So here's my blonding story...learn from my mistakes! Lol
A couple of weeks ago I decided to go ahead and do my roots. I did the normal bleach thing...my normal hair color always had some "golding" in it about mid-shaft, and it had some of that color in it at the time. So, I went ahead and pulled it about halfway up the length of my hair. That came out pretty well and it was the best looking blonde I think I've had since I've been blonding.
About a week later, I decided to go ahead and do some very minor black streaks w/a semi-permanent black. I had thought about doing that for a while but I wasn't sure how it would look on me. I had already got the color to do it so I figured what the hell...couldn't be worse than some other crazy stuff I've done to my hair! I started doing it w/little pieces by foiling it. After I started doing that I wished I had got a frosting cap and pulled the strands thru. They kept sort of falling and it was hard to keep em up off the blonde so I said screw it, took them out of the foil, got my skinny comb and trying to pull it thru to the ends with my color brush. Kinda like the hairpainting thing you can do with highlights...well, wasn't working too good for me, so I tried it with the fine toothed comb. By this time, it looked like I had a big blob of black in my bangs. I refused to go back in black right now b/c I really love the blonde. Its the first time I've been blonde blonde. (The last time I tried blonde was last year after having a lot of red/auburn in my hair and it was pretty much strawberry blonde.)
So, I pulled out the bleach again...I had half a box leftover cuz I use the Maxi blonding and half will cover my hair since I don't have that much...and save some money not wasting it. I only put it on the part that was black. After processing for like 30 mins I think and putting heat on it for about 5-10 mins it wasn't totally blonde yet. It still had that golding in it. I didn't want my hair to get ate up by the bleach so I went ahead and rinsed it out. I just figured I'd wait a couple of weeks and do it again on that part. Well, by the time I washed it and rinsed it, my hair on top was shredding when I combed it. (I've done this b4 mind you a looooong time ago when i tried to relax a bad perm. It was alot worse then though because I just about lost all of my hair that time as it was coming out in globs when I ran my fingers thru it.) So, after seeing how frazzled it was, I grabbed my protein treatment conditioner, put that on, covered it in saran wrap, and put the heat on it for about 10 mins. I had also used my Infusium 23 treatment prior to the protein that did wonders on my hair when I fucked it up b4. After that, I rinsed, put on some John Frieda corrective styling gel, and dried it. (If you've never used that stuff its great...it has silicone in it so it kinda wraps around your hair and protects it from damage. After all that, it was looking pretty good...except the little gold spot in the top, but I just kinda pulled the front of my bangs over that part and had been wearing wide headbands. (Sadista, this is what my hair looked like at Boleyn's wedding Saturday. I used a bit of Boleyn's Garnier silk & shine, I think its called, at her place after the wedding to calm my frazzled ends.
So, a few days go by, and I had not washed it for a couple of days so the natural oils could build up a bit and protect it from any more damage. (Great idea, Sadista, only using conditioner.) After a couple of days, I only rinsed & used conditioner. It was looking a bit better.
Keep in mind, I do stay stocked up on the hair colors I use from time to time. That way if I screw it up I have something I can use on it and not have to run to the store with flaming hair in tow. I had got a basket full of stuff the last time I went to Sally's. One of the things I got was Clairol Jazzing. I was told by an employee there that it was not harsh, and probably one of the best as far as semi-permanent haircolors go. It contains no alcohol, no ammonia, and no peroxide, and says it can be used immediately after chemical processing. It's very gentle and won't fry your hair. For the lighter hair colors in that line it will change your haircolor if you've already lightened it. This color is called "Icicle". The color pic on the bottle looks like the platinum blonde...sort of a shimmery, silvery white. When I saw that color in the store I knew I'd want to try it one day. It would be the most drastic light color I ever tried.
So, I pulled out my color and my gloves and went to work on it. For anyone who has done blonde colors, this one, too, had a purpley tint to it...just like a lot of the blonding stuff. Also, I thought this might help the lil bit of gold I had left up top. The directions say for temporary color put on for 5-10 mins w/out heat, rinse & shampoo. For semi-permanent color, put on for 30 mins cover w/cap, using heat, rinse & shampoo. So, I did the latter...which it what I have usually done for the wild colors I've used. It lasts longer that way by heating it cuz I'm sure you all know that opens the hair cuticle and locks the color in. I did all this, rinsed & shampooed, and all. I grabbed my towel, squeezed out the excess water, turned & looked in the mirror. A good bit of the gold had lightened some more, my roots were platinum, BUT THE REST OF IT WAS LAVENDER!!! It wasn't that it was a wild color, because obviously I've done all the wild, vibrant colors. It was just a shock as I wasn't expecting that. Hell, in the purple pixie photos I did I had purple highlights in it.
