The amount of people i know that get their hair professionally lightened at the hair dressers is phenomenal. I went through that myself. There are many plus sides to this; it tends to keep your hair healthier, hardly ever goes wrong and you get a good cut in the process. The downside? The price. I was at one point paying around £50 for a good highlight...
So is it so hard to believe that a lot of women and men choose to go for the cheaper, yet more risky option of home colouring. With so many choices on the market, its hard not to give it a go.
So, what did i do? Firstly, i am naturally a dirty blonde, sort of a cross between a brown and a very dark blonde. I would advise against going blonde if you have very dark hair, as i'm not sure how well it would work. The good thing? There are ways to colour over gone wrong blonde hair.
I dyed my hair brown for a while, but got bored, so decided to go back blonde. Bright blonde, platinum blonde. Firstly, i chucked on some xxl live colour in platinum blonde. The best thing about this one is its a powder. I find they work the best. I waited untill my hair literally dried with the bleach on it, then rinsed. I was left with BRIGHT orange hair. Carrot top, red head. Disaster. WHAT DO I DO?!
Firstly...do not bleach it again. It doesn't help, and it will ruin your hair completely. Go to the store (with a hat on) and buy some grape juice. Orange, when looking at the colour spectrum, is opposite to purple and blue. Therefore, to dull the orange colour down, you need to put purple colours through it. I chose to tip the grape juice over my head to saturate my hair, and the wrapped it in cling film. I then left it on for 20 minutes, putting constant heat onto it with a hair dryer.
This will help the slightest hint of orange and leave you with a sort of pale yellow colour. Keeping up with grape juice helps brilliantly.
For more severe red? I advise Gentian Violet. This is actually meant for use on animals, especially on cuts, but because of its bright purple colour, it is perfect for orange hair. You can pick it up in chemists or animal stores for around £2. Firstly, THIS WILL DYE YOUR SKIN FOR A VERY LONG TIME. IT WILL ALSO DYE EVERYTHING IT COMES INTO CONTACT WITH. I learnt this the hard way, and was left with a purple and white bathroom for about 3 months. I used it everyday in my shampoo and conditioner (literally a drop will be enough) but for immediate action i found getting a full bucket of water and putting A FEW drops in helped tremendously. I then dunked my head in for half a minute to a minute a few times a day. Your hair may have a puple tinge to it for a while, but i found to combat this just mix shampoo with bicarbonate of soda and wash your hair with it.
CAUTION: If used too much, gentian violet will cause your hair to turn bright white.
I hope this helps. Let me know if it does :) Thanks for reading
