I'm going to stop apologising for this now... i do it too often.

My hair...again...meh. Sue me. It's not fallen out yet. So i'm still winning.

 This was my Hair with the bleached patch turned Silver using the Colour Freedom Silver at home Dye. It lasted a while but all too soon the yellow undertones from bleaching began to shine through and the idea of having to keep dying my hair with the amount of chemical processes it need and would keep needing just worried me to the core. So i opted to go for a better (slightly) option of going back to a fun colour and a dye that is better for your hair, Ye good olde La Riche Directions. 
 After Pinteresting the Hell out of a variety of different colours, and looking back at old photos of myself i decided...1) I definitely suit dark hair better. 2) I wanted almost like a baliage/ombre look with a dark colour and a bright unusual colour. and 3) I wanted to go back to my darker style. I've tried pastel, i've tried girly, I've tried sophisticated, I've tried 50's style. Withcy, Morticia, Gothic loving me is still in here and is about to be re-unleashed.
So i opted for Black/Alpine Green.

Next i enlisted the help of my Little sis and personal colour stylist when i want a big change and am too scared to DIY it. We went to Sallys to get the black as i needed to go for something with cool tones in to counter the reddish/brown on my hair. We opted for a Wella Kolestone in 22/0 (black) 
with a 20Vol Developer.

 She sparingly and for as little time as possible, lifted (with bleach) parts of my hair needed to be lightened for the green, then painted around the foils with the Black colour. 

Once that was rinsed off we went back over the bleached areas with the directions Alpine Green, as it needed to be applied on wet/damp hair and covered all of the lightened areas and left to develop for 30min or so, not that it needs that long. Usually on the packaging it recommends 15 min, especially on damaged hair, which mine definitely is now. 

The End results were freakin' beyond my expectations, with minimal damage too (there were a few breakages but nothing dramatic). And as we all know from previous posts...green is a horrible colour to get out of your hair...so i know i wont need to keep on top of it that often...other than my root re-growth. So it'll give my hair the much needed rest it deserves. 

 

XoXo

My Hair from Long to Short of it- and pros and cons.

(Basic pros and cons are at the bottom if you want to skip past my tale) 
  Like any modern day woman i'm in-decisive and constantly wanting to change and update my look. And up until two years ago, my look with my hair anyway was always long jet black hair, right from the age of 15/ 16. 

 

Even on my wedding day i still had my long black hair, i have had it cut a few times, or a few red streaks added etc but its pretty much always been like this. But then

apparently like most other "new brides" i went through the usual crisis of wanting a dramatic change now that i was a married woman. I'd realized that my fashion sense was my own and i didn't have to follow any trends so in order to make myself more unique and more like who i felt i should be, i had all of my hair lobbed off!

I believe it was one of the best things i've ever done. It was like i'd chopped off my security blanket that i was hiding behind and stepped out from the crowed, now i could have some fun! as sad as that sounds that's what changing my hair meant to me! it's exactly what it did! i was more confident in myself, in my style and more inclined to try new looks and that lead me to lightening my hair and eventually going blonde.

 Again stepping away from my security blanket of long black hair... i now had short blonde hair! Which also meant i could do a lot more with it! i ended up being able to do so much with my hair i think its one of the best things i've ever done! I'd had it white, lilac, pink...even multi. i felt i could express myself easier.

And now i'm right up to a pixie crop!

ANYWAY thats my quick hair length journey, now to the part you're really here for, should you cut your hair or grow it out? Here's a list of my personal pros and cons i've discovered. 

Pros and Cons:

• Long hair was easy to hide when it was getting a little dirty, you could easily whack it up in a bun or pony tail and no one would know, so with short hair its more effort - BUT the miracle that is Dry shampoo covers a multitude of sins with short hair! 
• Short hair uses less products, You may have to wash your hair more often and use some styling products like wax etc but over-all your shampoo usage is halved and the excuse "i'm washing my hair" doesn't work anymore. 
• Its quicker and easier to work with when its short, and you don't really have any of those "my hair wont do what i want it to" with styles etc.
• You can still have different hair styles day to day with short hair, especially as short as mine, you can pin back the fringe for a cute quiff or spike it up and volumise it for an edgy OTT quiff or even gel into a mow-hawk.
• Its easier to change your colour- there's less hair to actually damage, you don't need to use as much dye and you can go for bold bright colours without investing hours in bleaching, conditioning, re-bleaching to get the colour out of the saturated long ends where you've been dying it for years. 
• Lastly- and not meant as a 'dig' at people with long hair but i find personally i stand out from the crowd more, i'm not mixed with the generic long hair- pretty girls. Not that that's a bad thing if that is what you like, but personally I've never been a "pretty" girl, I've always been a Kick-your ass, tattoos, motorbikes and decorate my house with skulls and roses kinda woman. And for me short hair was the best choice I've ever made. Its made me step out of my shell and away from the usual conforms of what i thought was my personal fashion- when actually i was just trying to be like everyone else. Girls with their long luscious hair are beautiful but i was trying to be them and it really just wasn't me. 

