Back to purple...

Purple Hair 

For decades I have played with hair dye, I have been every color imaginable. I get my natural hair dyed and only have played with or worn extensions either to help family or friends in beauty school, to promote or model a brand of extensions, or to help give my own hair a break like this summer from damage of coloring or styling. I had very long and healthy hair before my red adventure, I decided around the holidays to transition from a rose gold, orange melt to a red melt or ombré. I had different tones of red painted on, also known as the balayage method and I know from previous times red is not my color but wanted to do it again. After only two weeks I was over it. To me red, even though I did bright red and a purplish burgundy red, is to much like a natural hair color and I tend to get bored with normal colors. 

I have been blonde since birth, my natural hair color is blonde. I'm an ash blonde with gold tones. I had gorgeous natural blonde hair my entire life till around the age of 14 I started playing with using food color and markers to dye strands or the tips of my hair. I went to Christian private school my entire life and it was in a way a rebellious thing. I also was always into the local music scene and a lot of the female bands had funky cool hair colors that inspired me to want to experiment with my own hair.  When I was 17 and had moved out of my parents home I started dying my own hair with hair dye. First color was bright red, then black, blue, purple, pink you name it. I went back to blonde for two years around 20 and after my wedding I went back to the fun colors. 

One day I decided I wanted black lowlights with my platinum white blonde hair. My hair dresser at the time was so against it but I finally talked her into it. She refused to dye it black right away so we went slowly going from white blonde to adding some auburn highlights. It looked pretty but I wanted something extreme. The next visit I went a dark chestnut brown underneath and had sliced in chunky lowlights the same color leaving my platinum blonde. I got so many compliment and was working at Home Depot at the time so I would have people stopping me in the store to photograph my hair to take to their stylist. Finally I was ready, I told my hair dresser make it black, it was really a hard style to do it takes someone with a lot of talent and patience to dye black lowlights with white hair, you have to be careful for bleeding, running, and spots. The best thing is with the white hair that she could just apply bleach to remove any black that would touch the white, but she really had to work several times to perfect the layering so it all blended. I had a bottom layer of solid black, then the middle was white, and finally the top layer was chunky slices of black to white stripes. Sounds skunky but I have to say it was cool and I had never seen anyone else with anything like it. It didn't take long before everyone had it. I was actually known in our area for my hair and always was stopped to have people photograph it or ask for my stylists name and number. I worked at the Hard Rock hotel and casino during this time and I rocked that look for many years adding a few color pieces here and there. I got into the feather and color clip in pieces also for some time. After it got to where everyone was rocking the color and it was a lot of much younger girls I decided it was time to go back to fun colors. Purple and blue have always been my favorite colors so I went with purple underneath and blue streaks with my blonde on top. Then for years I had the ends or tips colored, underneath fun colors maintaining my blonde on top for jobs, briefly worked at the school as an aid for kindergarten and was subbing so had to be able to hide my colors so stuck to a pastel pink only underneath I could braid then pin up so you couldn't see it while I was working. 

One decision I made early on in life is that I could not work at any job or for any company that had rules or policies against self expression, like having tattoos, I refuse to work anywhere I can't have my tattoos visible or be myself. I am an artistic person, and I'm a real person I don't like to hide my personality or quirks that make me unique. I had a job once working for a large company as a manager and they made me wear long  pants to hide my ankle tattoos, I never had any visible tattoos other then my ankles and one on top of foot, most of mine I strategically placed in spots that are covered but since getting older and running out of spaces I now have one on my arm, planning to get another on my wrist or inside of arm. Luckily I work in an industry where being creative and unique are appreciated qualities. I also refuse to have an employer tell me what color I can dye my hair. No one is going to tell me how I can dress, color my hair, if my tattoos can be seen and so on. In this day and age everyone has tattoos, piercings or they dye their hair. I think my styles and tattoos are all tasteful, and I don't think they should be something people are judged by. It use to be if you had tattoos you either had been in prison, were trashy or some type of negative judgements we're always made. When I was younger and hung out in the tattoo shop often I met doctors, lawyers and all kinds of people of all races, financial classes, and walks of life. It is sad when people judge you based on your appearance; tattoos, hair color,  or how you dress.  I am an artist, I love to create, I always have since a very young child. If I'm not painting, drawing, designing, making crafts, dying my hair, or whatever I'm coming up with creative ideas. I carry my Polaroid or camera in my bag, along with my notebook for writing down ideas or things that pop into my head throughout the day. Part of being an artistic person is expressing your artistic side through how you dress, how you look and so on.  My style is part of who I am and is a way of expressing my own eclectic and unique taste. 

Over the spring I went metallic, I wanted silver hair and I got it. I got bored and did the colored metallics, had the rainbow metallic, silver and purple, then wanted easy to maintain for summer, some colors bleed more which leads to ruining clothes or bedding. I went silver in May and wore it till it faded mid summer. Then I resorted to touching up my color at home ordering my Pravana colors, diluting with white conditioner and I also dyed my old clip in or tape in extensions silver then another set purple tones, this helped me when j got bored to play without damaging my hair. I wanted to let my hair have a god solid two months of no bleach, no dye, and no flat iron or hot tools. I did it, was so hard but I accomplished it. My hair has gotten a lot healthier, and is slowly growing back after losing 12-16" of length. I had to cut my hair an angle bob with it being really short in the back with a longer angle in the front. My underneath and ends were the most damaged since the darker red took several bleaching to lighten to a pastel pink. 

