And Now For Something A Little Different

I’ve been a blonde now for the last three and a half years; after flirting with a lot of other colours over the years, I seemed to like it being blonde and kept it that way. But lately I’ve been feeling a bit, well, bored with the whole thing. And I’ve been on Pinterest, which can never really lead to good things when unsupervised.

For the last while I’ve been looking to change up a few things, not major things, but give myself a new joie de vivre. Certain things that have happened over the last 18 months have re-affirmed to me that life is too short to be content with being bored, and so I allowed the mad idea of having pink hair for a change to take hold. I have already well documented that I shouldn’t be let loose in Boots – so it seems a little inevitable that one of my trips would have me leaving with both Blonde and Pink home hair dye.  Having asked for price estimates on doing the same in a salon, I was quoted over 100 euros, so the two of them coming to less than fifteen definitely went down better. The blonde, that I’ve done from home before – in my earlier blonde days I was a poor starving student only working part time, and so maintenance for a full head of highlights on my normally dark brown hair wasn’t exactly high on my priority list in comparison to things like noodles and fish fingers. Easy peasy, on and off in half an hour. The pink, not so much – or at least, not since my earlier teen years when honestly it was easier to get my Mammy to put it in for me to ensure it was at least even. This was breaching new territory. But the bottle did say non-permanent, so, it could have been scarier.

The dyes I chose were Loreal’s Prodigy in 9.0 Ivory, and Bleach London’s The Big Pink. I’d read a number of blog post reviews and others besides on the Bleach London dyes, and re-assured that it would indeed wash out if it looked horrendous, I felt set to get going on my hair. E wasn’t too sure what to make of this woman with short yellow hair as I played with him waiting for the blonde to develop in my hair, praying to avoid a repeat of the first time I home-blonded my hair and wound up looking like Cú Culainn after having dodgy highlights – actual quote from my housemate who walked in to find me lamenting the horror that had overcome my head (photos have been burned). Thankfully, my likeness to a cocky Celtic hurler was to be no more, and once I washed out the blonde, I threw in the pink. As I was intending to go for an ombré look not unlike that of Sprinkle of Glitter’s Louise’s pink hair a while back, I was only applying it to the ends. I could have done it more evenly, but I did the best I could with a dodgy steamed up bathroom mirror and gloopy pink dye. Fifteen minutes later and voila, time to wash it out and watch bright pink water fill my bathtub. Cue the prayers that it wouldn’t stain (and that it would come off my skin in the process). Once the water was running clear, I threw in the conditioner that came with the Loreal product and off we went.

And the result? Well, firstly, my hair hasn’t felt this good in a long time – I’d heard fab things about the Bleach London products and their conditioning properties and had somewhat scoffed but my hair is genuinely softer and smoother than its been in a while. The pink is a nice shade – not quite as dark as I’d planned but it’s vibrant and it does what I want it to do, express my fun side a little bit more. I had worried initially that I would look as if I was trying to revert to my 14 year old emo-esque self with the hair; but I think as long as I keep the kohl eyeliner and the band hoodies to a minimum I’ll be fine with the hair. The bottle states that it lasts 2-10 washes and I’ve got half the bottle left – whether I’ll put more in when it washes out is yet to be seen but I’m liking it as a change at the moment. As for E? He took a few minutes to come around to this strange pink haired woman who looked kind of like his Mammy used to, but he seems to like it too 🙂

Have you ever given in to the urge to just go completely mad with your hair colour? What products did you use if you were brave enough to do it yourself, or was it in the safe hands of a trusted hairdresser? Let me know in the comments below 😀