Bright Hair Color! How to get it and maintain it.

SO many people ask me how I keep my hair so vibrant, so I thought I would finally do a blog post to direct them to! I gotta admit, I learned some of the tricks I use from this post from the Dainty Squid. I did come up with a few things on my own though, so read on to find out more!



I gotta get this out of the way right off the bat. Having a bright hair color is not easy. If you are not willing to spend some extra time or go out of your way to maintain the color, it just won't last. You'll be frustrated and end up with dull hair in a week or two. I've seen so many people spend a lot of money on fun hair, only for it to wash out in a short period of time. Nobody wants to waste money just to have dingy hair, so if you are gonna make the plunge, realize that you'll have to make some changes!

#1 - Color brand. I have tried a lot of different brands. My absolute favorite brand is Jerome Russell Punky Color. I can't find it in any stores around these parts, so I just order it on amazon. It's usually a little less than $10 for a tub. My second favorite is Raw which is available at Hot Topic.

#2. - You must bleach your hair. A lot of people don't want to bleach because it's hard on your hair, but it's a must to get true bright color. You WANT your hair to be porous! It's the only way for the color to soak in. Using vibrant colors on healthy hair won't show up as well and will wash out in no time. I get my hair professionally bleached and then do the color at home myself. Bleaching over already bleached hair IS BAD and will destroy your hair. Trust me, I have done it and it will cause serious breakage. As long as you stick to touching up the roots only, you'll be fine!



#3. - The vibrant color dye is basically just a stain. There are no chemicals in it and will not damage your hair! As long as you just do an initial bleach and then keep up with the roots every couple months, your hair won't suffer too much. You can put the dye in your hair anywhere form 20 minutes to like...an entire day! I usually shoot for an hour or more. Just put the dye in and then cover your hair with a plastic grocery bag. I usually put a thin towel on top of the whole thing to hold in the heat. That will help the color penetrate your hair too. Tip: To conserve on dye, mix it with equal parts conditioner. It will dye the hair just as vibrant, conserve dye, condition your hair, and help your hair have less bleeding afterwards. After your time is up, just wash it out in the sink or take a shower. Be careful with the first rinse! The water will have a lot of dye in it and could easily stain your bathroom. If you try to wash it down the drain right away there usual isn't any problem.

#4. -  I don't shampoo my hair...like ever.  Surprise! I don't do the "no poo" method either! I did that before and it was ok, but I found something that works even better! I use conditioner ONLY! Most people instantly react saying that their hair is too oily for this and it would be a disaster. I beg to differ. If you use a lot of conditioner and massage it into the roots just like shampoo, it will have a cleansing effect! Trust me it really works. I have used certain conditioners that are too heavy and don't work as well, so you may have to experiment to find the right one. I use Aussie conditioner, but I have also used Tresemme and it worked great as well.

#5. - Use cooler water to condition, and then get your hair out of the water. I usually "wash" my hair first thing when I get in the shower. I am not super hardcore with the cooler water, but I try to keep it from being super hot. After conditioning, I get a small towel and wrap my hair in it, you know... turban style! Get your hair out of the water and you can continue on with your shower. The longer it is sopping wet, the more it will fade. This also allows you to turn the heat up and enjoy the rest of your shower.



I think that's about it! After you get in the habit of doing these things, it's really no big deal. My hair DOES still fade a little.  I'll dye it the day I bleach and then usually again in about a month. Some colors do last longer than others. When I had green, I only dyed it once the whole cycle! It was super bright at first and then faded to a lovely mint color that I loved just as much. Some other colors you'll like better when they are at their brightest, so that's when I'll usually freshen it up after about a month.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Poo. I did it again.

So, I'm sure a lot of you already know I have another blog that was supposed to be where I posted all my sketches. Well, somehow I started posting them over here again and didn't even think anything of it! I just don't like to clog this one up with only sketches. It's easy to do because I sketch ideas and for practice a lot more than I actually paint. My sketches don't always reflect my typical style either. . . so for some reason I like to keep them separate. So away they go once again! If you want to follow my daily sketches etc, subscribe to my other blog: More Overflow!

At the beginning of the year I committed to myself to try and post more. Well...it's been a boring winter so far. I just don't have anything blog-worthy! I gotta try and make normal life sound exciting! Hahah. Anyway, if you have any requests, or thoughts on fun things you might want me to post about, please let me know!

