Another Update Of Colors

I last posted in February when I mixed a few dyes together and got a dark purple color as a result. That color lasted a very long time and as it faded it was really cool. Since it was different colors and brands mixed together, it had many different shades appear.

Once the purple faded a good amount I covered my whole head in N'Rage Twisted Teal. Since there were hints of the purple, white, and pink it came out with a few different shades of blue.

I was tired of blues and purples and I thought I would try going with a more natural red head color. Since I was going to the opposite end of the color wheel I needed to bleach my hair. It took two bleachings even with the blue being pretty faded. I had not bleached my hair since last July so my roots were quite long as well.

 I was intending for it to be a redish orange. It turned out being very very orange. It faded pretty quickly into a strawberry blonde color.

Since my roots are dark I decided to go back to a darker color. I had a lot of dye left over from the purple mix I made back in February. I added about 1/3 of a bottle of leftover N'Rage Twisted Teal to the mix. I also added about ten pumps of L'Oreal EverStrong Sulfate Free Overnight Repair to the mix to lighten the color a little and help repair the damage caused by the bleachings I did. This time I did not leave my dye in overnight like I usually do. I only left it in for an hour. I am very pleased with the result. I wish I could get a better picture of what it looks like in person, it has so many different shades of purple, blue, and teal. 

**Please refer to my first posts on the best tips to bleach, dye, and wash your hair.**

Updated Colors Since Last Post

I have been through a few more colors and felt I should do a little update. 

The green hair from last post was fun and it lasted quite awhile. I wanted to try something new. I started by bleaching and toning my hair to a very white blonde. I left it alone for about one week so it could have time to repair a little. 

I chose to do purple and green this time. The green dye I mixed myself and I mixed so many things into it I can't remember what I did. I wish I would have written it down somewhere because I loved the color! I used Manic Panic Ultra Violet for the purple. 

I was very happy with the colors until the third wash. I was so very disappointed how faded the purple was so quickly. :( The green stayed for quite awhile longer. I let it all mostly fade to blonde again before I dyed it again.

I did all over blue with N' Rage Cobalt Blue. I think this will always be my favorite color. 

This color lasts so long. This is what it faded to after about 9 weeks. I redyed it the same blue for a few months. I decided to try something new again.

This is the color it still was when I put the purple dye on it.

I did a big mix of purples I still had and left over blue. I was weary to use the Manic Panic Ultra Violet after how quickly it faded before. I decided to use it anyway.

It came out to be a very dark purple. Indoors it looks almost black. In the sunlight it is a very very bright purple. Now that I have had it for about a month it is still fully covered and beautiful. It has faded slightly so it doesn't look as dark indoors now. I love it, but I love my blue more. :)

Turquoise and Green

So I had to go black for my sisters wedding and I've been itching to do something new to my hair as soon as the reception was over! The black I used was really an extremely dark blue over already different shades of blue hair. I bleached my hair last night and I am actually pretty pleased with the way the bleaching turned out. Since I will be dying with a green and turquoise, I think the colors will come out very pretty. If I was going with a different color, like reds or purples, I would have bleached another time to get to a better blonde color first. 

I used my favorite bleach, Beyond The Zone Radical Bleach Kit over my entire head. I had to use two kits because my hair is getting long. Please refer to my first blog entry on tips and tricks with bleaching. I left it on for a little over an hour. Here is the end result.

I started by separated all of my hair three sections at first. The bangs, most of the back, and the bottom. I then made smaller sections in each to make it easier to color it all. I colored all of my bangs and I got lucky and my sister showed up and dyed the rest of my hair for me. 

I dyed the bangs and bottom with Manic Panic Electric Lizard the rest of the hair was dyed with Manic Panic Atomic Turquoise. As always, I mixed in some of my L'Oreal Everstrong Sulfate Free Conditioner to the dye before applying. I have it wrapped up in a shower cap and I will leave it on overnight and wash it in the morning. 

I left the dye in a shower cap over night for about 12 hours time. I rinsed my hair with the coldest water I could stand until the water ran clear. I then used my L'Oreal Everstrong Sulfate Free Shampoo lightly, mostly just scrubbing my scalp to get dye off of it. Then I used a good amount of L'Oreal Everstrong Sulfate Free Conditioner and worked it through all my hair with a wide toothed comb. I left the conditioner on for about 3-5 minutes. I rinsed my hair with (still cold) water thoroughly until it was all out. 

When styling hair you want to keep it out of heat as much as you can. I cannot go without using heat. So I always dry my hair on regular setting and when its all dry I cool it all down with the cool shot. If you must flat iron your hair (which I have to) you need to find nice alcohol free hair sprays and heat protectants. I use L'Oreal EverStyle Alcohol Free Hair Spray. When finished with straightening cool your hair down again with the cool shot on hair dryer. 

Needless to say, I LOVE the way these colors came out. Next time I will definitely bleach my hair to white before these colors so they can be the brighter colors they could be (like my roots look). Can't wait to see the colors it fades out to! [;

Colors I've Dyed The Last Six Months

Well, I have dyed my hair a few times since my last entry, but I didn't feel like updating.

I didn't use bleach on my hair, so I just had to add color to my hair as it faded.

This is what my hair faded to since the last blog post. 

