My Hair.

OH HELLO.

EXCUSE MY FACE.

So I turned 19 last month and there and then I decided I needed new hair. Mid-life crisis OR WHAT? My hair at the time was just a million different hues of Brunette. At the bottom it was black, the middle section a gingery-chestnut and the roots like an ashy, dirty blondish colour. It was horrible. I was bored.

I was speaking with my hairdresser, Lauren, and I had a plan to have it lilac, or a blonde ombre, or blonde highlights or something. But as you can see from the picture, the conversation took a little bit of a turn...

The range of colours I had already made the whole blonde idea a really rubbish one. It would have been so much more difficult trying to lift the black out of the ends, the red out of the middle, whilst trying to control the blonde tones in my roots – stopping them from going white whilst the rest of the hair would potentially turn into one huge, fried, orange mess. It was a bit of a brain teaser.

In the end, we decided that maybe red was the way forward. I wanted it rich and vibrant and majestic. The achieved result was far more perfect than I could have imagined, and after a ColourB4 box treatment and 3 hours in the chair I was completely in love with my barnet. What I love about it is that there is still a variety of colour, but it's definitely not as weird as it used to be!

The colour used was 55/65 from the Wella Koleston range, mixed with 20 vol peroxide. I had used a ColourB4 box treatment to lift the darkness from the ends and then we were ready to go!

Lauren slapped on the dye (neatly of course, she's a professional) and we waited for 45 minutes and washed it off. Because of the ColourB4, a lot of pigment had been sucked into the ends, making them a lot darker than I'd hoped for. They don't really mention that on the box you see, you need to be careful after using a colour remover when re-dying as your hair is a lot more porous afterwards, and all it wants to do is cling on to dark pigment (a little like bleach really, even if bleach wasn't in the formula). 

What to do? The next step was to lift some colour from the ends to take some of the darkness away. Whilst my hair was still damp from washing out the dye the first time round, Lauren mixed some bleach with shampoo and massaged it into the ends and left it for about 10 - 15 minutes (massaging it in every now and again) and this is what is called a 'Bleach bath.' Awesome. 

The bleach bath had lightened the ends a fair bit and so we washed that out, slapped on some more red and left it for about 20 minutes.

After washing the hair for the third time, we had reached the finish line (and probably receded my hairline whilst at it). Blow-dried and styled, I was ready and raring to leave and show off my brand new beacon of a hair do.

The end result was a pinkish, red, tulip colour at the top, seemlessly mixed with vibrant reds and deeper reds at the ends. I love it, it's almost an ombre do, where it's darker at the bottom, yet quirky and vibrant at the top. I know I don't sound very modest but to be honest I am really pleased, it's just what I wanted! Something a bit out there! I'm young and if I can't do it now, when can I?! 

Red hair is a bit of a bugger to upkeep, however it is doable. Make sure to leave your hair as long as possible before washing. I know that sounds a bit mingola, and obviously don't let it get skanky haha! But do invest in some dry shampoo, sleep with your hair up and try not to play with it too much in the day! Colour shampoos are good too. The red will wash out. And it will be scary. But luckily it doesn't look as bad as the washout in the shower makes it seem. 

Just don't go swimming without a cap. 

If you want to re-vamp the red, add a La Riché Directions dye. It won't last very long but it does the trick and saves you going the whole hog for a little while. I did and I used Pillarbox Red.

A last little note to say that if you're thinking of dying your hair really dark, make sure it's what you really want. Dark dyes are a complete bitch to get rid of if you wish to go lighter after. I loved having dark hair, it's been my look since I was 14! However now was time for a change and this was probably the main obstacle. 

Happy hair-dying! If you wish to go through a similar ordeal, I'd recommend you get someone to help you, preferably someone with some know-how! 

All the best,

Ashley x

The day of the dye!