For the past few years platinum, blonde hair has been popular. I was kind of bored with my hair, so I decided to give it a try. Now, I’ve had blonde highlights before, but never full blown blonde. Now before I begin this color story, I just want to iterate that this is my personal experience with trying to go blonde. My story may not be universal, but it is one that I want to share. I am also not very picky about my hair. If I get a bad haircut, I usually make it work. If worse comes to worse, I would not be above cutting it all off. So without further ado, here is my blonde color story.
My regular stylist was out on medical leave, so she referred me to another stylist at her salon. I went in for my appointment armed with several pictures from Pinterest to show options. The different options were just in case I was too ambitious or the look I chose wouldn’t work. Instantly the stylist started getting upset about not being able to achieve the look (this was a red flag). She said it could not be done in one sitting and it would be expensive. I agreed as long as I didn’t walk out looking crazy. Well let me tell you, I walked out looking crazy. I had bright yellow and orange hair. She couldn’t fit me in for another 3-4 weeks (yikes!).
So I ended up talking to my sister who is a barber in LA, who hooked me up with a stylist friend of hers who would give me a color correction. So I went to LA two weeks later for a color correction. The color correction was a saving grace for my hair. It wasn’t the blonde that I wanted, but it made my hair look good. It still had some brassiness but was 1000% better than it was before. Since then, I have been blonde for a year seeing a local stylist who has been amazing.
Now being a faux blonde is a lot of work. To upkeep the color, I had to purchase and use hair and blonde products. My hair tended to look seriously damaged, so I had to be very cautious about the heat that I applied to my hair. I’m not quite sure my hair took to the lack of color. It felt very coarse and frizzy, which meant it was difficult to have a good hair day. So here is my advice to all of you who are thinking about going blonde.
- Regardless of your current color, always suggest a consultation before you go in for the full color.
- Do your research on the stylist to see if they are good at bleaching on your type of hair.
- Be aware of the time necessary for the appointment. Most of my appointments were over an hour with some of them lasting two hours.
- Understand the cost of each appointment. Going blonde is a very expensive process with a lot of maintenance. Be sure you can afford to care for your hair.
- If you are unhappy with your hair, ask the stylist to fix it.
Now as most of you who following me on Facebook and Instagram know, I have since dyed my hair back to brown. Going brunette was not because of my experience or a dislike of the color. I just felt the darker hair looks better with my skin tone. I also prefer a lower maintenance for my hair for my daily routine as well as during my visits to the salon. If you want to go blonde, I hope your blonde color story works out better than mine. I would love to hear about it.
Photos by Rachel Neumann Photography
Leave a Reply