Wearing my Ettika Paradise fringe head chain and stacked leather choker a collaboration with Ettika and Free People. Graphic tee is from BohoCircus on Etsy and the suede style wrap is Full Tilt from Tillys.  You can use the code BOHOBABE to save $10 off the head chain from Ettika

Here is the debut of my new color. If you have seen my prior purple that was done with extensions and toner, then using a new color depositing shampoo similar to purple or silver shampoos for reducing gold in blondes for me it was keeping my silver or creating a purple base. This shampoo line turns your hair purple it does not tone or reduce gold so do not recommend using unless you want colored hair. I will post a review in September with the purple shampoo and conditioners that will give you tips for maintaining your purple color of if you want to boost your silver, tone down a gold or orange tone in blonde hair and more. 

Will add more photos taken in daylight, I have a cold I came down with this weekend so felt bad when I got home hence the sweatshirt, I basically got into my pajamas and went to lay down. Hoping I can fight it off since my little one has her birthday Friday.  The above photos were taken in doors with yellow tone light so the purple doesn't look as vibrant or true to color.

Enjoy my new purple and silver hair. I went in to the salon today with grown out roots and white hair. My stylist used two tones of Pravana purple, I got a beautiful multi dimensional purple and silver color. My roots are purple so I don't have dark brown or black looking roots since my regrowth always looks darker since my hair is almost white, to achieve the silver you have to start with a blank canvas which is as white as you can get your hair or the silver won't grab on. I truly love how my new color came out and can't wait to show you more shots of it. Depending on the light you can even see some blue tones. 

Off to bed crazy busy week ahead of me. Have some beauty product reviews and lots of new clothes from Pam & Gela, Chaser, WildFox, SilverJeans, Spell and the Gypsy, and then accessories galore. Can't wait to share my fall style staples. Peace love and light always xoxo. Remember to always be yourself. 

Silver hair **Updated**

Good evening all and hope everyone is having an awesome week so far. Only a couple more days and the weekend is here again. I can't wait. Tomorrow I am going back to the salon again to keep working on my silver hair. I have been trying to go silver since I made the choice to try the color. I have been all kinds of fun and different colors from purple, blue, red, pink, turquoise and now the metallic family. I currently have metallic pink. Lavender, blue and silver in my hair. I started with mostly silver which wouldn't stay. To get the hair silver it has to be white, you can not have any darker or yellow tones it must be white and it was so damaging to the hair after all I have done over the years I lost some length and still haven't had a successful stick on the silver end. That first time when it was mostly silver I had purple in it the purple stuck but within a few weeks the silver had faded from my hair being striped so much and having no color it was just dropping that color any time it got wet or styled. 

My hair colors over the last two months. Before this I spent two months removing a red ombre from pinkish red, red to violet dark red almost burgundy tone. Very angry I didn't do the silver when I wanted, last summer I removed my blue ombre to go silver but had to have a peach orange to counter the blue that didn't want to remove, the peach orange was almost gone and I went red on a last minute whim liked the tones, felt like darker would be fun but now kicking myself. It's good it was time to trim the hair it had gotten so long it needed a fresh start. Looking forward to the silver being bold the first week. That's the best time for the color, considering going a darker silver so it will fade slower and be the silver I want maybe longer and have added some silver due to my shampoo and conditioning products I do use when I wash at home. 

I loved my second colors with the link, purple and blue metallics that have a really pretty almost pastel tone to them. I had the grey again for my main color and the fun colors as low lights sort of. Now I'm back to having some blonde, not as much as the first time but have some. My main focus is my roots, I was attempting to go ombre and have the balyage look but I don't like the contrast of my blonde roots with the silver hair. Considered doing the darker grey roots but then would have to lift more and I am trying to stay away from removing color or lifting(bleaching) the hair. 

I will update this with some photos and my after pics from my appointment I have tomorrow. Excited to have her lighten and match my roots using silver. I also love the Fusio dose condition treatment she uses from Keratesse next to Olaplex it's the best. Olaplex is still my favorite and probably the only reason I have the hair I have and it's healthy. Having an amazing and talented stylists who cares not just about how it looks but the integrity of your hair and maintaining a healthy head of hair in the end. Excited and will post pics tomorrow. 

Hey there and happy almost Friday, it's only 9 minutes until friday and I'm excited. Looking forward to a beach weekend and some retail summer shopping therapy. As promised got my hair done today and not only colored it but my stylist did an amazing angled bob. The underneath of my hair was the most damaged from my last color transformation from red ombre to now silver and metallic colors. It only made sense to leave the back short and take off any length I tried to hold onto with a thin top layer that looked okay except after a few days of not washing then it looked off, anyways have her bob that in the back then leave the front long but with an angled cut. She texturized my cut and added some shape to the area around my face as well. I love my hair and it is getting healthier every trip to the salon thanks to my stylist, