As many of you may know I enjoy dying my hair. I like having hair that's not the 'norm' and receiving comments about it. I like standing out a little. I get asked quite a lot about how I dye my hair and what products I use so I thought that I'd make a blog entry about it to help people out who also would like to have bright hair!
The first thing you should know is that keeping your hair vibrant and in good condition is a lot of
hard work! It involves having to bleach your hair, then colour it and then keep up a strict routine to keep your hair in good condition.
The first thing that you need to do is bleach your hair. This step might be one that you want to get done at a professional salon, especially if it's your first time of bleaching it. All hair is different and if you don't know if your hair can take it or not, it's best to get it done by a pro.
For bleaching my hair I tend to use Smart Highlights in Carmine Pink. These cost around £4.99 and you can get them from Superdrug. This colour is great because it bleaches your hair while also adding the pink colour so it sort of saves the job of colouring your hair again. I only use this on my roots when they grow through. Once all your hair is bleached you should only apply bleach to your roots and not all your hair, this will just damage your hair. After I've dyed my hair using this kit and it's ready to wash off, I use a shampoo that is very gentle. I use Johnson's Baby shampoo.
This is just a nice and neutral shampoo that won't damage the hair so soon after bleaching.
Another point to watch out for it staining of your bath! If you wash the dye off in your bath then make sure you give it a scrub afterwards. No one wants a white bath with pink stains!
Right?
Right.
Because the colour of the Carmine Pink is slightly different from the colour I tend to go for, I like to dye over it with a vegetable based hair dye. These are great because they don't damage your hair, but to get the best results your hair must be bleached beforehand. The brand that I use is La Riché Directions. It wonderfully cheap. You can pick them up from eBay for around £3 a tub.
Bargain!
I use two colours mixed together.
Pillarbox Red & Flamingo Pink
They give me the perfect shade that I like. It's not quite red and it's not quite pink. I love it.
I always find that Directions conditions my hair beautifully, which is something you wouldn't expect from a hair dye. I've tried many other brands of dye but this is by far the best. I used the Manic Panic Amplified in the past and was SO disapointed in how long it lasted... or how long it
didn't last.
Ok so now you've got your hair the colour you want it, but what do you use afterwards to keep it in good condition. Well... here are a few items that I use to keep my hair looking nice.
I use Aussie products mainly on my hair because they never fail to make my hair feeling soft and beautiful. I've recently been using Miracle Moist shampoo & conditioner. I hate the smell but this is the best for keeping your hair looking soft and generally gorgeous. I also reccomend the Colour Mate shampoo by Aussie. It smells beautiful.
Aussie's 3 Minute Miracle Colour is a fantastic way to give your hair that extra treat that it needs. Just leave it on for a few minutes and it leaves your hair feeling oh so good!
Dying can cause split ends so I like to lather Beautiful Ends Intensive Mask by Herbal Essences into my hair. It really does help with those nasty split ends. Wonderful.
Your hair will of course fade fairly quickly, but you don't need to bleach your hair every time you dye your hair. You can just top it up with Directions until your roots get too out of control hehe. I like to use this La Riche Pre-Colour shampoo before I dye with the Directions hair dye because it prepares your hairto receive the dye and helps it to last a little bit longer.
I really hope this helped some people out!
If you like please comment :)
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