New hair colour & cut - result!

Well I dyed my hair orangey red a couple of weeks ago which I really like.  As I mentioned in my last post, I used 'Directions - Mandarin' mixed with 'Directions - Fire'.  I used the whole tub of Fire and about half the tub of Mandarin.  After I mixed it it looked a bit too light so I also decided to mix a little bit of 'Directions - Ebony'.

And I just got my hair cut (desperately needed!) and got a fringe too! 

Here's some picturesss....

The colour is probably closest to the top picture :)

xxxx

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Maintenance

Here's my top tips to help maintain your colour :] (it's a long one!) :

• Minimal Hair Washing - I normally wash my hair 3 times a week (every other day) but if you can avoid washing less than this then theres less chance of your colour washing out! (simple really :P)

• Weekly Dyeing -  Even only washing my hair 3 times a week is enough to make my hair fade from red to more of a pink. So I need to dye it once a week or 2 weeks at a push!

• Quality Shampoo - A lot of shampoos strip the colour from your hair SO much even if they are so called "colour protecting" even they simply just don't cut it.  This is because most shampoos have sulphate in them which is the main culprit of horrendously stripping the colour.  One thing to keep in mind is no matter what shampoo you choose, your colour WILL fade, it washes out just in water but sulphate free shampoo should really help prolong the colour.  Here's a review on some sulphate free shampoos I have tried:
• Tigi S-Factor Colour Savvy - RRP £14.30 - My mum likes to get salon brands and when I first dyed my hair red she gave me a bottle of this. It works really well and cleans hair without badly stripping colour. It doesn't seem to moisturise my hair very much but that might just be me! I've bought myself a bottle since and luckily it has lasted a while because it's quite painful on the pursestrings!
• Naked Rescue Intense Care - RRP £4.19 - I liked the smell of this at first (almond) but I've gone off it. This is the most natural shampoo I have ever used and has hardly any chemicals so doesn't strip the colour very much at all. However, it doesn't seem to foam up which makes it difficult to wash all the hair so I end up coming out the shower and my hair still feels dirty! Nae good :( they do a colour protecting range but it's absolutely stinking and works just the same.
• L'oReal Expertise EverPure -RRP £5.99 - I just got this today and I have fallen in love!!! It smells gorgeous, like a spa product or something. I got the 'Colour & Smooth' one for frizzy hair. It's been advertised as sulphate free but is still quite foamy which is good as it feels like my hair is getting a good clean.

• Hair serum - My hair can get quite frizzy so I always use hair serum. I normally apply it to damp hair and again when it's been dried and styled to give my hair extra shine. I would normally use John Frieda Frizz-ease but my mum with her salon brands again!!! She introduced me to 'L'Oreal Professionnel Mythic Oil - RRP £15.95' which is AMAZING :D !! Some serums make my hair greasy quickly but this is just so light but works so well with just a little bit. It's quite pricey but I've had my bottle for about 4 months and I'm not even half way through so I would say its well worth it!

• Dry Shampoo - This is a life saver for trying to avoid washing your hair every day.  I just use Batisse Dry Shampoo which works fine.  I haven't really experimented.  The only thing about dry shampoo is it is a white powder so if it doesn't absorb properly you can end up with slightly white roots.  A lot of brands do variations for blonde and brunette hair but they haven't got one for bright red yet hmm...!  I normally spray my hair with dry shampoo at night so it has time to absorb and isn't greasy in the morning.

• Intensive Conditioner - This is a must for anyone dying their hair any colour.  I recently bought L'Oreal Paris Hair Expertise EverPure (RRP £6.99) to match my sulphate free shampoo and I must say this is reallyyy good.  I left it on for about 5 mins and my hair feels super soft and smells lovely.  Before this I was using Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Colour (RRP £4.99) which is a really nice treat for your hair and smells yummy also.  I would recommend using an intensive conditioner at least once a week.  If your hair is really damaged you can wrap your hair in cling film & a towel and leave it for an hour.

ok I know that was a lot but hopefully if you take my advice your hair will stay awesome !

stay cool. xx

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blonde to red

so, for my 21st birthday i decided i wanted to go from brown to blonde!  well, lets just say it didn't go so well...  i had been blonde before and knew what i needed to use but as my hair had been bright red a few months before it was very difficult to get the red out so my blonde attempt was, well, ginger.  This is a picture of my hair the best i could get it!  It's more of a strawberry blonde but it was verryyy damaged.

I had been using a silver shampoo to tone down the red which helped a little.  I went to the hairdressers to see if anything could be done with it.  They look a sample of my hair and bleached it using a very low volume but the sample was completely frazzled!  She said all I could do was either go dark again or keep using the silver shampoo.  I felt that going back to brown would have been a waste of money for all the bleaching i had done!  So, I decided to go red again!

muuuch better!! :D i used Directions Poppy Red mixed in with a teeeny bit of Directions Ebony to make it a little darker.  I normally get my hair dye from either hairbomb.com or glitterstore.co.uk
sam x



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