Use Your Dark Roots For Ombré

I have dealt with years of the unfun routine of bleaching and dying my roots monthly. This is how I got from black hair to an ombré over time. (This is for people with naturally black hair - it's a different process for those with naturally lighter hair, I'm sure!) I'm sure you could also just start out by dying your roots a darker color, but I didn't want to end up with super uneven tones, and didn't even think for opting for ombré until I got a job where I needed my hair to look more natural (read: no roots). This is a good way to transition out of bleached hair to letting your natural hair grow without dying it all dark, or chopping all of it off. I've wanted to do that many a time, believe me.

Step 1: Lighten your hair.
I have had this step down since... a long time ago. Bleach your hair and dye it whatever color you want. It will eventually fade, which will help later. Enjoy your one-toned mane while it lasts.

Step 2: Let your roots grow out.
This takes the most time, and if this is the step you're at, perfect. Wait a few more months until they're a few inches. Yeah, ew. You can keep redyeing your hair in the meantime to make the color difference between the bleached hair and your roots less stark, if you want. Eventually, the bleached and natural hair will look more blended once long enough.

Step 3: Dye the hair to blend.
Once your roots have grown to be looking blended with the bleached hair, go ahead and pick a hair dye that's between your natural color and the bleached/dyed hair. For me, this was the same color I've been dying my hair from the beginning. (That's why the fading of the initial color of the dyed hair is fine.) Apply this from the roots to the middle of the length of your hair.

Step 4: Ombré!
You can deal with not dying your hair every 4-6 weeks now, because you can let your roots grow and not look disgusting! Hoorah!

It's hard to find pics with my hair not tied, but here's my hair a few months ago,

I haven't bleached/dyed my hair in half a year or more, and people still ask if I just dyed my hair. It's wonderful not to have to go to Sally's all the time.

The only thing I dislike about ombréd hair is that it looks best when curled/wavy. I am not about to curl my hair everyday (again), so what I do is twist it leave it in a bun overnight, and in the morning, I have curled, heat-free, ombré tresses!

Achieving Ash Blonde/Brown Hair

Ash blonde is probably one of my favorite hair colors! The hints of silver with brown is such a soft tone that is really pretty! But, it is a big change in the care for your locks as well as the color, and to upkeep the tone takes some time and money, too! I once had and maintained a hair color that was close as I could get to ash blonde, and if you're interested in finding out what I used to achieve it, keep reading!

My ash blonde hair:

Here's what my hair looked like before:

One Beyond the Zone bleaching kit later...

and after bleaching!

I thought this color was so cool, now I can't stand a day with it, lol.

Bleaching:

You can bleach your hair with any bleaching powder + developer (I use 20-30 volume now, the kit I first started with was 40 vol). Make sure to get both of the items! The powder usually comes in a tub, and the developer in a shampoo-like bottle. These two products can be easily found at Sally's Beauty Supply if you live in the US, or any other beauty supply store that stocks hair products, and shouldn't exceed $25 most likely. You mix the powder with the liquid developer as it instructs you on the bleaching bin, and you apply the paste you've created to your hair evenly, then watch the clock. This is important, because if you over-develop, your hair will be... well, over.

So be warned, once you bleach your hair, it will be a lot thinner and will break easier, resulting in split ends and can result in frizzier hair. Bleaching strips your hair, literally, which is why it can be stringy and like elastic post-bleaching. I feel that bleached hair requires more care and attention than normal, so only do so if you are ready for the time and commitment! If you don't take precautions with bleaching hair, many a time I see people ending up chopping their hair off to "start over".. I once have chopped my hair off to shoulder length to start a healthier phase of my bleaching journey when I had bleached it many a time. I hated it :P

It's a good idea to give your hair a rest after the bleaching and not add more chemicals to it for a few days or so, so it's not a bad thing to do this when you know you'll be home for a while. A deep conditioning session would be lovely for your hair, too! I have tips for bleached hair here!

Dying:
Now, after you've successfully lightened your hair, you can dye/tone it to the shade you desire. I have used both the boxed dye and liquid dye + developer from Sally's to achieve the ash color. I have used:

L'oreal Paris Superior Preference in 7 1/2 A Medium Ash Blonde - $9-11 USD

Wella Color Charm Liquid Permanent Hair Color - $5-6 USD

(I got it in 7# colors, such as the links below)

http://www.sallybeauty.com/wella-hair-color/SBS-800242,default,pd.html

http://www.sallybeauty.com/wella-hair-color/SBS-800234,default,pd.html

Personally, these results would last about 2 weeks before fading back to a brassier tone. Depending on how often you wash your hair, results may vary.

Good luck! (^-^)/

Trimmed My Hair

I've been wanting to trim off the gross, damaged split ends of my hair for a while now. Since I haven't been able to visit a salon still, I decided to do it on my own. (A quite dangerous act, despite numerous bad self-cuts before, at least I wasn't attempting a whole new style! A lot less disastrous, imo.)

Before shots, bedhead and then straightened a bit. Probably the longest I've ever grown my hair, since I was never allowed to grow it out as a kid. See how damaged it is, especially how the ends are...

Snip, snip! (Not the correct way to cut hair, do not reference lol.) Was very tempted to use my razor tool from when I regularly trimmed my bangs, but I know they would just cause more split ends >.>

"I just came from the salon." :P

After, edges too straight... So used the flat iron to curl the ends. (More split ends to come, obv)

I'm overall happy a good deal of the damaged ends are cut off! I was quite tempted to cut it quite short again, like a long bob style, but I would probably cry lol.

