There’s been a great debate going on at Casa de Orb concerning the color of my hair. I haven’t dyed it since before Halloween, and it’s looking drab (i.e. my natural color). I want to do something with it. The debate concerns what exactly should be done. On one side we have Lin, who really thinks it should be really blond. On the other side we have Orb, who isn’t opposed to going blond but is terrified witless by the process of doing it herself but refuses to pay someone $80 to do it for her.
I went to the drug store today and hovered in the hair dye section for a good long while fondling all the bleaching products I have been reading about on line for the last few weeks. I almost made it to the checkout counter with a box of Clairol’s Born Blond Ultra Blue. Then I had a panic attack, put it back and fled the area. As you can see in the photo, the right side is the color my hair is right now. Amazing how it always fades back to something close to my natural color isn’t it? That’s because I don’t use hair dye that contains any sort of bleaching agent. I am also always very careful to select colors that are similar enough in tone and undertone that I won’t get any bizarre results as it fades. The left side is the color it’s supposed to be once I use Born Blond Ultra. That’s pretty damn blond.
After calling around to see how much it would cost to have it done at a salon (or beauty school), I have decided that even if I screw it up totally, it’s not worth it to get it done somewhere. If it gets weird, I am fully capable of fixing it myself and STILL not spend $80 on it. Surely I can’t screw it up that badly, can I?
I’ve only bleached my hair once, and that was an actual hair color remover … meaning it removed all the color from my hair leaving it white (except for the red undertones which did not come out, so really it was sort of a pale orange). Then I died it strawberry blond, and it was VERY blond. I didn’t hate it. What I hated was the horrible bleach smells and the terror of my hair frying and falling out of my head. That didn’t happen last time when I used some potent professional color remover, so I imagine it won’t happen this time either.
I guess we’ll find out tomorrow. I’m going to wash my hair tonight, pray to the hair dye gods, and in the morning (or later tonight) return to the drug store to buy two boxes of blond. Why two boxes? I have a lot of hair. It’s well down my back now and almost to my waist. I’m worried that it’s going to take more than one bottle to cover it all. Running out of dye or bleach in the middle of doing it sucks. Had it happen once and vowed to never let it happen again. Besides, I’ll have to have another box next month or so to redo the roots anyway. So even if I don’t use it right now, I’ll be needing it at some point … unless being really blond freaks me out too much, in which case it can join the two boxes of dark brown still hiding in the bathroom. Yes, I stockpile hair dye. You never know when you might want to go crazy on your hair. :lol:
So there you have it. I’m going blond, I guess. No idea how long I’ll leave it that way, but I’ll take some good photos before I change it back, even if it is freaky looking. :o
And if you want to see the photo my current hair sample came from, all 100kb of it is behind the cut. :)
Another alternative is to see if there is a beauty school near you. You can get hair color done for about half the price of the salon and they are supervised while they work on you. The last thing they want to do is screw up somebody’s hair. I had my hair lightened a while back with highlights. My natural hair color is actually about the same as yours is. I hate my natural color. I’ve bleached my hair myself several times. The thing I hate about coloring my own hair is that the roots show so quickly and I hate that. I find that doing highlights makes it less noticeable as far as roots showing a stark contrast from dark hair to light hair. I’ve done highlights myself and the best one so far I’ve found is Loreal Colour Rays. If you have red tones in your hair and you want the golden look, then use the Blonde. If you want a cooler tone of blonde, use the White. It’s not really ‘white’, but it’s a cooler and lighter shade of blond. You would probably need at least 2 kits. I’ve done it successfully with one, but that wasn’t starting from scratch.
When I wanted it done professionally, I called around and to do my hair (which is long and very thick) would cost a little over $100 to have it highlighted with foil. You can’t pull my hair through a cap. I’ve had hairdressers tell me they can, but I sat through it once and it was total torture. I don’t recommend it for anyone unless they have fine, thin hair. So I went to the beauty school to have my hair highlighted. It cost $44 for the same exact service. I was pleased with how it turned out. The girl that did mine would ask a question to her supervisor anytime she wasn’t totally sure about something. That made me feel better. Then again, I think if they had royally screwed up my hair, they would’ve fixed it as well, so I didn’t worry too much about it. If you’re going to get all over color, then it would be even cheaper. The highlighting takes so much longer to do.
Anyhow, that’s my 2 cents on lightening hair. I was doing it for 15 years and just recently have been doing the ‘redhead’ thing, although I just recently highlighted it again, trying to obtain a more strawberry/golden blonde look. It turned out good. It’s not EXACTLY the shade I was wanting, but it’s close.
Not to frighten you, ;) but I knew a woman at work that had a cousin do her hair and it kind of burned itself off and left about a half an inch. the good news is that you could look really good bald.
