Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The Journey to Teal Hair

When I lost my job, I thought I would have so much more time to blog and take pictures and practice makeup. What I didn't realize was that I would lose the motivation to do these things.
I found myself in a bit of a funk.

I decided the best way to get myself out of it was to do something I have been wanting to do for as long as I can remember- dye my hair a fun color.

I have always been attracted to fun colors but always shied away due to practicality (of having/finding a job). But I decided to just go for it in this time between jobs, telling myself I would be totally fine with dying it all dark if a job opportunity came along.

I didn't expect to fall so hard in love. Now, I'm really hoping to find a job that will accept my hair!

So let's start with the before pictures. I had my hair done in January and I absolutely loved it. (fresh hair can be seen in the sidebar picture) It was bleach blonde with red underneath and red through my bangs. I really did love it but I didn't love the price. I kept putting off getting it touched up and then money was tight so I simply didn't have the money for the upkeep.

So my hair ended up looking like this:


And this picture is actually a little old. Turns out, when your hair looks like crap, you don't take many pictures that show it off!

I thought I would just grab some dye and throw it on myself, not having any expectations or care if I messed it up. Luckily, my friend Natalie who is a hairstylist stepped in and stopped me from wrecking my hair. She offered to do it for me! So together we started the journey.
This is what we started with:

**FYI many of these pictures have been edited (blurred) for privacy reasons. You can laugh, I'm not a damn photoshop pro**


Here is the beauty from the back. This shows off my glorious (and greasy at the time so be nice) roots, my bleach blonde mid section, and my faded red brown underneath.

So to begin we bleached the hair that needed it


We were trying to damage it as least as possible so we did not leave the bleach on for long. We also wanted some dimension so. This is the middle ground we got!

Also it's not fair of me to say "we". Like I literally did nothing but sit there. But I digress.

We were shooting roughly for a teal color I had seen online, so we got Pravana Vivids colors in blue and green. We kept them separate and we also mixed them together.


We also took a lot of precautions with trash bags EVERYWHERE. It looked like a scene from Dexter, honestly.

Once the dye started going on I was so excited! There was no turning back now.


My brilliant innovation to contain the dye and foils. Can you tell I'm excited?

Finally, we rinsed it out.


We discovered that my hair REALLY liked blue, but not so much green. The green at my roots had a hard time sticking but more than that, Natalie's fears were confirmed about the underneath of my hair.
You see, the color wheel is a real thing. So the green hair dye and the red hair really just neutralized to a lovely brown color.
Obviously not what we were going for. So, we gave it another go! (after a day to give my hairz a brief rest)

I should note that my hair was not damaged at this point, as we did not leave the dyes in for very long and my hair was fairly healthy when we started.


This picture gives you a better view of how BLUE some of my hair was (the parts that were blonde before) and how the bottom was a muddy brown.

We ended up putting some more bleach on the bottom parts to lighten it up to take the color better.


So! Take 2! Isn't that a lovely color?

AAAAAANNNNDD.....



and voila! a more awesome color over all.


Here is a shot from the back! Much more vibrant :)

So as you can see the top is a much better shade of teal/green. There are still pieces of straight up blue but its not as much as before. And finally the underneath is a teal green shade.

Indoor lighting

Here is a before (after take 1) and after- after take 2. You can see the difference in the roots and bottom.

As you can imagine, I'm pretty obsessed!

The first few days, I couldn't stop looking in the mirror and taking pictures of myself. It was a problem.

So, what do you think? I love it!

And one more gem that I couldn't resist including: my beloved cat deciding my face was a pillow:



So let's chat! Have you ever had "fun" colored hair?! I know the more alternative colors aren't for everyone. But I think they are so fun and look good on everyone! What color would you dye your hair if you had no outside pressures?