Ok, by this time, I'm bout ready to give up. For the most part though, I have done pretty well with stuff with my hair. I've done a lot by trial and error and learned from some of my mistakes. I was just ready to turn it over to a professional. So, I wrapped a bandana around my hair and out the door I went. I have Navi in my car so it'll tell you the closest whatever you're looking for. (I've been in Charlotte for about a year and a half and still don't know where a lot of places are.) I typed in beauty salons, and the first one that came up was about a mile away. I selected that destination and off I went.
When I got there, I explained ev'thing I'd done to my hair to the stylist. At first, she pretty much told me that my options were to either leave it alone and let it wash out, or I could go darker. I wasn't ready to go darker again cuz my hair had been dark for most of my life. So, then she starts telling me the reason the purple grabbed my hair like it did was because of the condition of my hair...all the processing left it open to grab whatever color I put on it. (To get an idea of what my hair sort of looked like, although hers looked a bit better than mine, Fractal has a photo set where her hair is lavender.) The stylist, Lori, started telling me how baking soda is a stripping agent, and I should mix some baking soda with water, massage it into my hair, shampoo, condition, & rinse and it would pull some of that color out of it. I used to use baking soda on my hair when it was a lot longer back in my teens and early twenties to get all the styling build up out. So I thought that would probably work. The other stylist, Julie, I asked her to go ahead and trim off some of the frazzled ends, and put some texture in the back so I can punk it out. She did that, and the cut was great. Julie also recommended a protein complex conditioner they had called Cloud 9, and a silk & shine anti-frizz product they had in the "Big Sexy Hair" line called Silky Sexy Hair. I thanked both of them and headed home.
When I got home, I put about 3 small handfuls of baking soda into a color squirt bottle and filled it with warm water. I got in the shower, put a bit of shampoo in my hair, and started massaging in the water/baking soda combo. I rinsed that out, shampooed again to get all of the baking soda out, then put on the protein conditioner, and left it in for about 3-5 mins. While it was in my hair, I turned the water as hot as I could stand it, and got little sprays of water in it and massaging it with the warm water while it was still in my hair. After 5 mins, I rinsed & got out. The baking soda pulled every bit of the lavender out of my hair, plus more of the gold came out. (There wasn't much of the gold left in it after the cut & texturizing.) So, I put on my normal leave-in conditioner & the silicone hair gel. I blew it dry, then worked in some of the silky stuff. It had worked and amazingly, that protein treatment worked awesomely well. My hair was not shedding anymore, and I could tell it was stronger. The product claims to make your hair 3 to 5 times stronger, and that is exactly what it did.
The end result...the exact color of platinum hair I had wanted! I was truly amazed that my hair disaster actually concluded without me having to shave it or cover it all with a color that I didn't want. I called Lori at the salon because I had to thank her. (P.S. I'm even gettin a little teary eyed just writing about it...as I did when I called her. I don't get sappy about things much, except when it has to do with someone that you don't even know who truly cares about your concerns and understand how you feel about something.) I was very grateful to her for not trying to hook me in with "you need this & you need that" just to make a big sale regardless of how I felt about it. Many stylists out there would have done just that and sent me home unhappy with a haircolor I didn't want and $200 or so gone from my wallet. I only had to spend a little less than $50 for ev'thing I got/used to bring my hair back. I told Lori that by doing what she had done and how she treated me with respect and consideration that she had gained a happy customer that would return and bring her new business. For anyone in this area who may ever be looking or need a hair stylist, Lori & Julie are at Appearances Hair & Tanning Salon on Bellhaven off Mt. Holly-Huntersville Rd. I so appreciate people in business like that...the ones who realize that in the long run you will benefit so much by treating people like you want to be treated. I have always tried to live my life that way. I'm always willing to do whatever I'm capable of doing for people because that is exactly how I want to be treated.
So, I hope somebody out there learns something from my experience, and you enjoy reading about my return from hair hell. It was a story that I really thought was worth sharing!
So, here are a couple of pix of my good as new platinum hair...I'm not all made up or anything in these pix...it's all about the hair this time. They are also webcam pix that aren't too good, but well enough you can get an idea what it looks like...