As of right now, I'm still swooning over my new hair (the most exciting thing that has happened lately.)



I changed my part! I do that from time to time. This time it was out of necessity. A few months ago I had extensions on my left side, which I LOVED. Sadly, I have super thin and fragile hair and it wreaked havoc on the left side of my head. That side was super thin, broken and unmanageable. So I switched my part, made the right side my "long side" and hacked all that off. It feels great!! I added some orange and red under my hair for a "sunset" effect. I'm thinking I'll transition to all orange by fall. I'm really trying to stick to the same thing for a while. It's hard! :D I do love having yellow hair though. It's definitely my favorite so far.



Yes. The weather has been great around here. The other day I think I spent 80% of the day outside. I just couldn't resist. Today: rainy and gray. At least it's still warm!

Hair roundup!

Someone suggested I do one including all my colors since I started dying it bright colors, so here it is! I feel so natural with these bright colors...how can I ever go back?

I still haven't done orange or red. I'm sure I will someday...but for some reason I feel like sticking to yellow for a while.

A year of . . . hair.

Well, it's officially been over a year since I chopped off my hair and went for the colors I've always wanted.















Yay!!
Even though the pink and purples were pretty, they were my least favorite. It seems to me that they fade so much faster than blue, and when they do it's a nasty dingy color. I think my favorite would definitely be the light teal. It was practically maintenance free and always looked pretty! I think I might be going back to it sometime in the future.

New hairs.

I went through with it! New short hair cut...and I'm REALLY happy with it! It's so easy I can hardly believe it.
Not to mention the color is lasting way longer since I don't have to battle with the purple part. Horray!



Here's a few "process photos" LOL!   (UGHHH scariest thing ever!!!)



So serious. What are you lookin at?
:p

Hair chop chop???

So, I still absolutely love my hair color. Bright pink with purple ombre. LOVE it! The problem is, the purple just won't stay in. It's so hard to capture in pictures...but the ends get grey/orange/purple in no time at all. The hair under the purple is where I had dyed my hair black a million times. It wouldn't bleach lighter than orange, thus the purple hair color won't stick. I am still doing the "no poo" method, and it still fades in just a few days, without even a real shampoo! So anyway, I was considering just getting it chopped off short so all the hair would be bleach-able  Like pretty darn short. I always have been afraid of this, because it's so "normal" looking to me.  I think I'm gonan take the plunge. Since my hair is pink, I'm doubting that it will look like a "normal" cut. Plus, it's only hair! What's the big deal anyway? It will grow out. Not the end of the world.

Right when I'm debating on this over and over in my mind... Kandee Johnson (who has the cutest short hair cut right now) made this video that totally inspired me. She is just the cutest thing. Love her and her upbeat bubbly attitude. 

Hazzaaahh!!! Be who you wanna be! Try different styles and get over what "other people" are doing. (I'm preaching to myself here). Why would we all want to be the same? Why would want to stay the same forever and/or look like everyone else?? Change is so good, and so fun!! Embrace your style and other's style...no matter what it may be!

Ok I think I've got it all out of my system. I'm all pumped up and ready for more change!

Renovating the blog & hair!

Hola!!
I've been wanting to switch up the blog for a while now, so I guess today is the day.
I really tried to simplify, and make it very...ME!

On to hair.
I've had my hair the same for years and years now, which is NOT me at all!
I had this goal to have long hair for once in my life.
I achieved it, but in the process realized it was utterly boring.
Back to my old self! Chip-chop and color! Huzzah!

 

I feel SO much better!!!
What do you change up to get a fresh start?

Thursday Infatuations ...wait. it's Friday!

Well, I totally dropped the ball on posting this yesterday. It's all good.

I've been obsessing over the fact I haven't changed my hair in well over two years. That's VERY unlike me. My hair grows extremely slow, so once in my life I wanted to have long hair. It's finally there and, I love it!!!At the same time I would like to do something a litte more fun with color. The problem is, my hair is also fragile, if I bleach it at all, I'll eventually have to cut a good bit off. I've been afraid to make the jump because I can't afford to damage my hair if I want it to stay long. So I've been slow to make the jump. Anyway, I've been dreaming of these styles. Maybe I'll end up doing it. What do you think? The first one is my favorite. 

                                                                Source: haircolorsideas.com via Marcia on Pinterest

                                                                           Source: google.com via Marcia on Pinterest

                                                                  Source: haircolorsideas.com via Marcia on Pinterest