Blonde Ambition: Part Two

Earlier this year I began the journey from bright red hair to blonde.

I knew it was going to be a long and windy road heading from this:

To anything anywhere near blonde.

So my first set of highlights brought me to here:

A shade I lovingly named pinge, part pink, part... well I think you get the jist.

So here I am. A good 6 months later, frequently working longer than my contracted hours and without the time to spend the time being pampered at the hairdressers.

I turned to the dye section in my Avon catalogue and chose the lightest Ash Blonde they have. In fact my natural hair colour is a dark ash blonde. That is if you were going to try and find a colour match for it.

I used to dye my hair a lighter blonde during my early twenties, so I'm not a complete novice. Although it was the first time in a very long time that I had lightened my hair myself so I took my 2 boxes of lightest ash blonde (currently £4.50 in campaign 15) into the bathroom.

This kit differs slightly from those that I have used in the past. It is a three part system. 

Part one: a pre-treatment. Almost like a conditioner texture. You add this to the hair that is already coloured (ie not your roots). Massage this is well. 

Part two: the mad chemist bit. You add your tube of colour to the bottle and shake what yo mama gave you. 

I get the wonderful job of doing this bit twice. The joys of having uber long, and extra thick swaths of hair. I used almost a full bottle covering my roots. As directed I left this to cook for 20 mins. 

Then I added the remaining colour to the rest of my hair and made sure that it was well coated. 

I left this bit on for a further 10 mins. I could have gone for longer, but I was against the clock and about to go out for a presentation at the library. 

Part 3: The post dying treatment. What is it about hair dyes? They include the best ever conditioners. After gently wetting the hair, and working it into a lather, rinse until it runs clear. Be patient. If your hair is anything like mine it will take what seems like forever. Then using a wide tooth comb coat your hair in this very thick conditioner and leave for 2-3 minutes and again rinse until clear. 

Then you are done. Style as you see fit. 

I've loved how it hasn't completely lifted the colour on my ends. I'm rather attached to the reddy tinge that is left. There is something about having a bespoke colour going on that I like. I love to be slightly different to the rest of the crowd.

After photo doesn't quite capture the full lightening that happened, the joy of Autumn's changing lights. I've already added another two boxes to my next Avon delivery.

May your day Glitter & Sparkle!

BeeBee