DIY: Hair |

So, because my first realy DIY project is taking for.ever. I decided to do my hair. Ha! After being inspired to change my hair color after JP’s mother’s beautiful transformation, I thought that maybe a DIY hair job could hold me over until I could afford my usual lovely highlights. So, on our first night back from Ohio, we grabbed a box of medium blonde hair dye and I held my breath on the way home, hoping that it didn’t turn out orange or green.

We did some mini-research to find out what color would work best with my hair. I remember being told once that “Ash” hair dye would turn my hair green. According to a website (it slips my mind which one), ash is for cooler tones and skin color. If you have warm hair, it will turn green. I have warmer hair. My natural color is strawberry blonde and definitely pulls in any orange tones that you dish at it. JP mixed the hair dye concoction while I sat patiently prepared in a chair, smack dab in the living room.

JP mixing the hair dye

Hair pre-color. Drab, strawberry orange.

After she was done mixing it into my hair, I waited for about 40 minutes to take it off. At first, while wet, it was orange. I mean, ORANGE. And I cringed when I first saw it because immediately I knew what my hair had done to me. Exactly what it was meant to do. Pull orange. After blow-drying, I think it came out orange with blonde streaks. JP tried to convince me that my hair wasn’t orange but when asked what color it was, she had no answer. Stupid, orange.

Mixing the hair dye into my hair! Lovely smell.

Waiting for the dye to work.

My advice to anyone doing at-home hair dye is to definitely do some research before making your purchase. The names on the boxes aren’t just pretty, cutesy names for you ladies, its to tell you what you’re working with. Note that Ash color pulls cooler colors like green and purple. If you don’t naturally have cooler tones of hair, then you’ll end up pulling those cooler colors into your shade and it will not be pretty. Warmer colors are meant to be dyed with warmer shades. So even if you’re going from blonde to brown or brown to chestnut or red to blonde, just know what shade you are so that you’ll end up with a natural, beautiful color …. created for your wheel of the color spectrum.