Hair Update: The Road to Going Blonde, Pt. 3

Nothing to Disclose

My hair posts are building up, huh?

Anywho, after lots of coconut oil and babying my hair, it's been feeling better. Obviously, it won't be perfect after just a few weeks--it needs a month or two!

I didn't like any of the photos showing my face and this case

Like I said, accident.

But here's my end result. I had a bit of an accident with the "Magic Purple Hair Jelly" (aka toner) and my custom blurple conditioner—more on that below. I'm actually pretty amused by what happened and its kind of pretty! And no, I'm not hiding my face because I'm not wearing makeup. There are plenty of no-makeup photos on the blog! I actually just really didn't feel like I looked good in the photos, hence why I'm hiding behind my new plushie.

The back. Messed up my roots, haha

I'm not too sure if I'll be taking care of my roots... Lazy, heehee. If I ever get tired of being blonde, I'll probably split my hair into two vertical sections and dye one side a random color.

I opted to do another bleaching on the back, because I felt it was a little bit too dark, and I had weird micro-roots. As in too dark for toner. You see, toner needs a pretty high level to work as it should. At best, pretty yellow looking! As ugly as that is, ack. Here's a decent chart (from a pretty bad blog!). I tend to end up between a 10 and 12 when I only bleach my bangs. For toner to work properly, you should be about 9 or 10; maybe 8 but I think 8 is pushing it. See what happened to the back of my hair? That was about an 8. Normally, I don't bother with toner but I did for this since the yellow is so horribly noticeable!

What toner does is neutralize any yellow or orange tones in the hair. Often in the form of a purple, blue, or even "blurple" (colloquialism for blue+purple) liquid that needs a developer (usually a 20) to be activated. It's also marketed as a purple shampoo and/or conditioner—it'll have toning in its name or silver in the name. Not sure why "silver," but it has been there! There's more on those further down. Purple and blue are opposites to yellow and orange respectively. This is why powder bleach usually comes out blue or purple--to prevent yellow or orange hair!

Now I bet you've heard about the infamous purple shampoos before, even if you don't use them. There's also purple conditioner, which is non-hydrating so follow up with something more moisturizing and don't use it too often. Purple shampoo/conditioner is marketed towards blondes and the "bottle-blondes" to maintain their luscious brightness. I opt not to invest in these, mainly due to cost and the lack of moisture with them—some are also ineffective. They help revive blonde by adding the barest hint of purple, because blonde can be affected by water and environment. It livens up the color, sure, but then again, I've never noticed much of a change when I had blonde bangs! You can easily make your own purple conditioner by mixing purple dye into conditioner and blending well, which is what I did. I don't want to spend $10 on something that might not work for me when I can spend about $2 on a bottle of white conditioner and then just mix purple and blue dye into it. (Great way to get rid of the rest of my Blue Mayhem dye, a lovely "ink pen" blue, from Special Effects.)

And that, kids, is color theory. That's it for the day. Blonde is hard work, but I think it's worth it in the end. I'll be doing my protein treatment soon and put up the review. Maybe in May, I'll take another swing at the back of my head. Blegh! Toner will likely be needed for that and I'll also likely need more developer--finally running out.

PS: Ze Boyfriend bought me a Furry Bones "Mao Mao" plushie in black. He knows me too well and Mao Mao makes a great "mask."

SPOOKEHDOOM