Hair Stripping, Dying, Red, Brown and Ombre.

I rarely go to hairdressers - if I go its once a year to get a bit of a trim or a few inches off. I have only once let a hairdresser put dye on my hair I was about 13 and my mum paid for me to have blonde highlights in my mousey brown hair. It was a terrible experience and I left hours later with not very nice blonde streaks going through my head. Hairdressers have always complimented my hair, not in terms of its style or anything but 

I've always looked after it, used heat protection sprays, hair masks and rarely use heat at all mostly letting it dry naturally. 

The one thing I do do to my hair though is colour it at home. It's a quick change when I fancy it that I've become almost weirdly addicted to. I think I first dyed my hair about age 18 and it's been black, red and every shade of brown known to man since. The one thing I've never touched is blonde and bleach mostly because I have really dark eye brows and I just wouldn't suit blonde. So when the Ombre trend took hold I thought it would be a fun chance to try some blonde without dying my whole head or losing my brown completely. This is a story of complete indecisiveness and obsession with the speed and dramatic change dye can bring and an out and out damaged mane to end it. 

Stage  One: 

My 'red phase' had been going on for a good year and I was getting bored - my tips had really bad colour build up and the colour seemed to get really greasy really quickly. Reading about Colour B4 products you could do at home I decided to strip it off and go back to brown. 

Stage Two: 

I Colour B4'd and went a weird shade of ginger. 

Stage Three: 

I was brown for a little while - not long at all but for a little while I was a simple reddish brown. If only I could be satisfied with one colour for longer than a month ... 

Stage Four: 

After lusting over many lovely ladies with ombre hair I decided it was time to buy some bleach. Being my first time I didn't leave it on for long it left a very subtle (I wish I kept this) fade into a lighter brown. My hair didn't feel damaged at all so ... 

Stage Five: 

I bought another packet of bleach where I left it on for the full time possible and it only looked good on instagram. I cringe and hate any pictures from this time period. My hair was a horrible reddish dark brown into an orange toned blonde. It literally only looked good on instagram it was awful. I knew it was awful at the time but I didn't know how to make it right - my hair already needed so much hair oil and serums just to keep it from matting constantly. 

Stage Six: 

So after some horrible holiday pictures I came home and bought yet more bleach - I took it higher and blended it much more. Curled my hair looked ok here - I still hate the tone of blonde it was but it was passable curly. The problem I have is I never have time to curl my hair so I needed to change it yet again. 

Stage Seven: 

I Colour B4'd again in a vain attempt to lose some of the red tone to my hair and get it back brown. 

Stage Eight: 

I very carefully died the brown bit of my hair brown. You can't even tell the difference between stage 6 and stage 8 it was a pathetic attempt to make it better but it just looked the same and I had to endure the egg smelling Colour B4 once again. 

Stage Nine: 

So despite this lack of change what did I do - O yeah I went and Colour B4'd it again - twice. This took my hair back to the lightest its ever been. It was pretty ginger and by this point the ends had completely died. However it seemed like my only option to try and make my roots as light as possible to be able to gain some sort of similar colour throught the hair length. 

Stage Ten: 

I died the lot brown - without realising the brown dyes on bleached hair actually turn it a little bit green - great. It was not shrek green but in certain lights it was definitely tinted green. However for me this subtle colour change was what I wanted and without the harsh orange toned blonde seen previously I was getting happier ... 

Then finally Stage Eleven: 

Yes literally I have been through Eleven stages - it would have been cheaper to go to a salon if I'm honest. I shock myself at how fickle and indecisive I actually am. I spend hours choosing foundation which can be washed off yet when it comes to permanent hair changes I seem to pick up different colours alongside vegetables in the supermarket. The reason why stage eleven is here is because I need a strong and consistent shade of brown now - as my hair is so ridiculously damaged, knots like never before I spend so long brushing it that it's become thin and just not what my hair used to be. I will be buying clip in hair extensions for nights out and big occasions for a little while just because hair this thin and damaged just makes me sad. 

This is where I'm at now... 

In natural light it does still graduate a little bit and it isn't 100% green free but it is so much better - I am a happy brunette now knowing the grass definitely isn't greener. 

Part of me regrets doing all this to my hair but I kind of thing knowing what I'm like it was going to happen at some point and I'm glad I did it when the trend was only your tips not an entire head. I've learnt so much about hair and tones and what not to do that I'm grateful I'm still young enough to have weird hair for a while. .. I think :/ If you have any dye in your hair I don't think ombre takes very well it left me with a weird tone that just didn't work. I've seen lots of girls with naturally brown hair and it works and the blonde isn't harsh. Bleach is horrible it has changed the texture and life of my hair. It now mattes all the time the only way to combat this is to drench the ends in hair masks and hair oils every night then wash them out in the morning. With hair oil it is starting to get better but until it grows enough for me to have it all cut out it just isn't the same. 

I wanted to do this post because I feel like in the last three months I've drastically changed everything about my hair and it's just a reminder to myself to start thinking about my hair choices a little more. Will I follow my own advice next time hair dye is on offer in Boots? Probably not but hopefully I'll stick with brown toned dyes with no red in and definitely no bleach!