A couple of weeks ago I decided to go ahead and do my roots. I did the normal bleach thing...my normal hair color always had some "golding" in it about mid-shaft, and it had some of that color in it at the time. So, I went ahead and pulled it about halfway up the length of my hair. That came out pretty well and it was the best looking blonde I think I've had since I've been blonding.
About a week later, I decided to go ahead and do some very minor black streaks w/a semi-permanent black. I had thought about doing that for a while but I wasn't sure how it would look on me. I had already got the color to do it so I figured what the hell...couldn't be worse than some other crazy stuff I've done to my hair! I started doing it w/little pieces by foiling it. After I started doing that I wished I had got a frosting cap and pulled the strands thru. They kept sort of falling and it was hard to keep em up off the blonde so I said screw it, took them out of the foil, got my skinny comb and trying to pull it thru to the ends with my color brush. Kinda like the hairpainting thing you can do with highlights...well, wasn't working too good for me, so I tried it with the fine toothed comb. By this time, it looked like I had a big blob of black in my bangs. I refused to go back in black right now b/c I really love the blonde. Its the first time I've been blonde blonde. (The last time I tried blonde was last year after having a lot of red/auburn in my hair and it was pretty much strawberry blonde.)
So, I pulled out the bleach again...I had half a box leftover cuz I use the Maxi blonding and half will cover my hair since I don't have that much...and save some money not wasting it. I only put it on the part that was black. After processing for like 30 mins I think and putting heat on it for about 5-10 mins it wasn't totally blonde yet. It still had that golding in it. I didn't want my hair to get ate up by the bleach so I went ahead and rinsed it out. I just figured I'd wait a couple of weeks and do it again on that part. Well, by the time I washed it and rinsed it, my hair on top was shredding when I combed it. (I've done this b4 mind you a looooong time ago when i tried to relax a bad perm. It was alot worse then though because I just about lost all of my hair that time as it was coming out in globs when I ran my fingers thru it.) So, after seeing how frazzled it was, I grabbed my protein treatment conditioner, put that on, covered it in saran wrap, and put the heat on it for about 10 mins. I had also used my Infusium 23 treatment prior to the protein that did wonders on my hair when I fucked it up b4. After that, I rinsed, put on some John Frieda corrective styling gel, and dried it. (If you've never used that stuff its great...it has silicone in it so it kinda wraps around your hair and protects it from damage. After all that, it was looking pretty good...except the little gold spot in the top, but I just kinda pulled the front of my bangs over that part and had been wearing wide headbands. (Sadista, this is what my hair looked like at Boleyn's wedding Saturday. I used a bit of Boleyn's Garnier silk & shine, I think its called, at her place after the wedding to calm my frazzled ends.
So, a few days go by, and I had not washed it for a couple of days so the natural oils could build up a bit and protect it from any more damage. (Great idea, Sadista, only using conditioner.) After a couple of days, I only rinsed & used conditioner. It was looking a bit better.
Keep in mind, I do stay stocked up on the hair colors I use from time to time. That way if I screw it up I have something I can use on it and not have to run to the store with flaming hair in tow. I had got a basket full of stuff the last time I went to Sally's. One of the things I got was Clairol Jazzing. I was told by an employee there that it was not harsh, and probably one of the best as far as semi-permanent haircolors go. It contains no alcohol, no ammonia, and no peroxide, and says it can be used immediately after chemical processing. It's very gentle and won't fry your hair. For the lighter hair colors in that line it will change your haircolor if you've already lightened it. This color is called "Icicle". The color pic on the bottle looks like the platinum blonde...sort of a shimmery, silvery white. When I saw that color in the store I knew I'd want to try it one day. It would be the most drastic light color I ever tried.
So, I pulled out my color and my gloves and went to work on it. For anyone who has done blonde colors, this one, too, had a purpley tint to it...just like a lot of the blonding stuff. Also, I thought this might help the lil bit of gold I had left up top. The directions say for temporary color put on for 5-10 mins w/out heat, rinse & shampoo. For semi-permanent color, put on for 30 mins cover w/cap, using heat, rinse & shampoo. So, I did the latter...which it what I have usually done for the wild colors I've used. It lasts longer that way by heating it cuz I'm sure you all know that opens the hair cuticle and locks the color in. I did all this, rinsed & shampooed, and all. I grabbed my towel, squeezed out the excess water, turned & looked in the mirror. A good bit of the gold had lightened some more, my roots were platinum, BUT THE REST OF IT WAS LAVENDER!!! It wasn't that it was a wild color, because obviously I've done all the wild, vibrant colors. It was just a shock as I wasn't expecting that. Hell, in the purple pixie photos I did I had purple highlights in it.
