curl my hair about once a week as well.



Tanwise Dark Bronzing Sunless Mousse

weheartit.com

 

Guys...I've found it.

Hands down the best self tanner I've ever used. And I've used a LOT of them. Here's the thing. I tan really easily. My brother is an ivory skinned toehead who burns when he even looks at the sun. But I do tan and I have always loved being in the sunshine. I'm a total self admitted sun worshipper. However, as we age (sad face) you start to realize how awful it is for your skin. I have some sun spots that are starting to really glow whenever I get in the sun. Over the past 2-3 years I've tried to get better about it and be more diligent about protecting my skin.

So...self tanners are my spring/summertime best friends. I have super blonde hair (almost platinum) right now and need some color. I read MaskCara's review on Tanwise and had to try it. Lucky for me Sally's was having a buy 2 get 1 free sale so I grabbed 2 of the mousse's and one of the face gels.

 

sallybeauty.com

 

Between the two, I honestly like the mousse better on my face and wouldn't buy the gel again.

Let me tell you. USE GLOVES. I have used a ton of different tanners and am pretty pro at application but this stuff comes out almost greenish chocolate brown and will immediately stain your hands. I used rubber gloves that I had in my beauty cabinet. Basically I did small areas, starting with my face, then my ears, my throat, my chest, shoulders, arms...etc. I did small areas, using circular motions to avoid streaking and rubbed it in until it was all even. The indicator color makes this easy to see where you've applied. I peeled the gloves back and did the tops of my hands and then removed the gloves and used one finger to gently apply to the tops of my other fingers.

It's dry within 10-15 minutes and I went to bed within an hour. I have all white bedding and have had no issues with it staining. It gives me the deepest, brown tan I've ever gotten. Nothing orange about it. There is no foul tanning smell with this either. It's kind of coconutty. I have gotten a good 6 days worth of a tan out of one application. That's crazy! This is after 6 days and exfoliating every night with my skin care regime. Excuse the ratty bun and glasses...it's that kind of a day!

If you are into self tanners, I just can't recommend this enough. It's $12.99 at Sally Beauty Supply and there is no reason not to give it a shot! Happy bronzing!!

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