I went to Sally's and bought two bottles (because my hair is kind of long) of  N Rage Twisted Teal and applied it to my whole head. I always mix my sulfate free conditioner (L'Oreal Everstrong Sulfate Free Conditioner) into the dye (about a dime sized amount) and wrap hair in shower cap and leave in overnight. I may have mixed a little of my left over N Rage Raven Black to make the color a bit darker. The Raven Black is actually an extremely dark blue. After a month it started to fade to a bright beautiful blue and it had many shades of blue since I covered already dyed hair. After about four months it faded a quite a bit.

My little sister got married in June and I was her maid of honor. So I didn't want to have an unnatural color for her ceremony. I took out all my leftover bottles of N Rage Raven Black and covered my whole head. Of course I mixed with conditioner again and left it in overnight. 

I was hoping to be able to just wash and wash and wash my hair a ton of times and get this black to fade back to a dark blue. I could never get it light after four weeks of trying. Every time I washed it though, it ran off a little bit of blue. I was ready to have some fun colors again. I bleached my hair last night and I will be dying it today. I will have a new blog up later this evening. If all goes well!

Introduction and How To #1

 I love to dye my hair some pretty fun colors and people always want to know how I do it and the best ways to do their hair too. So I thought I'd make a blog to share how I learned some of the best ways to bleach, dye, and take care of your hair afterwards. I know I had a hard time finding helpful hints that were trustworthy online. Hopefully this will be helpful to someone else. This time I will show you my Black, Turquoise, and Purple combo.

First off, I have very thick dark wavy/curly hair. I have to bleach my hair every time to make sure my colors will be brighter and will last longer. I have used many bleaches and I have bleached my hair a LOT. It amazes me how much hair I still have. You have to be very careful with bleach and hair dyes when doing it yourself. You should check the hair often, not only for color but the strength and feel of the hair. I have to do many treatments to my hair between dyes and bleaches to help reconstruct what I've done. But I'll get into that later! 

My favorite bleach I use all the time is Beyond the Zone Radical Bleach Kit I start by separating the hair that will not be bleached this time. Then I make sections of the hair to be bleached. I then use a tint brush and apply the bleach to the sections one at a time to make sure I get all parts of the hair. (Not a pro, still having trouble with an even bleach doing it on my own)

Always take note of the time they say on the bleaching sheet and to check your hair every 15 minutes to make sure your hair doesn't have adverse reactions to the bleach. I waited about an hour this time. Wash well with cold to warm water. Shampoo your hair with something mild enough to get the bleach out but not too strong to keep the dye from holding on well. I will talk more about shampoos and conditioners later on as well. Dry hair with dryer or let air dry, don't use any products on hair or it will cause the dye to not stay. Don't use any conditioner.

Now its time for the fun part! Here I separated my hair into three sections. For the top layer I will have N Rage Demi Raven Black over my non bleached dark reddish brown hair. That color actually runs off a beautiful dark blue. The middle layer is Beyond the Zone Tripped Up Turquoise. The bottom layer is N Rage Purple Plum. For each color I added about a dime size of my conditioner to help lock in the color, keep my hair from drying out while my dye sits, and it helps restore my hair from the bleaching. I separated the sections into smaller sections to evenly apply the dye from root to tip with a tint brush until each section was saturated. When one whole color section was done I would use a wide tooth comb and comb through to make sure it was evenly spread. Then I put the whole section in a pony tail. When all colors are finished I put on shower cap to keep the moisture in and help the heat really condition the hair. I leave the color on anywhere from 2 hours to over night.  It will not damage your hair. I will use a hair dryer and lift the cap on a side and let the hot air in for about three minutes every half hour if I'm not going to sleep in the cap.

I know it sucks but you need to use the coldest water you can stand when you rinse your hair. We don't want the colors to run together and it'll keep the color more. Rinse and rinse until the water runs somewhat clear and you don't feel like you have the dye in your hair. Use a sulfate free conditioner free of any alcohols. You don't need to shampoo your hair this time. Rinse your hair and towel dry (on a dark towel) and then blow dry hair and style as usual. Avoid using products with alcohols in them as well. It can fade your hair. 

Tips on how to keep your color as long as possible!

L'Oreal Everstrong Reconstruct Shampoo && L'Oreal Everstrong Reconstruct Conditioner I love this whole line of sulfate free hair products L'Oreal has! My favorite are these here. They have kept my hair feeling soft and healthy. I really can tell it helps my hair and every time I wash my hair I don't feel like its fading it much at all. Its wonderful! Make sure to always wash your hair in as cold of water as you can. It will make the color last so much longer. Once you wash your hair you can pull your hair up and take a warm shower if you wish. Just make sure your hair isn't exposed to too much heat and steam. That will fade the color. 

I still don't like to wash my hair everyday because I love the color so much I want it to stay as long as possible. I do however have to wash my hair every OTHER day because I feel pretty gross if I don't. So I'll use a dry shampoo between washes to keep my hair looking, smelling, and feeling fresh. My favorite has got to be Dove Refresh+Care Dry Shampoo It smells awesome and it doesn't turn my hair all white.

When styling your hair try to use heat tools the least as you can. I use them every time  But I take steps to keep my hair healthy too. After I dry and straighten my hair I'll use the cool shot setting on my dryer and make my hair cool down. That will keep the follicle closed and retain the color better.