Thursday, April 27, 2017

1 Year of Mermaid Hair


It's been over a year since Blair Brown bleached my hair for the first time in my life, effectively turning me into the Cool Girl I'd always wanted to be. When I first dyed my hair, all I could think about was the silver-lavender head of hair I was about to own. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to afford to maintain this color, I also looked forward to the process of growing out my hair. I planned from the get-go to leave my hair be as it grew out and eventually faded, potentially using the bleached base to re-dye my hair on my own.

In the last year, my hair has undergone more than just the initial transformation. My hair has grown out, faded, been cut, and been re-dyed (more than once).

April 2016


Look at this dye job! The blue roots, the purple tinge, the inexplicable pink streaks. It's worth noting that my hair literally felt like straw for at least a month after I bleached it. At the time, it seemed like a wash. Looking back, it was totally worth it.

May 2016


After years of natural hair, it felt so weird to have the texture that comes with bleached hair. My hair has always naturally curled, and my bleached hair either stuck straight out or hung flat upon waking up. It took me a while to come up with a solution that didn't involve applying heat to my hair and I definitely still have bad hair days, but I've mostly figured out how to get public-appropriate hair by sleeping in a tight braid. 

June 2016


My hair finally starts softening thanks to just a TON of deep conditioner. The purple has become more prominent, and my roots turn from blue to blue-green.

July 2016


This was my ideal hair color! I'm really grateful that Blair used a darker color than I asked for (the hair stylist always knows best), because the color lasted a LOT longer than if I'd gone pastel at first. My favorite part of having mermaid hair is that every time I wash my hair, the color changes ever so slightly. It brings out the pinks, purples, and silvers in my hair, giving me a new look every week.

August 2016


Around this point, I started to worry about my "yellowing" hair. Looking back, it's just a grayer shade of lavender-gray. 

September 2016


Once the dye started to fully wash out, it really started to go. Within a month, my hair was almost completely silver.

October 2016


I tried dying my hair pastel pink with two separate box dyes. The color didn't hold. I'd recommend avoiding pastel box dyes– the next time I dyed my own hair, I used a vibrant color.

December 2016


I got a haircut when I came back to Oregon after graduating in December. The poor tips of my hair were so fried, and no deep conditioner was going to save that.

January 2017


I used an at-home dye to dye my hair pink. It was really bright pink at first, but faded much more quickly than the professional dye. For only $11, though, getting nearly 2 months of color was completely reasonable.

February 2017


This was the exact shade of pink I wanted when I first tried to dye my own hair back in November. It only lasted a couple washes, but it was worth it.

March 2017


Again... Once the dye started washing out, it REALLY started washing out. My hair was back to silver fairly quickly. The blue in what was originally my roots has held fairly strong, though.

April 2017


The yellow-correcting toner has slowly been weakening over the last year, and now I guess I'm just a bleach blonde. I'm excited to dye my hair before my graduation ceremony in June, though. I can't wait to show you all what I decide to do!




Have any of you ever tried to grow out a dye job? Tell me your tips and tricks in the comments below!

No comments :

Post a Comment