Happy Christmas Eve! Candlelight service for the first time ever soon :3

San

How To Manage Damaged, Bleached, Dyed, Frizzy Hair to Smooth

Having broken, frizzy locks, which, let's face it, are barely even locks anymore, from bleaching and dying your hair is no fun.

Over the course of one or two years, I bleached my hair over 10 times, and dyed it even more than that. The colors were great, the damage was devastating.

But after much trial and error, I've managed to find tools and techniques to transform my mane look not-as-damaged as it really is! :P I'm still discovering new ways to pamper my hair affordably, but here are the ones that I've found so far.

1. Conditioner is key.
We use it, but make sure that the type you use gives you maximum smoothness! I've noticed that after washing my hair, my hair would be brittle and "hard" in the times that I didn't use conditioner when I was in a hurry, or even any random conditioner I could grab. Shampoo is vital for getting rid of buildup, but conditioner is the last thing you use in hair-washing, so finding the right one is soooo important in managing damaged hair.

Here are the ones that I recommend:

TRESemme Conditioner Moisture Rich: ~$4-6 USD

This is a cheap, drugstore conditioner you can buy nearly anywhere, and that I've had great results with for years. It's only the one with the label "moisture" and the brown-beige label that I specifically use - when using another one from TRESemme, the split end repair one I believe, I found that my hair was still left brittle after drying. Because there's so much product for a lower price, I slather this conditioner on, being able to coat all my locks, feeling the smoothness even in the shower.

Ion Smooth Solutions: Keratin Smoothing Masque (Conditioner): ~$10-14 USD

This higher end conditioner can be bought at Sally's, but the price is definitely worth it! I saw a prominent difference in the smoothness of my hair after the first time using this, and every time after. I wish I could use this all the time, but I usually just mix it in with the other conditioner to keep from buying too much, but I'll definitely buy this over and over again once I run out.


2. Leaving your conditioner in!
How you condition your hair can make a difference too! On hair washing days, shampoo and condition your hair at the beginning of your shower before anything else, so that after you get your hair covered (not much on the roots of course) you can leave the conditioner in for the whole duration of your shower. I like to also comb my fingers in them to ensure all tangles are gone because it's easiest to do this while your hair coated with conditioner. The backs of conditioner bottles usually say to leave it in for 3 minutes, but do more than that. You can even just stand there and enjoy the warm water if you want extra time haha.

And when you're done, just quickly rinse it. You don't have to get all of the conditioner out - leave your hair feeling like there's still a teensy bit of conditioner moisture in your hair after the shower, but of course not too much. Rinse the roots well though! You might not want to do this if your hair is really oily, however.

I also like giving my hair a quick burst of cold water after that rinse, not sure if it makes that big of a difference, but I've heard it helps retain moisture.


3. Dry your hair without drying it!
After washing your hair, just squeeze out the water with your hands. Ringing my hair instead of towel drying it, even lightly as I did before, makes my hair less frizzy upon drying.

Blow drying also adds heat and damages hair, and blow drying broken hair oftentimes makes it look more frizzy anyway, so I would avoid doing this.

It takes longer, but drying your hair naturally is best!


4. Use a comb, not a brush.
Brushes are good for untangling hair, however, if your hair is damaged and fragile this will likely just break it off. Combs are better for gently untangling. Work in small sections instead of large portions of hair.


5. Comb the tips first.
Whether when your hair is wet or dry, comb/brush the tips first to prevent further breakage. Bleached hair easily gets tugged off, and we don't want any more of that. Comb your hair in sections. After doing the tips, comb the middle section, then you can comb from the roots.


6. Use minimal heat.
I love straightening my hair. It gives that illusion of smoothness, especially by making those broken hairs lay low, but it is of course very damaging. And more breakage equals more frizz. My solution to this is to only straighten it once after every hair-washing instead of every morning. Results may vary, but my hair will stay straight after that as long as I don't wet it. In the mornings it might have a few waves from sleeping in it, but at least I'm not damaging my hair daily anymore!

I use a wet/dry straightener, but I recommend just straightening your hair once it's dry, or at least 90% dry. Straightening wet hair can end in it looking not-so-straight for my damaged hair at least :P


7. Conditioner masques.
After a heavy bleaching or dying session, this is a nice way to pamper your mane.

I do this by wearing an old T-shirt, dampening my hair enough, and slathering on some conditioner (my favorite to use for this would be the Ion Keratin one I mentioned above.) Take care of business around the house for at least an hour or two or more, then rinse off in the shower. I've heard that you could even put on a shower cap over the hair and sleep in it, then just rinse in the morning. Waking up to smooth hair sounds great! :3


8. Trim damaged ends.
I wanted long hair so I did this infrequently, and found the tips of my hair looked very unpleasant due to the accumulation and spread of split ends. Trimming them off regularly keeps your hair looking healthier!


9. Perms or rebonding.
Perms aren't just to make your hair curly. You can get a straight perm too!

Rebonding also does heavy smoothing to your hair with chemicals. My mom came back with her hair rebonded once and it was very smooth, flat, and shiny.

If you're going to do them at home, however, make sure you get all the facts! You could end up with even more damaged-looking hair. While I've never tried these methods before, they're worth checking out.


That's all the knowledge about having damaged bleached hair I have acquired thus far, and I hope what I've shared with you is helpful in some way!

If you have any more tips, let me know! I'd love to hear 'em!
<3 Sannnnn