Going From Blonde To Brown
as you may or may not know, for several months i maintained platinum blonde locks — and I LOVED IT. however it was a constant struggle maintaining an even color, leading me to get my dark roots bleached once a month, for several months. it was around my fourth visit to the salon when the damage caught up with me. the overlapping of bleach led to severe breakage around my head, and hair texture that bounced back and forth between brittle and gummy.
it was then that i decided to stop bleaching altogether, and instead went back to taking care of my ever-so-neglected hair. a couple of months into the growing-out stage, i decided to DIY a pastel purple shade. it was lovely, of course, but thankfully i was able to resist the urge to re-bleach my hair to get an allover pastel hue. in the end, i let the purple gradually fade since i wanted to go back to a nice, “normal” brown.
since i was in a DIY mood, i decided to use a box dye i had lying around. it was a regular, medium brown and looked like the perfect transition color for me before deciding on a more long-term shade to wear. since i didn’t do any research i had no idea it wasn’t going to work: instead of turning a beautiful shade of brown, my hair ended up turning into a rather atrocious shade of dull-ish green (my roots were brown though!). it was horrifying.
to neutralize the green (albeit temporarily) i picked up a red-toned semi-permanent hair color at the drugstore for cheap, and i ended up with the pink hair you see above. it was then that i finally decided to get my hair fixed by an expert. because seriously — what was i thinking??
i made my way to HAIRSHAFT SALON at the podium and asked for a good ol’ makeover. the owner, fred penales, whom i have known for years, was super kind and assured me they would fix it. so i breathed a sigh of relief and let them do their magic.
they started with an initial wash and applied a lightener to my wet hair, which avoids unnecessary damage from the chemicals. they wanted to lift the color of my roots a bit, to better match my bleached areas.
the rest of my hair was covered in a dark, ash-toned hair dye (i didn’t have a preference; i just told them to make my hair look pretty!) and left to develop for a few minutes.
the lightener and dye were washed off, and fred stepped in to give me some highlights. i asked for subtle ones, since i was trying to darken my hair after all. it was a quick process of sectioning my hair and applying the lightener, which was then rinsed off after a mere five minutes on my head. it worked quick since i had bleached tresses under the dark dye!
then came a quick trim, in which fred convinced me to get some extra layers. not only did he snip off my damaged ends, but he also helped to get some bounce and fullness back into my hair.
my hair was blow-dried and styled with giant rollers (not gonna lie, i quite enjoyed them!)…
et, voilà! no more uneven, awkward-looking hair. nothing but chocolate brown goodness!
i am usually inclined toward warm-toned hair colors but the ash in this one just looks so pretty. i also adore the way the highlights worked out! they aren’t overpowering but add so much dimension to my otherwise heavy-looking block of hair.
big big thanks to fred and the rest of the staff from hairshaft! they really took care of my tresses and i couldn’t be happier with my new color. i know it’s not very exciting or unusual, but i really want to prioritize my hair’s health more than anything right now. but i promise, before you know it i’ll be back to something bolder and brighter!
PS
if you ever find yourself needing to transition from blonde to brown, i 100% recommend going to a professional! trust me, it will save you so. much. headache.
