Ask anybody who knows me about my hair over the years....
You'll get the same story!
It's always been blonde.....It's always been long....it's always been straight.
This never used to bother me - I went through a stage at around 16 when I wanted it cut short and dyed brown, but my hairdressers always recoiled in horror - I remember my hairdresser at the time saying "People come in this salon and offer me small fortunes to get their hair ash blonde....you do NOT dye natural ash blonde hair!"
Those words stuck with me for a long time, but eventually I did start highlighting it as ash blonde can be quite a dull colour - particularly in the summer months when you just want a bit of brightness!
Of course, highlighting inevitably led to horrendous roots and the need to keep having the highlights put through more and more.
Until recently I noticed that my hair has gotten lighter and lighter over all the years of highlights, and was now more bleached blonde than my natural colour - with the horrendous dark roots of course!
These days I just haven't got the free time to keep up with constant hair appointments, nor the money to spend on them....so i`ve been left with awful roots and hating my hair.
A few days ago, I suddenly decided I was sick of it and I was just going to dye my own hair at home.
Not only was I going to dye it back as close to my natural colour as possible to avoid all the upkeep - I was going to try something different for once!
And what could be more different than a completely un-natural colour?!
Ever since I saw Christina Aguilera's "Come On Over" video all those years ago, I have wanted pink dip-dyed hair - so I decided to just do it!
Armed with the Schwarzkopf XXL Live Ultra Brights in Shocking Pink - I got started!
First I used a John Freida Ash Blonde mousse to get rid of the horrific dark roots - I worried I might end up looking rather ginger, and I don't think I've totally escaped that as with the camera flash there is definitely a copper-ness to it - but in daylight the colour is very very close to my natural colour, and so I am pleased to not need to keep up with worrying constantly about very noticable regrowth - I much prefer the more subtle shade of blonde to the previous white blonde look - there is still some bleaching through the lengths of my hair but obviously these will grow out and be cut off over time!
So once the base colour was done, I set about the dip-dying - I was surprised that there was actually no dipping involved at all - it was all done with brush and foils!
You just leave it to set for 20 minutes
I was nervous to see the end result but once it was all dry...I loved it!
Although colouring your hair at home is a really fun and (inexpensive) experience, I've always been curious about one thing...Does hair dye expire? Well, the short answer is yes but hair dye expiring really depends on a number of factors including if the hair dye has been opened as well as if its past the shelf-life expiration date, which is generally considered to be around 3 years.
It was exactly the effect I was hoping for!
It looks more subtle in photos than the colour actually appears in reality - it is a deep shocking pink! But it's only the ends of the hair, so it's not too wild....although I am already hooked and planning on dying further up the hair and possibly through some of the length when I next wash it!
I also can't wait to experiment with ice blue next time around! It's pretty addictive!
Since dying it, I have been having lots of fun experimenting with my new look - at the moment I am loving wearing it curled in ringlets
But I think over the next few days I will try some more straight styles too!
As you can see, Tyne has found the whole thing very exciting!
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