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

I have a little secret

Well it's not the biggest of secrets.

Some of the more eagle-eyed among you will have noticed that I have a bit of a different colour going on with my hair.

I'm midway to going blonde after having progressively redder hair for the last 5 years, the past 10 months I've practically been pillar box.

Summer is on the way and I fancied a bit of a change.

It is going to take some time to get there, but I will and right now I'm boasting a colour I'm referring to as 'pinge' part pink, part ginger!

DIY Thursday: 5 minute up do

I am a great lover of quick and simple things.

Be it cooking, make up, hair... I think you get my drift. So once I discovered the bun ring life on bad hair days became that bit more bareable.

This is a look you can dress up for going out or keep au natural for the school run or office.

So here we go, excuse the picture quality.

Brush out your hair.

Put into a highish ponytail.

Thread your pony through the bun ring. Tuck those spiky ends in underneath (my pic of that has got lost/deleted somehow). Then roll your bun ring down, continuing to tuck in any stray hairs.

Give a quick spritz of hairspray and you're done. You can choose to anchor it down with a few pins but I find that gives me a bit of a headache after a while.

Beauty Favourites: Hair Edition

You may have noticed, or you might not, that I have red hair. I don't mean a little bit red, I mean pillar box/fire engine red hair. I love it. However, it is notoriously hard to keep bright.

I don't do a lot to my hair apart from the colouring. I have exceedingly fine hair, I do have a lot of it too mind. So there is a mass of waves on my bonce, that need a firm hand a strong talking to on more occasions that I care to admit.

I only wash my hair once a week. This is in part down to the sheer amount of hair that I have, it takes a long time for the oils to make their way to the surface, also for the sake of my colour too.

These are the items I couldn't shower without.

Shampoo and Conditioner.

So far this is my absolute favourite. It keeps my red hair red, and it cost effective too. At just £1.29 at bottle this Aldi product is well worth the money.

My well used shower cap.

I put on my hair conditioner and then plonk my shower cap on so it can get to work without attacked my the shower head. It soups up the power of the conditioner and makes sure I have a reletively tangle free mane when I come to drying it.

More often than not I leave it to dry naturally. From time to time I will use my wet 2 straight Remmington straighteners. I've had mine for years, probably about 15 if I was to hazard a guess.
They are a wide ceramic plate, which helps when you have as much, and hair as long as mine.

January Favourites

Here are three items I have loved this month.

Hair Screws.

This little items may look like a device of torture but make bun wearing and updos so much more comfortable, easy and long wearing. You can get them here

Avon Eye Shadow Quad in Mocha Latte. 

I love this little bundle of neutral colours, and the fact that they come with instructions on where each colour should go on your eye to create a natural smoky look. Great for work and casual daily looks. A yummy mummy palette of goodness. Available from your local representative.

Cleanser.

This month I discovered this gem of a product. I tend not to use a lot of face washes as my skin can have some fantastically bad reactions to them. I was having a fair few breakout issues after the festive season, so I mixed up my cleansing routine. I remove my make up, then use this. I massage the fine beads into my skin and removed with a fairly hot flannel. It leaves my skin really nice and soft. Superdrug currently have this on offer here.

A 1940s-style look

I have a thing about rock-a-billy and vintage hair and make up.

I'm totally self-taught mainly through lots of youtube videos. Cherry Dollface is one of my favourites. For this reason.

The make up I used, cashmere foundation by Avon, the matte pallete by MUA, liquid eyeliner from No17, blush is petal by Barbara Daly and lipstick is No17 Red Chilli.

For the hair I back combed at the temples for some control and to anchor my combs into, and I twisted to make faux victory rolls.

This was a quick look, smart and easy. Suitable for everyday and one I use in the office (I then usually will pin my fringe back for that one).