Happy Hair

The first time I ever dyed my hair I was still in high school and I dyed it myself at home using a box colour. I selected a rich red colour and I remember the feeling of liking it red but as I grew older I became absolutely against any red in my hair whatsoever. I mean I would switch and change hairdressers in a fit of rage because every time they dyed my hair I would leave with a brown hair colour that glowed red in the sun or under lights! Nobody ever seemed to be able to achieve what I wanted, I was always really adamant when meeting new colourists that ‘I do not want any red in my hair’. In recent years I had found a hairdresser that gave me the cool chocolate colour I requested. Maybe she was a genius or maybe improvements in hair colour techniques and products just mean that you can achieve your desired results more easily these days. I am trying to let you know how against red hair I have always been so that you can appreciate how drastically different my recent hair decisions have been. Let me also say here that I like red hair on other people I just never liked it on me.

I Finally Woke Up

On January 15th I was sat on the sofa in my living room and I had a sudden urge to google red hair. I don’t even know where the urge came from. I knew I had a hair appointment booked for the next morning and so in just a couple of minutes of looking at Pinterest I had decided to add some copper highlights to my dark bob.

me before

My colourist is really good at balayage, she has made me quite blonde before so I completely trusted her and let her get on with this change of image for me.

me during

It took me a while to get used to it as it was quite a change for me to go from NO RED to some red but I felt pleased with the result and I gradually realised that I was enjoying the red and wanted more.

first photo as a red head

The only thing you need to know when going red is that unfortunately it fades with each wash. I think it is inevitable and something that cannot be avoided so by the time I visited the salon on 20th Feb I was feeling less red and so asked if there was anything that can be done to make me feel more copper? She mentioned ‘the money piece’ which I had not heard of. It is basically lightening the pieces of hair framing your face to give the appearance of more colour in your hair without there actually being more, so therefore looking as though you have spent more money. I went for it and to be honest it was a shock. It really did lift the hair around my face and made me look a lot more red than before. the money piece

I left the salon that day really unsure I will be very honest. I kept getting lots of compliments, from school mums and school teachers to strangers in the supermarket but I frankly couldn’t decide if these compliments were genuine and not just because people were in shock at how loud my hair was and you couldn’t not notice it. I am in case you haven’t realised by now an extremely anxious over thinker and it is virtually impossible for me to receive a compliment as it is mean’t. I always doubt the sincerity and assume everyone is well, just laughing at me. Now when I look back at the photos of when I had it first done it doesn’t look that bright at all and actually I think it look’s pretty great!

Unfortunately as I mentioned above the copper did begin to fade though so I popped into the salon to chat with Beth and she recommended a product called Wella Color Refresh Mask in Copper Glow.

before mask

It was pretty scary using it for the first time. I didn’t use gloves and my hands looked like I had dipped them in orange paint. I was horrified. I looked like I had fake tanned without the tan. But it rinsed off and was gone by the time I got out of the shower. I would recommend this Wella product, it really works. It conditions your hair and adds colour for a bit of fun but also to refresh between salon visits.

after mask

Look at that difference! Because it did look quite different it took a couple of looks in the mirror to really start to get used to yet another change but now I am so pleased with the result. I have not loved my hair colour for a long time. I have tried being very dark, very blonde and somewhere in between but I don’t think I have ever felt so confident that a hair colour suits me until now. I am quite pale with blue eyes so red is a shade that would suit my colouring in theory and I really think it does.

me right now

Have you ever tried a big change in hair colour? It’s scary as a woman and maybe even for a man to try something new with your hair but when it goes right it is so satisfying, and anyway what is the worse that can happen you can usually change it back so why not give it a go! Life is too short to have boring hair 😉

NJ x