For the past 8 years, I’ve had over 15 hair colors that have been without a doubt fun! I mean…Who doesn’t want to have pink or blue hair? It’s fun and definitely something that I wanted to do at least once in my life. But with that also comes a lot of…. let’s say lessons! That’s why today I wanted to share with you my hair journey. This is the good, the bad and the things I’ve learned about changing the color of my hair many times. I wanted to talk about this because I get asked a lot about my hair and what I did to achieve the length that I have today. The reality is that it didn’t happen overnight. It took me a long time so I thought I would share with you my hair journey so you understand why I treat my hair the way I do!
Hair Recap!
OK, I’ll be sharing old photos so let’s throwback to when all started back in 2011 or 2012 I don’t remember very well but during that time I wanted to do honey neutral highlights because I have light brown eyes and I thought the highlights would look good with my complexion. I did them, recorded a video of the process and then I uploaded the video on my YouTube channel. I remember I had a positive response to that video so that’s when I started doing my hair and recording everything to have content for my channel. I remember I was so happy and excited because I was having a lot of fun doing my hair without spending a lot of money plus helping others to do the same at home.
After I did my first hair color change with highlights I decided I wanted to do the famous Ombré hair that was very trendy back then and I recorded it and remember that a lot of people were fascinated with the hair results because my hair looked healthy although I used bleach. And that was because my hair wasn’t too processed (only had a few highlights) was very strong and since I had a lot of hair, looked great. Watch Ombre Hair videos Here and Here!
After
the Ombré hair, I did a lot of hair color changes…too many if you ask me now!
I remember I wanted to have more highlights so I did more highlights and then I
cut my hair because I was bored of the Ombre hair. A few months later I did
another Ombré hair using a kit and after that I got bored again of the Ombré so
I colored my hair black. A few months later I decided I wanted to experiment with
other colors, specifically with red. But after a DIY fail my hair turned out to
be more of a burgundy color. I had this result because as you may know black is
very hard to get rid of and I remember I used Hi-Color highlights from L’Oreal
that was meant to be for a natural (virgin) dark hair and since my hair was
colored previously didn’t worked.
Now, because I wanted bright red and I was not happy with the burgundy what I
decided to do was to visit a beautician I love and she fixed my hair removing
the color I had first and then applying the red dye Hi-Color highlights from
L’Oreal. The results from that hair color were super bright and the best part
is that my hair was soft and looked healthy! I believe the hair dye from
L’Oreal has a little bit of bleach inside the color I’m not 100% sure because I
haven’t used it in a long time but is not like using pure bleach so it’s not as
damaging.
After that, I had red hair for a while but since it required a lot of maintenance I felt the need to change it to a more neutral color. That’s when I decided to have brown hair with highlights so I removed the red color with Color Oops (the best hair color remover I’ve tried.) and colored my hair ash brown (ash to cancel the red/orange) and went to a hairdresser to have highlights. After that, I did more highlights and my hair was super light and pretty, I think this was one of my favorite’s hair colors.
To keep it cool tone I always used Wella Color Charm T11 toner, till this day I receive questions about that hair color and to be honest that was one of the easiest hair colors I did (with the help of a
I stayed for the longest time with that color because it was my favorite and I always thought “What if I cannot achieve this hair color again?” but everything changed when I saw the “ice silver blonde” trend! I wanted to have the silver-white hair and to be honest, that’s when everything went to shit. I decided it was a good idea (
After 1-2 months later I was working on some projects for CharlotteBellaFab and I had a hair color change that was beautiful but it damaged my scalp, not my hair, My Scalp! Now my hair looked amazing (the color was unique and I loved it) but my scalp was on fire. I don’t want to be dramatic and I’m not kidding but I‘m pretty sure I had a chemical burn. This is not anybody’s fault but mine, I had to leave my hair alone but I didn’t because I wanted to take advantage of that opportunity. I learned my lesson and never again I will have hair color changes back to back. It’s not worth it!
After that episode, I left my hair and my scalp alone for months. I had the biggest roots ever but I actually liked the look so I took advantage of it and colored my hair pink, purple, blue, etc. It was fun and I didn’t have to use bleach so I loved it. I also chopped my hair like Dora (literally) over my shoulders and my hair looked and felt amazing so I was happy.
After that I decided to go back to black because I was going to an internship and I need it to have a more “natural look”, it was actually requested. So I left all my hair transformations aside and went with black and never looked back!
It’s been 2 and
Now that I have dark long hair I only dye my hair when is need it 2-3 times per year. I also only cut it once per year and try to avoid flat irons because I find they are very damaging to the hair. I learned that is better to have healthy dark pretty hair than blonde burned spaghetti hair. And also that it’s better to stay with a hair color that is closer to your natural hair color. I’m not saying that I will never change my hair color again because I love hair color transformations but I will stay closer to neutral shades like brown and honey because they complement my complexion and don’t damage my hair as much as other colors. I learned that I am very particular with my hair so I prefer to do everything myself.
This is my hair journey and I hope I clarified a lot of the hair questions I receive often. Let me know in the comments your hair journey! Any anecdotes?
Xo, Char
Comments
As a hair designer, I would strongly recommend a trim every 2 months at a minimum. This can be, as I used to call it, having the ends “dusted “. Your hair is like a rope. When the ends get damaged and start to split, it will continue to work its way up the hair strand.
I’ve been through all kinds of color changes over the years and keeping the ends trimmed is what has helped me grow my hair to the middle of my back.
Good luck with your internship!
Author
thanks for your recommendations!! <3