Back in college I did the cap highlighting thing once, and it turned out pretty good. I only did the “around the face” stuff then, and I was thinking if I pulled hair through all the holes, it would lighten it up quite a bit. The caps work great with my hair since it’s brick straight and baby fine. If I am going to go blond though, I just want to GO BLOND. :D
I’m probably going to run over and get the Clairol stuff after Dr. Who tonight. My hair is super healthy, because I’ve never used harsh chemicals on it or even hair goop of any sort (and don’t blow dry it), so I figure the very worst that can happen is that it will get brassy or too damn orange and I’ll have to go get a blond toner or dye to bring that down a notch. I called two of the beauty schools in town where I had my hair cut before, and they were almost as pricey as a salon, and I sort of figure that going to get it done once means I will have to go back for the upkeep. At least doing it at home with store-bought stuff, even if the color turns out weird, at least I’ll be able to continue keeping it the same weird color.
I’m going to consider it one of my hair dying adventures … like when I thought I would look good with mahogany of my head (oh yeah, maroon hair, it was AWFUL). Even on the odd occasions when my hair has ended up some strange shade (orange, blue, once even pink — none intentional, I assure you), I have discovered that if you walk around like you meant to do that to your hair, people don’t look at you funny. ;)
Next I might even get a hair cut and start wearing makeup. It seems I am getting a little girly in my old age. My gods, I am even considering shaving more than twice a year. :lol:
Well, thank you johnny. I spent all afternoon working up the guts to do it, and now I’m quaking in my chair again. ;)
I guess if I end up bald, I’ll just have to start wearing hats … or maybe get a big old tattoo up there. :lol:
Luckily I’ve only turned my hair green. It was a dark nasty shade of green. I figured out that if you have bleached hair and you try to darken it that you can turn out with green hair. It was Loving Care that did it and to this day I won’t touch the stuff. :D
I ought to post the picture I have of me with my natural color. It looks so dark on me. I couldn’t get used to it because it made me look pale and everytime I looked in the mirror, I didn’t recognize myself. I’d been blonde for so long. My green eyes did stand out more, though. I also noticed that men didn’t pay as much attention to me with dark hair, but people in general tended to take me more seriously. Go figure.
Aw don’t let em’ scare you Orbie I have been bald a few times due to serious injuries on my noggin such as puncture/laceration wounds from being slapped up against my head with sharp/hot/glowing metal objects moving at a very high rate of speed from very explosive sources. If I cut my hair in a military fashion then my head has more lines from all the scars than a Texas roadmap. I hope if I ever do go bald again it will be the reason of hair dye and not my previous encounters.
Have fun with it and don’t worry if the worst does happen it will grow back. For the record I think you would be the same cute definitive Texas gal you have always been no matter what color hair nor how short it may be, and if you do go bald just let me know cause I’ve got about 50lbs+ of full length horse tails of every color.
(I know its weird, but I use then in some of my NA artwork such as Dreamcatchers and the like.)
So, you ask, why is Kenno willing to pay a little extra for glasses? Because they are his most significant fashion feature. Meaning his hair is not! So, if you have that going for you, don’t freak, but do go to a hiairdressing school and feign interest, come away with everything anyone needs to know about going blond, then it’s not an expense but an investment. BLond is such a thing that when done correctly (which is rare) is a great thing but when done not well is awlful. Now, my vote is for red, but that’s just me and we have never met and I really shouldn’t have an opinion, but red-orbbo, yum! That being said, invest in yourself if you want to be blond, you’ve seen the mistakes and you have a right to be scared! Best of luck, buddy.
Please, do not go “BLONDE”. Go to a brunette with so red highlights, but blonde you’ll end up looking like…I am not sure what, but I doubt, considering your skin color, if it will be anything you want it to be. Next you’ll be getting a Buzz Cut.
Blond always precedes red. My hair is a cyclical thing. It takes about ten years for me to work from blond, through every shade of red and auburn, back to dark brown … at which point I get disgusted and bleach it blond to start over. :D
I’m still thinking of going somewhere to get it done. It seems like SUCH a huge expense for something I know I can do myself, but I’m also terrified of making a huge mess of it.
I can’t wait until we get a new scanner. I need to scan in some pics from all the different hairstyles and colors I have had in the last 20 years. I have had some strange and unusual cuts and colors over the years … eventually always returning to my standard chin-lengthed bob in red. :lol:
I like the haircolor you have. Your hair looks shiny and the color seems ‘rich’ and vibrant. Very pretty and natural looking. :)
My thoughts exactly Randi, but then again we don’t have to live with her. :D Your hair looks great!