Friday 25 June 2010

Colour Me In (No 1)

I was looking through what I have been ‘hauling’ recently and it suddenly struck me as I considered the new gems that most of the products were about colour in one way or another. I guess that is not surprising really. Isn’t make up all about colour? If a product is not changing the colour of our lips or other features then it is there to enhance the colour we already have. Foundation just makes our colour look a bit more smoothed and refreshed. Even beauty products are all about enhancing our beauty through colour. Exfoliators scrubs away the baddies and gives us the glow while cleansers are meant to keep those nasty red blemishes at bay.


Anyway enough of the babbling. The next couple of posts will concentrate on two different types of products that I use to colour (me!) in. My next post will be about a couple of fake tan products but this one is all about hair dye.

Yes, those of you who follow me on Twitter may already be aware that I dyed my hair last weekend. It was very brave of me, I don’t colour my hair at home very often and there is a very good reason for this which is that on the odd occasion where I have dyed my hair at home, disaster has struck.

First when I was about 17, I dyed my hair jet black and much of my skin too. It was a permanent colour as well. Ouch, there were a few lessons that I should have learnt there but I think that I only learnt one and that is, that there is a world of difference in the colour between Jet Black, the blackest of black hair and dark brunette. Oops. It looked so wrong. My Granny used to shake her head everytime that she saw me.

The second time I used permanent dye again, duh! It was one of those highlighting kits where you dye your hair and add your highlights. The permanent hair colour was fine, the highlight one not quite so. They were a red, red, red disaster and why did I have to highlight so much around my face? Again it made me look ill and seemed to bring out a very uneven skin tone. Needless to say I was at the hairdressers within a week!

Not this time, I am very impressed with my new colour this time. The delightful colour is NATURAL MEDIUM GOLDEN BROWN 117, a semi-permanent from Clariol Nice n Easy. I heeded what I’ve learnt in the past. Stay away from red, home highlights and permanent dye.


To be honest, I wasn’t sure about the word Golden as when I’ve previously gone ‘golden’ at the hairdressers, the colour quickly became straw-like but I was reassured by the fact that this was predominantly a medium dye.

I was right, there was no need to panic. This dye worked for me!

My barnet was quite dark when I first dyed it but the ‘golden’bits which are more shimmer then golden broke it up just enough to keep the colour soft and flattering. My eyes seemed to look quite bright and more awake.

Since the initial dying session last weekend, I have washed my hair twice and the colour has lightened a little but I still like it. Now it is more or less a glossier and more lively version of my natural hair colour. I doubt you can see the difference in photos hence the lack of. I just look more groomed and that is ok since that is a major part of what my mission is all about!


BEFORE



AFTER

I also just need to say how impressed I was with the conditioner included in the box with the dye. My hair felt so soft once it was applied, while it was left in and after it was washed out of my hair. It really felt like my hair had enjoyed a good going over and pampering. A softness I did not really expect when I had just dyed my hair. I left the dye on my hair for about 20 minutes at the most and although the colour change is there subtly, the vibrancy of my colour has increased immensely. There was also plenty of dye in the box. I purchased two boxes (It was 2 boxes for £8 in Boots) because it said you might need to if your hair is longer then shoulder length but one was enough for me. I did panic because I caught my skin a little (again!) but within 24 hours and a couple of scrubs, any staining seemed to disappear. You can never use too much vaseline when dying your hair though!

So do you feel the need to change your hair colour or even just liven it up a little once the summer comes? What hair colours do you recommend?

X

3 comments:

Viva La Fashion said...

i love the color of you hair. so pretty. :D

Unknown said...

I always use a semi permanent dye, my hairdresser told me it's better for your hair, it makes it shiny-er and gradually fades out instead of growing out. I used to get mine done at the salon but now I just do it at home, I use L'Oreal Casting Creme Gloss, I'd definitely recommend it!

Essjay23x said...

@Lane:) Thank you!
@Laura Yep, the salon introduced me to semi-permenent. I'm trying to stretch hair appts to 3 months so needed a touch up inbetween. Really pleased with the results and a little bit cheaper too! Could get addictive! Although I noticed the box says permanent but on the side, it says the colour lasts up to 8 weeks.

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