Ok, by this time, I'm bout ready to give up. For the most part though, I have done pretty well with stuff with my hair. I've done a lot by trial and error and learned from some of my mistakes. I was just ready to turn it over to a professional. So, I wrapped a bandana around my hair and out the door I went. I have Navi in my car so it'll tell you the closest whatever you're looking for. (I've been in Charlotte for about a year and a half and still don't know where a lot of places are.) I typed in beauty salons, and the first one that came up was about a mile away. I selected that destination and off I went.
When I got there, I explained ev'thing I'd done to my hair to the stylist. At first, she pretty much told me that my options were to either leave it alone and let it wash out, or I could go darker. I wasn't ready to go darker again cuz my hair had been dark for most of my life. So, then she starts telling me the reason the purple grabbed my hair like it did was because of the condition of my hair...all the processing left it open to grab whatever color I put on it. (To get an idea of what my hair sort of looked like, although hers looked a bit better than mine, Fractal has a photo set where her hair is lavender.) The stylist, Lori, started telling me how baking soda is a stripping agent, and I should mix some baking soda with water, massage it into my hair, shampoo, condition, & rinse and it would pull some of that color out of it. I used to use baking soda on my hair when it was a lot longer back in my teens and early twenties to get all the styling build up out. So I thought that would probably work. The other stylist, Julie, I asked her to go ahead and trim off some of the frazzled ends, and put some texture in the back so I can punk it out. She did that, and the cut was great. Julie also recommended a protein complex conditioner they had called Cloud 9, and a silk & shine anti-frizz product they had in the "Big Sexy Hair" line called Silky Sexy Hair. I thanked both of them and headed home.
When I got home, I put about 3 small handfuls of baking soda into a color squirt bottle and filled it with warm water. I got in the shower, put a bit of shampoo in my hair, and started massaging in the water/baking soda combo. I rinsed that out, shampooed again to get all of the baking soda out, then put on the protein conditioner, and left it in for about 3-5 mins. While it was in my hair, I turned the water as hot as I could stand it, and got little sprays of water in it and massaging it with the warm water while it was still in my hair. After 5 mins, I rinsed & got out. The baking soda pulled every bit of the lavender out of my hair, plus more of the gold came out. (There wasn't much of the gold left in it after the cut & texturizing.) So, I put on my normal leave-in conditioner & the silicone hair gel. I blew it dry, then worked in some of the silky stuff. It had worked and amazingly, that protein treatment worked awesomely well. My hair was not shedding anymore, and I could tell it was stronger. The product claims to make your hair 3 to 5 times stronger, and that is exactly what it did.
The end result...the exact color of platinum hair I had wanted! I was truly amazed that my hair disaster actually concluded without me having to shave it or cover it all with a color that I didn't want. I called Lori at the salon because I had to thank her. (P.S. I'm even gettin a little teary eyed just writing about it...as I did when I called her. I don't get sappy about things much, except when it has to do with someone that you don't even know who truly cares about your concerns and understand how you feel about something.) I was very grateful to her for not trying to hook me in with "you need this & you need that" just to make a big sale regardless of how I felt about it. Many stylists out there would have done just that and sent me home unhappy with a haircolor I didn't want and $200 or so gone from my wallet. I only had to spend a little less than $50 for ev'thing I got/used to bring my hair back. I told Lori that by doing what she had done and how she treated me with respect and consideration that she had gained a happy customer that would return and bring her new business. For anyone in this area who may ever be looking or need a hair stylist, Lori & Julie are at Appearances Hair & Tanning Salon on Bellhaven off Mt. Holly-Huntersville Rd. I so appreciate people in business like that...the ones who realize that in the long run you will benefit so much by treating people like you want to be treated. I have always tried to live my life that way. I'm always willing to do whatever I'm capable of doing for people because that is exactly how I want to be treated.
So, I hope somebody out there learns something from my experience, and you enjoy reading about my return from hair hell. It was a story that I really thought was worth sharing!
So, here are a couple of pix of my good as new platinum hair...I'm not all made up or anything in these pix...it's all about the hair this time. They are also webcam pix that aren't too good, but well enough you can get an idea what it looks like...
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
sadista:
That stuff's not very expensive. (Online anyway). The website's www.ballbeauty.com. I don't think anything's over $15. 
sadista:
That's scary. Maybe he wasn't going to do anything, but I would hope any sane man would have sense enough not to come up on somebody in the dark like that. 