Here is a time-line of the abuse I've put my hair through so you know how horrid I am. I apologise now for the constant pictures of my face, I just wanted to show the various colours I have been.
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The first ever time I went bright red. I had wanted to do it for ages but never really had the balls. I can't for the life of me remember how I went red so I won't be able to list any of the products I used. I think I may have roped one of my family to do it, or maybe my housemate Aymee. The red didn't last unfortunately because by that point I was working nights and couldn't be bothered with the upkeep, so I went back to brown.
(I do not have a photo of the brown I went)
By March, I had gone back to red again. This time I remember it was my housemate Aymee that helped me achieve the awesomeness. We used two boxes of SCHWARZKOPF LIVE COLOR XXL in 00A ABSOLUTE PLATINUM to strip whatever colour I had in my hair, and then put SCHWARZKOPF LIVE COLOR XXL in 43 RED PASSION on top of the blonde. To get it as bright as I wanted it I had to regularly re-dye it using DIRECTIONS SEMI PERMANENT COLOUR IN VERMILLION RED. This also helped keep the shine going.
By July I had changed from Vermilion Red to both Pillarbox Red and Poppy Red. My hair was so bright it was insane. When it came to fixing the roots I'd just pop the Live Color Red Passion on the roots only and then cover everything in the Directions dye. It worked.... but my god, my bathroom looked like a murder scene.
On my 30th birthday I had a mini meltdown and decided that I wanted to go royal blue. Fuck knows what the hell happened to trigger that whim off but I was adamant I wanted it. So I stripped all my hair colour using COLOUR B4 HAIR REMOVER - EXTRA STRENGTH to pull all the red out. It went this blonde, which I loved. The next day I stuck two boxes of SCHWARZKOPF LIVE COLOR XXL in 00A ABSOLUTE PLATINUM on it, then followed with a DIRECTIONS HAIR DYE IN MIDNIGHT BLUE, which turned my hair a nasty light teal. It was horrid. So I stripped it again, however this time the colour wasn't shifting. I had stained my hair.
The Green Incident
There are no pictures of my green hair, thankfully. I was so humiliated. After all the chaos with trying to strip my hair I had damaged it beyond repair. I stuck a semi permanent dark brown on it to cover up the teal (which turned it green because the green in the brown just highlighted the green in the teal) I even went to a professional hair salon to see if they could help me, but I had done THAT MUCH DAMAGE, my hair fried when they did a strand test using anything permanent. so there was no way I could do anything. I was stuck with green hair.
Thankfully by that time night shifts were being offered out so I snapped them up and hid for months. Apparently the green looked intentional and all my friends loved it. I felt like a right tool. By December I was able to dye it again, so I went to a salon and asked for a standard brown.
(Again, I do not have a picture of the brown I went.)
By February 2014 I had started a new job after a pretty horrid time in my previous employment, so to celebrate my sister Katrina helped me dye my hair. She dyed the bottom black, just to shake things up. I kinda regret the black because it took ages to grown out, but at the time it looked pretty awesome.
By the summer I had got into a pretty standard hair routine. I'd only use GARNIER OLIA INTENSE RED 6.60. I was not ready to be adventurous with my hair. I think I was still traumatised by the green.
Again, plodding along with the Olia dye, I kept the colour consistent through the Christmas period.
In February I had yet another whim.... I wanted to go black. My inner goth was in charge and she wanted black hair. She also wanted to use white face foundation but thankfully I put a stop to that. However, going black with red hair is extremely difficult, so instead I decided to go dark brown and gradually build up black. Not just because of the difficulty, but because my family weren't too keep on the black idea.
Annoyingly, the red kept seeping through all my brown dyes. It was horrible. No matter what I did, I could not get rid of the red. I tried a various collection of browns (through the February/ March/ April months, not all on one go)....
.. so I stripped again. Using COLOUR B4 HAIR REMOVER - EXTRA STRENGTH. By this time I had given up on the whole black idea and was planning on going bright red again. However, after I stripped the hair I kinda liked it. It was a nice strawberry blonde. I was planning on keeping it this colour throughout the summer, but because it was a little patchy I went to Boots and grabbed a semi permanent dye in the same colour I had: CLAIROL NICE N EASY LASTING COLOUR in DARK ASH BLONDE....
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... and this is what happened. It went fucking brown!! I don't know what happened, but I was so angry. My mother and I checked all the bottles and all the sachets to make sure we bough the right colour, and they all matched. Apparently my hair decided to be an ass and go brown. So I saw it as a sign, no blonde for Becky. So for the past month I have been rocking a rather dull brown.
Over the weekend I popped round to see my ex-housemates. I had been dabbling with the whole red idea for months and as I was with Aymee again, I decided to just do it. I'm so glad I did, regardless of how dead my hair now feels. We put two boxes of SCHWARZKOPF LIVE COLOR XXL in 00A ABSOLUTE PLATINUM over my hair for 30 minutes and left the blonde overnight. Then on the Saturday we used SCHWARZKOPF LIVE COLOR XXL in both 43 RED PASSION and 35 REAL RED as a base colour and then coated everything in MANIC PANIC ROCK AND ROLL RED.
Once I got home I noticed the ends were not as vibrant as the roots so on the Sunday I mixed what was left of the Manic Panic dye with my TRESEMME KERATIN SMOOTH DEEP TREATMENT MASQUE and covered my hair (focusing on the ends) and left it for 30 minutes. Then I put more conditioner AUSSIE 3 MINUTE MIRACLE RECONSTRUCTOR on for 3 minutes. That stuff is my ride or dye conditioner. It literally works miracles.
So... in just over 3 years I have done THAT much to my hair. I know, how am I not bald???
Here are my secrets....
1. CONDITIONER! Never underestimate the power of a good conditioner. I recommend Aussie Miracle Reconstructor and the Tresemme Hair Masque. If the masque says leave for 10 minutes... leave it for 20. No harm in a little extra treatment. Invest in a good conditioner. It'll be worth it. I'm not talking £40 - £60, but around the £10 - £20 mark. Also, stock up on serums and oils. Anything with Keratin or Argan Oil in. Those ingredients are very important.
2. Don't over wash you hair. Because of my hairs sheer length and thickness I can get away with washing it once a week. The natural oils on your scalp are good for your hair. The greasier, the better. Just make sure you stock up on dry shampoo.
3. Coconut oil. Lather your hair in that shit. Trust me.
4. When you apply dye, if it burns too much wash it off. None of this "pain is beauty" bullshit. When it comes to hair, pain is a bad sign.
5. Do not vigorously brush your hair. Be gentle. If you have damaged your as much as me, you wanna treat it like baby hair. Soft brushing.
6. If you are going vibrant like me, mix your Manic Panic/ Directions/ Crazy Colour with a hair masque or strong conditioner to give it some extra help. The dye will still take, don't worry.
7. If you are dying on top of dye, start with the ends and do the roots last. And obvious one here but you'll be surprised how few listen.
8. Avoid heat as much as you can. When I blow dry, I keep it on the cool setting. Letting your hair dry naturally is recommended, but my hair is hella thick.
I liked reading your little diary of different hair dye's that you've used over the years :) I'm a sucker for red hair dye's. Especially red. When I tell people that I'm going to dye my hair red again, they always assume I mean a ginger shade. No. I like red hair. I also love purple hair dye's too, and the navy blue shade, as well. Flippin gorgeous. I know dying my hair a lot might damage it, but my hair hasn't fell out.
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