i've been gone for awhile and in the process ...
i've always loved being a dark- haired girl. almost black/blue-black for a good part of 10 years. i did it myself and dreamed of days having someone do it for me (Even if it was just a root touch-up). you see i was blessed with the early grey gene and it was just always easier to do box color even if it meant sometimes 1x per month with the white just so obvious against the black. i toyed with 'going blonde' for a decade but it seemed 1. not me 2. too damaging 3. too expensive.
my best friend said every girl needs to be blonde once in her life and this kept ringing in my head along with the line 'there's a shade of blond for everyone'. starting this past June, i took the plunge. i was just SO tired of my hair. i knew i'd risk hating it, or what's worse totally regretting the damage i'd do to it, but we always want what we don't have and i just had to get it out of my system sooner or later. over the process of 3 majorly expensive salon visits i started by toning my hair and then gradually adding some warmth and daresay blonder pieces. it all looked good until the 3rd visit. Certain sections were getting so blonde and there was still residual black/dark brown underneath and here and there. Up until this point i wasn't willing to bleach my hair or do a full head. But it soon became apparent that my 'look' was getting a bit jumbled. i had seen and fallen in love with an ombre technique (often referred to as Balayage); a style that gradually gets lighter or darker, where the effect sees to be painted on. the best of both worlds, no?! this technique isn't easy apparently; in fact it's quite tricky to walk away without a clear lineation of one color to the next. ultimately my 3rd visit at unnamed overpriced salon was leaving me uninspired and with pangs of regret for starting this journey. i was apprehensive about going further. no hair inspiration around- i nay sayed all the fashion pics as just not possible in the real world. (indeed many a stylist will tell you they know what you're looking for and ATTEMPT to do it; execution is another matter.)
Stage 1
stage 2
now let's talk damage. hello dull. hello crunchy. hello losing hair and tangles. goodbye shine and manageablity. goodbye at-home blowouts, good bye quasi-trichophilia.
i found myself at once searching for every hair potion and salve imaginable. i simulataneously needed shine, moisture, protein, flexibility and a serious cut. the lesser of many evils, i decided a sufficient trim would make things more workable. since unmentioned salon has a policy of different stylists for cuts and color, i decided to just go elsewhere if i'd be starting off with someone new anyway. a very recommended, charming and more personal salon hit the spot and with the last appointment of the same day open, i took it as a sign of fate. without a picture to go by (shudder the thought) i described in great detail my hair journey up to how i was willing to loose several inches of preciously grown hair. amazingly i got a shaggy cut i'd wanted for years and was never able to receive both here and in France (and Ireland as a matter of fact). Even with very specific instruction and photos, I was never before close to satisfied. here i got the medium-length hair with layers and style i had wanted; something that looked good curly and straight and air dryed. looking back on that photo now it's ironic that she has the same dark-topped ombre color that i was currently searching for.
the elusive cut
my new stylist talked about the vision for my future color and was reticent to tell me the ultimo premium color job that cost me almost 4 digits wasn't très professional. a mirror to the back of my head left me aghast. unless i had kept my hair long and one length, any cut would have shown i was still severely dark underneath. (note to old stylist traveling through internet infinity; what were you doing for 14+ hours on my hair if you 'missed' such a region that could be only be best described as THE WHOLE BACK OF MY HEAD??!) . not to worry; when i, if i, decided to go further it could be fixed by get this; painting on the color where it needs to go. clever, eh (thank the French for inventing this technique in the 70's)?! no need for a head of foil and a silly dryer to make it appear to be in the process of something. technology, amazing.
anywho. cut to 1, that's (one) as in 'une', or sometimes referred to as uno, appointment later (granted hair was pre-lightened, although not BACK OF HEAD apparently) i walked away with ombre hair. voilà. oh and p.s. it wasn't damaged; it was healthier. whoa, hold on, could it be i was previously paying for the re-construction of the spa upstairs and the lime-flavored water instead of the service all those times i shelled out on single, double and color corrective processes?! besides the overinflated tips i had to leave according to the total and the overpriced hair care products recommended to me to fix the hair that was just damaged... well there goes judging a salon by it's cover.
after last visit
however, i still need to take precious care of said newly acquired golden locks- hot oil treatments (prefer coconut), protein masks and purple shampoo are still de rigeur. but it's to take care of the hair i actually like. what's more, i can actually touch up myself at home; sacre bleu, how!? because my roots are now properly dark due to the correct execution of an ombre color job. i can buy a chocolate boxed color and touch up them greys and move the blond up more in several months (kind of like a tetris game). or i can just have a root job done, when i go back to the salon in a month and want to be dark again . :) fickle is the world of beauty-
Lippmann Lara's Theme (looks redder than real life here)
size comparison
it really looks like this 85% of the time