   I'll be the first to admit i do get hair envy when i see someone with long blonde hair, but it last for a second and then i remember why i got rid of my curtain and stopped hiding myself away behind it all. There's no hiding now! It's the same as women with straight hair will always want curly and people with naturally curly will always want straight. I guess were blessed with being able to have the choices we do now. You can cut it off or grow it out, or straighten it or perm it.

   If your thinking of going short its a long-term commitment you have to live with for years before it'll grow back out again so think long and hard, but if you're doing it for the right reasons it'll be the best thing you've probably ever done. 

Just think before you chop!

XxX

White hair tutorial (from black)

Hello dolls! 

I actually get stopped in the street and asked how i get my hair white, and seems as i usually turn into a dribbling mess of useless information i thought it would be easier to direct them to my blog! 

It used to be jet  black... I was dying it with permanent at-home dye from the age of 16; i was a proud goth so no mocking! :p 

I decided after my wedding in September 2012 that i was fed up with the jet black look, because I'd been dying it so long with at home colours i had to phase it out so from the September up until the December I started it dying it with semi-permanent colours and using lighter shades, so black/brown, then brown then chestnut... but obviously the years of abuse meant no matter what i did the ends of my hair were stuck with the Ebony hue... SO i chopped all of my hair off... I literally tell no lies, i went from ass-length hair to short almost pixie crop.

From there; because I'm impatient and didn't want to wait for it to grow out i used a B Blonde at home lightening and bleaching kit, TWICE in one night... **WARNING** my hair and i have always had a good relationship, i am by no way saying that you should bleach your hair twice in one go... it will damage your hair! especially if you have lovely long hair it'll break, dry out and snap off! 

Anyway- make sure you use blue powder bleach, it helps to combat any yellow tones, the first bleach was for 40 min and was with a 12% peroxide .. it burnt my scalp, i wont lie, i shall not be doing that ever again, it was then followed by a conditioning treatment and another bleach with a 9% peroxide (this was the best) for 30 min, and it brought my hair to this yellow-ginger colour. I then put a Koleston colour from Sally's in ash blonde over the ginger to try and neutralise it and left it as a strawberry blonde for about 3 weeks. 

It was a nice colour but not the one i wanted, so then it was another 40 min bleach with 9% peroxide which left it like a custard colour all over with white bits. I then dyed it with another Koleston (with 9% aswell) this time a Special Blonde in 12/81 (from Sally's £10.99). I Also used a toner from boots in iced platinum which was pretty naff and left my hair purple (some toners do this anyway and it does wash out so don't panic!), and a week or so later I ordered some Directions by la Reich white toner - which was actually the best toner I'd used and i now swear by it! So i ended up this lovely white colour;

 Now, white hair does involve upkeep and you do need to be so so nice to your poor hair, especially if your naturally dark. Toner is a MUST, as is a purple/tone correcting shampoo, I've tried a lot of different brands over the past few months but nothing beats the PRO:VOKE Silver shampoo from BOOTS (around £2.00)- it smells nice and if you use any strengthening conditioner as well it leaves your hair so soft. 

Twice a week toning shampoo from Boots

Other toning shampo's I've used, the PRO:VOKE on the left is by far the best, its a daily use one. 

Now more recently because i feel so bad about the way I've been treating my hair i have started using a L'oreal Paris at home Dye, one of their "Blondeissims" range in "Extreme Platinum". Its still damaging obviously as it still has peroxide in it etc... but it smells lovely, and the conditioner is amazing! (I wish they sold it separately). 

Basically, with this at home dye, it's got your usual peroxide, and colour mix, but also powder and a high shine elixir that you add to your mix and you end up with this thick, floral smelling white dye, it's non-drip so its so easy to apply, especially if you're just doing a root touch up like i was...

You do have to leave it on for the full time stated other wise you'll end up with CUSTARD HAIR and make sure you use the conditioner it comes with! ALso that you use your PRO:VOKE toning shampoo the day after (and more of the conditioner). My hair feels so soft and healthy now and i love it. Can't fault the colour...well other then the first time i did it i didn't leave it for the full 40-45 min and ended up with custard roots... 

EVIL CUSTARD ROOTS

Willing to answer any more questions i can...just ask! :)