2
Creating Highlights
So I just finished my first coloring experience at home and I wanted to do a formal report on it for anyone who might be considering to venture into this territory :c) It cost me a little more money than planned (big surprise) because of initial supplies and tools, and my hair is a little too dry and elastic due to my mistakes. However, now any future coloring will cost me about $6-10 depending on how many colors I will be picking and I will be less prone to screwing up the more I do it. I’ve learned some neat tricks along the way which I had to learn through trial and error… and I mean lots of error.. but now I’ve learned some information I deem priceless now, which I will share with you.
This is my sink stocked with all the tools and products I was about to use
I made a post a while back with my initial plan and product list, and that plan stayed consistant. Before dying, my hair color is a natural 6G (dark golden blonde, red undertones) and was previously highlighted to a level 10 (which is almost white). Being that my hair had a combination of natural dark orange pigment as well as little to no pigment, I would need to first fill it in, and thus make the pigment even, so that I could put the color over it. I went to Sally’s Beauty Supply and picked up two tubes of Color Touch in 7G, as well as 20 and 10 volume developer. To make the color semi-permanent (lasts 24 washes) I mixed the color with the 10 volume with a ratio 1:2.
Here’s me mixing the color with the developer
I sectioned off my hair, put the color on(had to be really careful to not miss spots), and let it sit for about 30 minutes. I rinsed it off in the shower and then it was done! The color turned out great. The only thing that went a little wrong was that I took a little too long to put the color on, being my first time, so my right side (the side I did last) was just a little lighter than my left side of my head. Since it wasn’t too noticable though I didn’t bother patching it.
So now I had my dark shiny hair. I looked in the mirror, though, and thought that while the color was pretty, it looked a little plain. So, I thought, let’s add some highlights. just around my crown.
This took a couple tries. I used 40Volume, lightening powder, and cream bleach all mixed together and got awesome lift from it. The first time, I missed a few spots and didn’t leave one spot on long enough so it had a bright orange hue. This was fixed the second time where I gave myself chunky highlights and left it on for the full 35 minutes. as indicated from a strand test.
A processing strand test with my bleach mixture
So now my highlights turned out great but after looking in the mirror, they looked a little too yellow for my taste. My hair at this point has been processed a total of 3 times. Some of my ends were starting to break off so I knew this was it for a few months. Since violet cancels out yellow, I picked up a bottle of purple hair dye, diluted it, and mixed it with my conditioner in order to tone my hair down. This worked somewhat. Let’s just say I put a little too much purple in.
I seriously had to wash my hair for 2 hours straight just to get most of the purple hue out, and my hair now feels like straw. Word to the wise: if you want to tone your hair, and you’ve bleached it light blonde, DO NOT PUT VERY MUCH PURPLE IN. IT WILL SERIOUSLY BE ALL UP ONS. Because really blonde hair does not have any pigment, it acts like velcro to any depositing pigment. So, take it from me, you really have to be careful.
My hair still has a couple streaks of purple as you can see in the photo below, but the color I feel is pretty toned. I have warm skin so I can’t tone it down *too* much or I will look a bit sickly. The purple dye is semi-permanent so it will wash out in another wash or two.
Here’s the finished product (and purple hair slice)
What I would do differently next time:
- I would lighten and tone in one step, instead of 3. This will prevent my hair from breaking.
- I would add more of a red color. I only used semi-permanents this time so red would have been a waste. Red pigment is so much larger than all other pigments so it washes out extremely quickly as it is. Next time I might work with permanents for a better color selection.
- If additional toning is needed to maintain color, I wouldn’t add as much purple to my mixture, and only spot-apply it, rather than slathering it all over. I would also only leave it on for 1 minutes a opposed to 5 ;c)
Conclusion:
If you’re thinking about doing your hair at home, here’s few tips I have based on my experience:
- do NOT get the boxed hair color from the department stores. I know it’s tempting, and all the professional products at Sally’s look confusing and hard, but they bring so much better results. Learn your color wheel, do your homework, and get to know what colors make what. Also learn about your own head of hair and its base color. Strand tests are your friend.
- Get the tools. You will need them. Gloves, a mixing bowl, brush, rat-tail comb, hair foils (do not use kitchen alumninum!! trust me, I tried that… it breaks so easily and your hair dye will bleed!), 10, 20, 30, and 40 volume developer, and MAKE SURE to have these base colors on-hand in case of a mishap: red-red/RR, Gold/G, Violet/Blue/V. These will save you in a pinch if something goes wrong.
- Good shampoo, pH balancing conditioner/moisturising after-color treatment. This will help heal your hair, make it shiny, and lock in the color.
- Have realistic expectations. If you have black hair and want to go blonde, know that it is possible, but it will cost the health of your hair dearly.
- Practice practice!! You will get better!
Good luck– email me or comment here if you have questions about something I missed!
2 Responses to “Creating Highlights”
Leave a Reply
Hi !
My name is Piter Kokoniz. oOnly want to tell, that I like your blog very much!
And want to ask you: what was the reasson for you to start this blog?
Sorry for my bad english:)
Thank you!
Piter.
This topic is quite hot on the Internet right now. What do you pay the most attention to while choosing what to write ?