About a year and a half ago I got my hair done for the first time in a dark blue color. I wasn't too crazy about it at first and truth be told, my experience at the salon I went to left a lot to be desired. That was a bit frustrating at first as the place I went had the best reputation for unusual hair requests. And I might add, this type of service is very expensive. It certainly falls into the luxury end of expense as far as I am concerned. Be that as it may I was getting my hair colored for the release party of my first book. I was nervous but excited and at that point had only ever done box colors. I was not about to bleach my own hair. My hair may not be perfect but it is healthy and people spend a whole lot of time learning to care for your hair. My using a box bleach was not about to happen. Some things I just don't think are very smart to do on your own if you have no experience. Hair for me, is one of those things. SO I made an appointment at Hair Police and went in the first time. Like I said it wasn't a great experience but I will say I am still going to the same place and seeing the same person because it did get better. There was just enough good about the first couple of experiences for me to weigh it against the bad and give it another go. Plus, when you finally find someone who can actually do your hair, it makes you pretty happy. It's such a personal thing and is one of the first things people notice about you. That said my hair is currently blue though faded from summer with silvery blue tips and I have enjoyed this very much. I am going in for a new color this week and I have been scrolling through a million ideas from Pinterest looking to see what I want. The first couple of pictures are my hair from earlier this year and the next few after are some of the ideas I really like. I am fairly certain I've settled on a color but you never know.
One of the things that made me go back to my current stylist was her total honesty about caring for my hair. She gave me really good advice about how to take of the color. And even though it fades as this is unavoidable it does so gradually and usually fades to a fairly nice color. I am not someone who runs in for a touch-up immediately as I don't think the bleach is a good idea all the time. She has mentioned that this keeps my hair pretty healthy despite all the abuse.
First and foremost she told me, no hot water. Barely even warm. This isn't a particularly easy thing to deal with in a cold Minnesota winter but it is great for your hair in general. I usually pin my hair up and don't wash it till the end so it's quick and I can still have a warm shower the rest of the time.
Second, do not wash your hair everyday. This is also good advice in general because it dries your hair out unless you have unusually oily hair. I used to have a very dirty, dusty job so I did wash my hair everyday out of necessity but no longer. I wash it every 2-3 days depending how dirty it feels and based on activities. The days in-between I either condition it or just leave it. My hair is pretty much healthier than it's been in a really long time.
Third and this is probably one of the more important pieces to this is: only use salon quality products. You may think, yeah right you can use cheaper things. Well, let me tell you, sure you can but they are going to strip your hair no matter what the bottle says. No alcohol, no sulfates. Absolutely paramount in maintaining your color and not even the pricey things at Whole Foods are as good as the salon products I buy. I've tried dozens of them. I mean seriously, even if you do the color yourself it is a huge time and money investment, why not make it last as much as possible. I personally use Kevin Murphy products because they are also not tested on animals and use vegan ingredients which is important to me. My color as well is cruelty-free. (Another reason I decided to stick with my current stylist was her commitment to finding and using cruelty-free products)
There are other things as well to think about such as wearing hats when out in the sun for long periods of time and minimizing exposure to heat styling tools without some sort of oil to protect your hair. But those three listed above are the most helpful. The only thing I haven't tried is having a bit of color added to my conditioner and I may ask her to do that for me this time.
There's tons of hair advice out there and some of it is even useful but if you're going for an unusual color you have to know it requires a fair amount of extra time and care. And money. No way around that. Blue especially is difficult to maintain and it can run forever. But well, it's pretty great when little kids freak out over your color and think you're a mermaid.
