Keeping Lightened Hair Healthy

Around spring to summer time we all get that urge to do something different to our wardrobe, our makeup, our hair. To reinvent ourselves into the new season with a new colour palette that can range from playful, flirty, party, or work. One major seasonal change that has remained constant is lightening your hair. Mostly going from brown to blonde, or taking it that one step further and dying it purple or red or blue. As fun as it is, there are a few things that first timers, or people that aren’t hair care enthusiasts, need to know in order to protect and revive your lightened hair.

Get a good purple shampoo/conditioner. I don’t use both at once, I alternate between the shampoo or conditioner depending on if they’re in stock or on sale. I recommend using Fudge Violet Toning Shampoo ($16AUD). It lasts quite a while as you don’t need to treat your hair every wash – roughly once a fortnight or as needed depending on how often you wash your hair. Realistically it is quite expensive for a shampoo, but it works miracles and to make it last longer, you can mix it with your normal shampoo when you do need to use it and voila!

Find a conditioning treatment. Your hair will start to become quite dry and brittle if you use heat regularly and you’ll get split ends regardless of how good your hair was before. Try to do a hair mask/treatment once a month, or in summer if you spend a lot of time in salt or chlorine water, once a fortnight. If you aren’t sure where to start with hair masks, you can ask your hair dresser or a beauty store sales person to point some out. I personally recommend Toni & Guy Nourish Reconstruction Mask ($16AUD). After using it my hair feels sooooo soft and fresh and healthy. And the good thing about this is it lasts forever and you can use it on unlightened hair as well.

Use heat protectant and oil. Heat protectant is a no-brainer. If you use a hair dryer try to avoid the heat and use the cold setting if your dryer has it. After drying or styling your hair with heat, I like to use Schwarzkopf Daily Oil Elixir ($9AUD) in the ends of my hair to help the ends remain healthy and stop them getting knotted and dried out. I like to use Tresemme Styling Heatspray ($5AUD) for my heat protectant and to air dry my hair as much as possible, even when it isn’t lightened anymore I still prefer to air dry. For the oil just one to two pumps will do, spread evenly on your hands and fingers, and run through the ends of your hair. I also like to comb through the ends once I have finished just to make sure none of it is sticking together.

Try to use chemical repair or moisturising shampoo’s and conditioner’s. The most important thing now that you have lightened your hair, is to try to keep it healthy and to avoid it drying out. Any moisture repair/moisture rich shampoo or conditioner will do. Do try and experiment with different types. At the moment I alternate between Herbal Essence’s and Garnier, and have a Toni & Guy Nourish for Damaged Hair Conditioner ($16AUD) for when my hair is feeling completely dried out or when I go on holidays and need that extra oomph. It is a bit more pricey but definitely worth it.

Have fun with your hair ladies and keep it healthy!

Cate-Marie xxx

How to: Lighten Your Hair with Minimal Damage

We've all dreamt from time to time about dying our hair blonde or lightening it from almost black to a light brown or fiery auburn red, or having Kylie Jenner inspired fashion coloured hair. The problem with this is, whilst it is crazy expensive to have a proffessional do it, it is incredibly damaging. 

I myself went from having 3 years of black hair, to platinum blonde, back to brown, then almost black, then white-blonde, then dark brown, and now I've got some weird mixture of natural ash brown roots with ash blonde balyage (with some really awesome pink ends). My hair doesn't grow fast and, as you can imagine, is in pretty poor condition.

I've paid hairdressers hundreds of dollars, gone out and bought bleach, absolutely pummelled my hair with so many chemicals I'm surprised I still have any left. A week ago I went from dark brown hair with reddish undertones, to ash blonde with minimal damage! Here's what I used to do so;

What you'll need;
You're going to need a few things to do this. Firstly you'll need the colour stripper, the colour you desire to go (maybe even a halfway colour if your doing a drastic change and don't want to be seen with possibly embarrassing hair), some good latex gloves (the thicker the better), hair clips or elastics (use plastic only, no metal as it could react with the chemicals), a shirt you don't mind getting dirty, and at least 2-3 hours for the process to happen.

Stripping the Colour;
For the colour stripper I used Scott Cornwall Decolour Stripper. You can use this on natural hair as well as previously dyed. Following the instructions, I let this process for 30 minutes then washed it out. Whilst processing you can tie it up in a bun or clip it up off your clothes and neck. The mixture feels a little like sand in your hair, this is normal, don't worry. Whilst washing that out just keep in mind to be gentle with your hair and make sure you've gotten it all out. You may wish to repeat this step a second time if you find you haven't gotten the colour lift you wanted, or you missed a few spots.

Dying your Hair;
After I was happy with how much colour was lifted, I used the L'Oreal Excellence Creme in 9.1 Ash Blonde. Following the instructions in the packet, I left this one on again for 30 minutes and washed it out. Whilst in the shower I used Fudge Purple Shampoo to tone and get any brassy colours out. Conditioning as normal, drying and styling afterwards and I'm left with my final result. 

Overall I'm happy with the result. Having warm tones has always bugged me, and I've had them since I originally dyed my hair black in 2008. I'm also super happy that there is minimal damage. In the past with blonde hair I've had hair break off after one wash after the trip to the hair dresser and have been incredibly disappointed. With these products I haven't noticed any additional damage to my hair which is suuuper awesome.

If you guys have any hair dying stories or products you like to use, let me know in the comments!

Cate-Marie xxx