Just TeeJay's Blog

Not too long ago I was thinking about shaving my hair off again. It’s a long story and it’s not important. I don’t like to rush into decisions like that so a couple days into thinking about doing that… I saw a post for a hairdresser who was looking for volunteers to do some super colorful hair. I figured that if it went horribly I could always go back to the original plan and shave me head – so I volunteered.

We met, we discussed options. I really didn’t want anything predominantly orange or predominately green. (Orange doesn’t look good next to my skin tone and I don’t care for the way green fades.)

On April 30th I spent a surprisingly pleasant day at the salon getting my hair colorful. I loved it! The blends that she did and the placement of the colors that she chose were really flattering. The color looked comfortable and natural in a way that bright colored hair really shouldn’t. Perfect job.

I especially loved the blue on either side of my face. Unbeknownst to the stylist I had chosen to have my hair very similar colors many years ago. So it almost seemed familiar in a way.

I followed all of the directions, used the special shampoo and conditioner and washed my hair out of the shower with cool water. A pain in the ass, but I wanted to showcase the skills of the lovely lady who had taken such care and time to make this look so nice.

I don’t believe that she did anything wrong, but I do believe that the product that she wasn’t using wasn’t as great as we would have liked. When I had done this years ago we used Manic Panic. It faded pretty evenly (and dyed my back, tub and clothes the color of the dye) but then I wasn’t doing anything special to protect it. The light pinks washed out quickest with the manic panic, so we started making the fade go from the purple to the magenta leaving the lighter pinks out.
With this product almost everything except the magenta faded almost immediately.

I didn’t take photos the first few days but by May 9th (nine days later) it had faded to this.

I called to book an appointment to have it redone, but they couldn’t get me in until May 24th.

I tried to wear it up and braided to camouflage the fade as much as possible. It faded much slower after that and another week later on May 16th it looked like this.

I actually don’t mind the fade except for on my bangs. I don’t really care for how I look as a blonde so I started doing some research of something that I could do to re-color it a little bit before my appointment. I found some stuff online called Colorditioner that had some good reviews. This morning I tried it out on the ends a bit and even less on the bangs. ( We are now 20 days out from the initial coloring).

Before

After.

I am happy with what it did. I now wish that I would have used more, but I also don’t want to interfere with whatever we are going to do on the 24th. I may put a teeny bit more on the bangs, or maybe not.

I will update you on how things go on the 24th and what we decide to do… but so many people have asked me about it that I figured it was easier to explain here.

I promise the next update will be art related.

Perhaps fun hair color isn’t for people who run and wash their hair every day? We shall see. I am enjoying the fun colors and have a back up plan now that doens’t involve shaving my head again.

update.

may 21st. I did go ahead and add a little more of the magenta to my bangs. I’m happier with it now and will be able to hold out until my appointment Friday.

UPDATE:

So today is May 26th. Here is what the color looked like yesterday after I went for my run.

The Viral Colorditioner was holding fairly well.

Yesterday I went back and had the color redone. I had explained how quickly the color had faded especially the yellow and the pink. That magenta loved my hair and had held on nice and tightly. The stylist decided to go with deeper tones to get me more longevity this time. I washed it this morning and after drying it this is what it looks like today.

I have to admit that I am disappointed. It looks to me like there are areas that she missed with the color. In the areas where the color was supposed to blend from one to another the transitions didn’t take. This happened last time but it was less noticeable because the color was lighter. I am leaving for Europe today and don’t have time to address this or try to fill in the gaps with the colorditioner. I will most likely wear my hair up and/or braided to help camouflage the inconsistencies. It’s still fun hair, but I’m still disappointed.

I will try something different when I get home to see if I can come up with a plan that looks nice to me.

Suggestions that don’t involve shaving my head would be appreciated.

Posted in rochester, ny, TeeJay
Tags: colordintioner, Haircolor