"Chop and Change" A new Beachy A Line Bob

One of my favorite Black Keys songs and super appropriate here!

I chopped all of my hair off and I am so glad I did. I don't understand why I grow so attached to my long hair, I always end up loving the feeling when I go shorter. I think I just identify as a "long hair" girl and I'm sure I'll grow it back out but for now, this feels so nice!

I've been coveting this oh-so-pinned image off Pinterest for months.

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I finally just decided to go for it but I asked her to go a little shorter to give me a little more time between trims. Love it. I can still get a teeny nubbin of a pony tail if I just need the hair off my face, I can wear it straight or I can do beach waves with a flat iron. Most versatile short hair I've ever had.

It's A-Line and thinned at the back but not stacked. My hair just won't do that style, curses of the cowlicks. The length pretty much goes collar to collarbone.

The balayage had basically all been cut off and/or faded out so it needed to be touched up. I went a shade darker this time, mixed a 7NN with a 7A Smoky Ash, both from Wella and with a 20vol developer. I let my roots process about 30 minutes and then combed through the length of my hair for the last 10 minutes. I did a protein filler before to avoid it pulling in the more porous spots. After it was washed out and rinsed I did balayage on a few face framing pieces and the bottom is still a tinge lighter than the roots so it has a nice ombre/balayage result. I wasn't really going for subtle. Excuse my hair bleaching shirt (don't we all have those??)

 

 

And this is the end result. The first one is just blow dried with a paddle brush and some argan oil on the ends. It's nice and polished and definitely easy if I don't have time to curl it. It also air dries pretty nicely but I get more frizz that way.

 

 Here I beach waved it with a flat iron. I really only focused on the top layer and front peices, the back is so short it just needs a slight bend of the iron to blend in. I finger combed the waves out, added a little texturizing spray to the roots and some beachy sea salt spray to the ends for more of a lived in look. This lasts all day and takes about 10 minutes.

From Platinum Blonde to Dark Blonde Balayage-DIY

I KNOW.

Trust me. I know I do awful things to my hair ALL THE TIME. I just can't help it. I get bored. It's why I do it myself, ok??!!

On to the project. I loved the platinum. It was fun. I got it out of my system and wanted to try something else. To refresh...it was this blonde:

 

I've been coveting Jessie James Decker's hair for a loooooong time. She recently posted a video on her YouTube channel showing how she does it herself. She even uses Frost N Glow!!!! Girl after my own heart.

She calls her hair "honey dipped" which is adorable. It's her version of the balayage she used to get in salons and which can cost a fortune. Balayage is basically hand painting your highlights on for a more natural look as opposed to weaving and foiling uniform highlights.

So I decided to give it a try. I used a 7n and a 7g mixed together with 20 vol so it would deposit more than lift. I wouldn't normally use a gold but I needed something other than neutral to avoid it going blah. My natural base isn't as dark as hers either so that's something to consider. She's probably a 5 or 6, I'm naturally more of a level 7.

Left it on about 35 minutes, rinsed and blow dried and was basically left with my natural color. BORING.



 (Bathroom lighting makes it look pinkish, it wasn't. Just a blah mousy dark blonde)

Then I mixed up some bleach powder with some 20vol because I knew the ends would lift fast and were already kind of "thirsty". I tried to do what she did, picking up the pieces that the sun would naturally hit and putting more bleach on the ends and fading it up. I left the interior pretty much alone and focused on the peices around my face and the ends. I tried to go up different lengths on each section so it wouldn't leave a hard line. I wanted sun kissed, not ombre or dip died.

Left the bleach on about 20 minutes, washed and blow dried and got this...TA-DA. My hair is always so poofy after I blow dry.

 

I kind of love it...a lot. It's a lot less maintenance and feels a lot more fresh and modern. Honestly, balayage is a LOT easier than foil weaving your own hair, if you are brave and used to doing your own hair, I highly recommend giving it a try!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Refinishing Tables

Why do I do this to myself? I swear. So...last summer I decided that our coffee table and end tables were going to go from a dark cherry stain to black. All of our other furniture is black and it made sense at the time.

Cut to about 3 days after I was done and I was totally regretting it. The black just showed EVERY single thing. I had to clean the tables at least once a day and even then they still looked grubby. I swear if you set anything on them, even a phone it would leave a mark.

I could have just put a satin poly on them to get rid of the glossiness but to be honest I was over the black table tops. Completely.

This weekend I decided that they needed to be changed. It worked out because my poor husband got sick and K and I were relegated to being outside as much as possible to avoid getting whatever grody bug he had :( No bueno.

So I started by stripping the paint off of the coffee table. I applied the stripper, waited about 30 minutes, scraped as much as I could, applied, waited and scraped again. Then I wiped with a wet rag and let it dry overnight. This required more time than I was willing to spend. I'm impatient. So the end tables just got sanded down, no stripping involved.

This is the table the morning after it was stripped. Still some white primer hanging around.

I then took 80 grit sandpaper and an orbital sander and sanded until I got to the bare wood. I rounded off the edges for a "rustic/worn" look. I then used 120 grit to finish sanding for a smooth finish.

Once that was done, I took a rag and removed all of the dust until I had a bare, clean surface.

I applied Minwax Pre Stain Wood Conditioner to make sure I had an even application of the stain. It absorbed in about 5 minutes. I wiped off any excess.

The next step was applying stain. I couldn't decide between 2, so I decided to use both. I wanted an aged, non golden or red finish that looked like it had always been there. I chose to start with Minwax Weathered Oak. I applied one coat of this, let it sit about 10 minutes, wiped off the excess and let it dry 2 hours. Weathered Oak gives a weathered, worn look to the wood. It tones down any warm tones and gives a grey appearance to any really light peices as you can see in the bottom right corner. It's a really neat effect but a bit too light on it's own for me personally.

I then applied one coat of Minwax Provincial, which is gorgeous but scary. It looked so dark! But I let that sit also about 10 minutes and then wiped off the excess. It was still pretty warm for me. But after it dried a bit, surpise, it was perfect! I let that dry another 2 hours, applied another coat, wiped and let it dry 3 more hours.

 

Then came the poly. I chose the Minwax Wipe On Poly in the Satin finish. I didn't want anything even remotely glossy and the wipe on gives a really neat effect. It's also very simple and goof free. This is the tables after one coat of poly. It was dusk so the porch light gives more of a golden look than what they really are.

I applied one coat, let it dry 2 hours and then applied another coat. I let them sit overnight and then brought them back in the house. We didn't use the tables for 24 hours but oh man, are they pretty. This is a really accurate picture of the end result color.

I just LOVE the end result with the rustic tops and black bottoms. The overall look almost everything else in our house and now I think our antique dresser needs this same finish! The bottoms of the tables are still Behr Black Suede.

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

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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!!