Always remember, you’re unique just like everyone else.
Ahh, my first post on my new blog…where do I begin? What do I want to say?
I started this blog to show that everyday people like myself have ups and downs that are typical and not so typical. Common experiences can still make you unique. So, I’ll start with my recent hair color disaster – something many women can relate to and sympathise with, yet is my unique story to tell.
Let me start off by saying that I love to play with my hair. I love trying new styles, different lengths and the latest product. I tend to be a do it yourself-er, except for a cut. I spend hours looking on the Internet for styles for both me and my daughter. I recently went from a medium-long shag to a medium-short shattered bob style. I think I will keep the shattered bob for a while. LOVE IT!!
So, now that I have my new ‘do, its time to refresh my color. As a blonde I tend to get a lot of sun streaks and sun bleach, which is fine when you’re 20, but not so much for a grown up. I prefer a medium to dark blonde shade I refer to as “beige shimmer”. Overall color, natural looking, not brassy, not ashy. After looking at the boxes in the store, I went with Clairol Nice ‘n Easy “Dark Natural Blonde”
I’m a hair color regular, I’ve used Nice ‘n Easy before, and I am staying in my normal family of color. I always check that the color/number on the box matches the color/number on the creme inside the box…..no need for the strand test, right?
I mixed up the goo as directed and did the “all over” application. It looked like I had dark purple slime on my head. Still, no worries. Lots of blonde hair color has a purple tint. This might be a little darker than I imagined but it will fade quickly.
The recommended 25 minutes passed. I hopped in the shower and rinsed. The water turned a very dark brown, darker than my previous color experience. Knowing that this was going to be a far darker shade than I intended, I went ahead and shampoo’d immediately after rinsing the color and got out of the shower.
I let my hair start to dry naturally. VERY DARK, not blonde, definitely in the brunette category. But wait! There are patches of lighter blonde (the color I started with) mixed in in various spots on my head. When I finally took the hair dryer in hand I found I had a real problem…..dark purple, you might call it indigo, blotches in several places.
My husband told me this was proof of his “unconditional love”. I responded that the next sound he heard would be the rustling of divorce papers, lol.
I hopped back in the shower and lathered three times (and I do mean lather) with my daughter’s Drama Clean shampoo – the strongest shampoo on hand. After this round of washing I at least was in the ballpark of naturally occurring human hair color. Unfortunately, that color was brown, not even close to a blonde shade….except for the patches of lighter blonde original color that was more noticable now without the purple. Forget the “brunette is the new blonde”. I ain’t buying it.
Off to the store! I found Loreal’s Hair Color Remover and brought it home. Pulled out the directions so I could use it right away. The directions contained the little disclaimer along the lines of “this product will not return you to your original color. That color no longer exists. This product will remove the tint and leave your hair ready for recoloring. After using this product your hair may have an orangey-pink tint” GREAT. Sign me up.
I followed the instructions to “tone down” a too dark color. Success! I was a blonde again. The color was harsh, and I spent most of the day washing my hair, but I could see that this would be fixable.
The next day I Googled (thank God for Google!!) “remove hair color” and “fade hair color”. Found a remedy that I should have remembered from days in my youth washing chlorine green out of my hair. Dawn dish soap. I lightly lathered with Dawn in my morning shower. I have now returned to the life of a blonde. Actually, pretty darn close to the color I was trying to achieve in the first place.
I am going the extra mile with conditioning treatments, to hopefully undo any damage to my hair all this scrubbing has done. Its been 3 days-so far, so good. I am not bald or anything.
I am going to leave hair color to a professional in the future. When I Googled solutions for my hair color problems, every website and blog screamed this and now I know why. I’m sure I will get the color bug again, but I have learned some lessons. First, I don’t think I’ll ever do level 3 permanate color at home again. Its messy and you have no one to blame but yourself when things go wrong. I much prefer having someone to yell at. Second,
DO THE STRAND TEST!!
http://annadeforest.wordpress.com/2008/05/24/color-correction-we-all-make-mistakes/
http://blog.hottiehair.com/2008/04/07/hottie-hair-las-vegas-what-your-hair-color-says-about-you/
August 18 UPDATE: 2 weeks ago I bit the bullet and went in to have my hair colored by a professional. Two hours and $50 later (not a bad price but still sticker shock for someone who has been coloring at home for years) my hair is back to a “natural” shade of beige blonde. Best of all, the shine that hair color remover and dawn dishsoap took away has returned. So, I’m happy. But I suspect I will have more adventures in home hair color in the not so distant future!! Stay tuned!
September Update: My beautiful salon color is now quite sun bleached. With all the back to school stuff going on I really don’t have time to go the salon route again. So, beleive it or not, I am doing the home color thing again. I chose a medium shade of blonde rather than dark blonde. Too much of a shock to go fron sum-bleached to dark blonde, plus I am not that brave. Success!! I have brought the sun bleached locks to medium blonde again, looking just as good as the salon, if I do say so myself!
