Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Hair adventures! ♡

A chronicle of the states of my hair since my experience with self-bleaching it 3 years ago...definitely don't try this, it's damaging! Though my hair has mostly recovered now, (and I miss the color), I probably won't try bleaching by myself anymore ^^ Don't judge! I was young and stupid and...adventurous? (・x・)

One day during summer break in June 2010, I decided to try bleaching my hair. What better time to try than when in university? High school had restrictions on hair dyeing, while after graduating job interviewers won't take you seriously, so university is the best time. Salon bleaching was very expensive and at that time they didn't really have that  "creamy" color I wanted, so I figured, I'll just do it myself. 

So I went to the pharmacy and bought 2-3 boxes of Palty bleach (it had Tsubasa on it! I had long, thick hair so I needed more boxes) and bleached my hair at home. The result was the center picture...kind patchy and orange. After a week to recover, I dyed over it with 2 boxes of a dark blonde color from Schwarzkopf, and it became a "creamy" gingerish blonde, yay! ♥ This was summer 2010, the first summer after starting university, when we went on a trip to Europe - Italy, Monaco, southern France and Spain, fun times!

Okay, so while in Rome, we saw this dye in a grocery that looked really nice, and we bought it. The logo looked exactly like Schwarzkopf, though it was called Testanerra instead. But the dye was awesome, I loved the dark brown color! ♥ The amazing thing was, it's a 10-minute dye, you just leave it in for 10 minutes then wash it off, but the color was great. Though as the days progressed the color faded and faded. A few days later in Firenze, it faded to a creamy orange brown? And a few more days later, it was an ashy yellow brown in Marseille. Loved this color though! ♡

From that week on, I loved my hair color everyday! ♡
(Don't mind Monaco, the camera's vignette made it more orange)

It kinda stayed that same color thereafter, though roots started to grow out. By end August 2010, the roots were getting too long, so I bleached my whole head again...with 3 boxes of Gatsby Men's Bleach :x It was stronger than the Palty bleach. This time, after bleaching it came out more yellow/platinum instead of orange like the first time. Though this was when I started to realize that bleaching was really troublesome to maintain. But my hair was still soft after the bleaching, so I didn't feel the damaging effects (grave mistake!!).

A few days after (recovery time), I dyed over it with a dark blond from Schwarzkopf, and the resulting color was like the first 2 pics, and it stayed that color. My hair was becoming as dry as grass though...Then in mid-October I went to a salon to dye it darker cos I was tired of bleaching to maintain the color, because after bleaching I'd still need to dye over with a darkening color, otherwise it would be that weird, uneven, bleached color. At the JYJ concert! ♡

By end November it kinda faded to a dark brown, though I like this color! ♥ Self-bleached my whole head again in mid-December? And dyed over with a mixture of the 3 boxes below. The Igora was bought in Bangkok in July (stopped over on the way back from Europe, kept it ever since) and the Blythe dyes were from Gmarket.

The result was a super nice ashy green brown (no photo)...that faded to the middle pic after a week. I didn't touch my hair anymore for a while because the bleaching+dying totally killed my hair...With a severe loss of elasticity, my hair was like cotton. When wet, it broke whenever there was a slight tug. Normal hair has elasticity, but mine had none, and was so brittle that it just broke. Terrible experience because the drain would be covered with my hair after every shower, so I was kinda scared, no more bleach!

Went to a salon and dyed it dark in the end of March 2011 because of the roots, but a week after the color started to fade. And only the ends faded! Because my hair had been bleached a few times already, it's hard for it to retain dark colors, so whatever color it gets dyed, the color will fade away to an orangey blonde.  The difference between the first two pictures? All due to fading only! Which I totally didn't mind...except maybe the pudding hair that resulted^^ (Pudding hair = dark top, light ends)

Dyed a dark ashy brown in early June 2011 (I really liked this color!), 
but like always it ended up fading, which I didn't really mind... 

 ...then it faded even more. Still didn't mind... (In the last photo my hair is curled)

...and then it faded even more! But I actually liked the faded color! You can see that my ends are always lighter than the roots...because of the previous times bleaching. My hair gained back elasticity so by now it wasn't cottony anymore, yay!

End-March 2012 I went to a salon to cut off quite a bit (damaged dry bottom half due to the bleaching) and dyed it darker. Hair grew out a bit by June 2012 (photo taken in Seoul!), though by July 2012 (in Kyoto!) the color faded to a reddish brown. Red is not a good color on me, that's why I don't like reddish browns :(

Cannot remember what I did to my hair anymore, though I think I trimmed a bit and the bangs? Think I dyed it too cos the color looks more even/roots not showing hahaha. But now the color stays cos most of the bleached portion has grown out/been cut off.

Quite sure I went to the salon to dye it in the first pic, because it looks like an "after-salon" photo^^ Now the color stays though I kinda miss my fade-y hair. A few days after the middle pic I dyed my hair (13 Feb 2013). Haven't dyed it till now, so in the last pic I'm covering the top of my head because of the roots^^

Moral of the story: If you want to try bleaching, go to a salon or you might end up killing your hair like I did^^ But it was a fun experience and I really liked my "fading hair color". It's like a magic color that changed over time. Anyway, now my hair is normal, hurray. But now that I've graduated, no more colorful hair adventures! T_____T 

I've wanted to try ombre pink/purple or blue/green, though I don't think I'd have the guts to to it!^^ One thing I would never do though is short, short hair, because when I was younger my parents made me have really short hair, so short that people always thought I was a little boy :( They dressed me in shorts/pants too instead of dresses... I didn't get to start growing my hair past my chin until I was 15. So...I'd never cut my hair short. I actually thought the March 2012 one was kinda short for my liking, even my friends were shocked by the length when they saw pictures^^ Short hair does look great on some people, but it's just not for me (*´д`*)

So what are some of the drastic/ crazy/ fun things you've done to or want to try on your hair? 
Let me know! ♡

6 comments:

  1. Wahh~~ Takes guts to bleach your own hair...multiple times >___<
    Did your scalp hurt from the bleach? I also wna try "creamy" colours, but I don't know if my salon does them... I like the colour in the Valensole photo~~~

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    1. Hi Kyaririn,
      It kind of stung, but I think my scalp has a high tolerance^^
      I don't regret it, but I wish I knew that I shouldn't have left the bleach in for so long, or that I could've just rebleached the roots instead of my entire head for the 2nd and 3rd times...

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  2. I really like your dark ash brown hair in june 2011 <3 its looks fit to you, you looks like a doll. I wanna try that colors too but my hair still in recovery right now (>_<) i do bleaching & coloring my hair since i was 13 & now im 26 with very damaged hair (T_T) i a lil bit regret it right now..

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    1. Hi Ehara Poetry,
      Thanks! I liked that color too, but apparently it only came out that color because my hair was previously bleached^^
      Wow, I first dyed my hair when I was 19, I think my hair is recovering now, but I don't regret it^^ Just wish I knew more about the potential damages!

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  3. I've never tried anything "wild" on my hair before...too scared =[
    Now I'm afraid I'm too "old" to get crazy colors...should have done it in uni!
    Agree with the person above, the dark ash brown color looks nice!! =]

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