I heard blondes had more fun so guess who’s blonde?! About a month ago I decided to go blonder than I had ever gone. I’m no stranger to balayage but I usually gravitate towards a simple, natural blonde but this time I was going through a mid-life crisis tbh. I wanted to go PLATINUM! Although, I knew this was going to take a few tries because my natural hair color is dark brown I was still trying to go as light as I could on my new found highlights.
I had a consultation at a local salon because I had originally wanted to go gray instead of blonde, but the stylist immediately told me that going gray wasn’t worth it because I would have to visit her every two weeks to maintain the gray (no thanks.)
After telling Kattya, my stylist at New Concept Beauty Salon, what I wanted she went ahead and let me know the reality of the whole process and how long it would take to finally get to the color I wanted. So let’s get into what the hell I was in for?
2 – 3 DAY HAIR
I’m an avid hair washer. I wash my hair DAILY (pero los chonis que? ) and I would do this with my previous balayage but because it was a natural blonde, the brassiness was not very noticeable. I began to notice that my hair wasn’t the ashy blonde I had gotten three days before after washing it every day so I began letting my hair get a little dirty before another wash.
PURPLE SHAMPOO ALL THE TIME
Purple shampoo is a God sent! I use to ignore my weekly purple shampoo wash before because it was honestly no big deal. I missed it this week, oh well, it wouldn’t really affect my hair. Now that I have this white ashy blonde it begins to turn yellow almost immediately because of the stripping of the color with the shampoos. Yes, I do use shampoo for color treated hair, this is just inevitable with any color treated hair, especially when there’s such a big contrast with your natural hair color and the dye.
FREQUENT TONERS AND RETOUCHES
I’m sure my hair stylist hated me before because I wouldn’t go back for about six months because the product they would use on me wouldn’t become brassy very fast (Shout out to Paul Mitchell) and a retouch didn’t seem too important if my hair still looked good. Like I’ve mentioned, maintaining the color is a lot of work so it is necessary to see her every 4-6 weeks to do a retouch and toner because now that it is blonde the unkempt look isn’t cute.
MAINTENANCE IS KEY
Everything I’ve listed is a lot of maintenance. If you don’t have the time or patience for this shit don’t go blonde, especially an ashy or white blonde. When I went for a consultation they let me know that washing my hair daily wasn’t ideal for this type of hair so I made the sacrifices because I wanted this hair color so bad. You have to be willing to make sacrifices to keep it looking amazing at all times.
DANDRUFF STATION
I’m very prone to dandruff and the color dried out my scalp that same day but with the purple shampoo and continuous moisturizing (because hair color is drying), I have kept my dandruff to a minimal.
DAILY ROUTINE IN CHECK
Before getting your hair color you should take into consideration your daily routine and also ask yourselves these three questions. Do you have time to cater to your haircare routine? Do you need a super fast hairstyle? What’s your budget? These are the questions my stylist discussed with me before actually going through with the process so keep these in mind as well.
Had I considered all of these factors before going blonde I might have kept a more simple look because I tend to forget to do my hair a few times a week and high maintenance is not in my vocabulary but now I’m here and I love it! Now that I know what it takes to maintain this hair color I am obsessed and I’m okay with the routine change.
What hair color have you been considering? What’s stopping you?
Girl YES! I was platinum blonde for years, and it was such a hassle to keep up with. Sometimes I’ll think that I want to go blonde, and then think about the upkeep it takes! I’m considering going back right now, but know that it’ll take a few months to get to a true blonde color. Love this post! Keep it up! 🙂
Mallory @ lipstickandlessonplans.com
Yes! I actually like the upkeep (for now) because I feel like I’m pampering myself and this little time I actually can have to myself. If you go blonde, let me know how it goes!
I used to have blonde highlights, and even that was too much for me to keep up with! No matter what I did, I could not keep my highlights from getting brassy. I would constantly wash them with the right shampoos and conditioners to help, but I could never keep it looking how I wanted it!
This post is so great. I think that everyone should know how much care goes into keeping blonde hair blonde! If I had known before I went to the salon, I likely would have changed my mind…
Thanks for sharing!
I know, right?! No one talks about the upkeep and how demanding blonde hair is. They just forget to mention it so I had to let everyone know. Thanks for your comment Jennifer, I appreciate it.