You did what to your hair?!

I colored my hair! Let me explain. You may remember a few posts back Stop! Henna Time I mentioned being tired of the blonde coloring in my hair. I had it bleached and colored professionally a while ago. I’d say roughly 3 year ago. Since then the color has of course grown out to the ends of my hair.

I planned to slowly cut it out. But out of frustration and maybe a little too much wine, I found myself in the bathroom one night (about a month and a half ago) hacking away 😅!

The aftermath

 

It may not look like it, but that’s a good bit of hair. But It was hair that stood out like a sore thumb in any style. The colored curls would not clump. Plus, they just didn’t look healthy or blend the way I wanted them to. Highlights were fun but now I wanted one flat color. No distinct contrasts.

As a result of my impatience, I have this “bad layer” shape in the front. That was mainly where the color remained, so that is where I cut. Which is totally fine! I’m working with it. Trust me, it will grow back.

After that,  I learned my lesson and stepped away from the scissors. I still had some color peeking through that still annoyed me but I definitely wasn’t going to cut any more hair on my own. Enter hair dye.

I did a little research and decided to go with Ion brand hair dye. It had pretty good reviews on all of the sites that I visited. Ion touted gentle ammonia free coloring, easy at home use, no color damage etc. After watching tons of videos of various YouTubers using this brand with great results I decided to go for it.

Ions color swatch medium intense red brown

I went to Sally’s and purchased two tubes of Ion’s brilliance hair color ( I  chose medium intense red-brown pictured above https://ionathome.com/product/ion-color-brilliance-ammonia-free-permanent-creme-hair-color-sbs-405302/) and two matching Ion Brilliance level 18 developers, Ion color seal, my fave Shea Moisture deep conditioner (Manuka Honey) and went straight home to get started.

So….I meant to grab demi permanent hair color. When I got home I realized I instead had permanent! (Psst you can read up on the difference types of color at http://www.ionathome.com very thorough) 😂 Ugh I was NOT driving back to Sally’s. I didn’t think this was going to lift my very dark hair like it said on the label anyway. What the hell, YOLO! Mind you this was my first time coloring my own hair. This could have went left..way left. What  can I say! I’m a fly by the seat of your pants type of girl.

Intense red brown mixed with developer

 

I didn’t even do a patch test because I’m a rebel like that. I did however cover my forehead, ears, back of my neck with Vaseline to avoid color leakage. I donned some old clothes, plastic gloves and got right to painting the color on.

I applied the color to dirty hair. A three day old wash and go to be specific. I apologize for not having pics during the process. It proved difficult to document and quickly get the color in my hair to avoid over processing.

You have to sit under the dryer for color to fully process. After I had all of my strands saturated, that is exactly what I did for about 15 minutes. No plastic cap! The color processes better without one. I wasn’t going for an intense color change just enough to get all of my hair the same color. The total dye time ended up being about 25-30 minutes.

After processing, I thoroughly rinsed the excess dye out (until the water ran clear) and then washed with color safe shampoo (you must shampoo!). I sealed in the color with Ion’s color seal and went on to condition, detangle, deep condition and style. I opted for a quick wash and go. Here are the results:

 

This is definitely not an intense change! But it did exactly what I wanted it to, get me back to 1 color. Would I do it again?! Sure! I plan to in about 10 weeks. I may go with a higher developer this time and of course take my time to choose demi permanent hair dye instead of permanent.

So far I have not had any side effects from my DIY color job. My hair is not shedding excessively, nor does it feel hard. Actually, it’s been the direct opposite. Feels and looks great. HOWEVER, my hair was in great condition before I colored it and that makes a huge difference. I would not recommend doing any type of chemical process if your hair is not healthy.

One color bliss 🙌🏾 wand curls on a blow out!

 

So peeps, that’s what’s been up with my hair lately! I hope this post inspires you to be adventurous with your hair. It is a journey. It is ok to take a few fun detours now and then.

I’m sure you’re wondering what about Cutie? I’ll be back soon with an update! ❤ Ash