21 comments:

  1. Okay, you're right. Your cat is adorable. And I love the pic with the trash bag on your head. Haha! I totally vote for keeping this hair as long as possible. It's divine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know I'm a LITTLE BIT obsessed with him. I'm a crazy cat lady and I don't care who knows it..lol. HAHA yeah the things I will do so I can sit on the couch in peace! Thank you! I want to keep it around as long as possible as well :) I'm aiming to keep it at least to November. If I can find a job that lets me have it then I will continue having it for much longer!

      Delete
  2. I love it!! I've always wanted purple underneath :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thanks! I think that would look awesome! You should do it! :)

      Delete
  3. OMG! I actually gasped when I was the final product. Beautiful!!!! Gahhhhhhh and the look you did with the hair/natural/pin up eyes/purple lips is stunning!!! Wow! I've never had a crazy hair color, but I've thought about doing my hair with like a teal ombre (and leaving like the top hair of my head (really haha) brown) but I'm also in the shitty job hunting phase :/ but I did finally get my lip pierced! Can I ask what kind of job you're hunting for? Since I didn't go to school yet (maybe next year) I'm just looking for retail, but I have horrible anxiety and I'm making it much harder than it needs to be...but I'm thinking about the dollar tree or family dollar because they seem pretty laid back so it might not be too bad...my mom wants me to apply at sephora (at least for the holiday positions) and I might...but I'm really nervous (the sales girl told her about all the freebies so she's all for it haha) and I'm also thinking of bath and body works (another holiday position) so we'll see. Well good luck to you! And in case you didn't get the beginning of my comment...your hair is stunning!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. oh my gosh that's so kind of you hahaha. And thank you! I love how purple lips really work with this color hair. I think that's all I will wear from now on! haha. I definitely think you would look awesome with a teal ombre hair! My job hunting is kind of on hold because I have a lot of personal issues that make it hard for me to really search right now. Such as anxiety so I feel you there. Definitely apply for Sephora that would be awesome! I know that Barnes and Noble and Walgreens are pretty laid back as far as hair colors go so tht's always a thought. It sucks because I want to work retail but really with my back I can't be on my feet as much as retail requires. So I'm kinda stuck. Thanks so much girl and good luck to you as well! Let me know how it goes!

      Delete
  4. Oh and is that an engagement ring I see?? Did I miss something? :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. haha noo! I don't know what's going on in that picture but that is a ring that I wear on my right hand. I don't know if I switched hands that day or if the mirror is just throwing us off hahah. But it's a mickey mouse shaped ring LOL so in person people don't confuse it for anything more.

      Delete
  5. I like the blue in your hair. I think I would enjoy purple hair.
    Renee.
    http://reneehartsthis.blogspot.com.au/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! I think you should have purple hair at some point then :) I love the color purple and how there are so many shades of it that work for hair that don't have to be so "in your face" . Thanks for stopping by!

      Delete
  6. Looks really great! When I was laid off I dyed the ends of my hair pink. I'm not brave enough to do the whole head yet. Someday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you!! That sounds really cute! I think dying the tips of your hair is a great way to have fun hair color without going full blown. I always thought I would do that too but I just dove head first instead. Oops! ;)

      Delete
  7. You look really nice :) Thanks for commenting on my sisters blog post, stay in touch. xox

    pinkcupcake7.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! and no problem! gotta give credit where credit is due :P

      Delete
  8. I love the final result! When I worked in a salon, colors like this were my favorite ones to do! I've had fuchsia, purple, and blue streaks in my time. I love the look of all over bright colors, but I know myself well enough to know that I dislike maintenance, so peekaboo streaks are best for me. I love the super-vibrant colors so I was always adding more color to mine when they faded a bit. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. OMG I am in love with your hair! It is simply gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you!! It's quite a bit faded now hehe I really need to re-do it!

      Delete
  10. Loving that color on you! I'm thinking about getting some purple streaks or ends.

    www.loevensmakeuprambles.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! I think you should go for it, that would look awesome! I love purple too!

      Delete

I love reading & replying to comments so always check back here to see my reply!
I encourage you to leave a link to your blog so that I can check it out!

EmberDarling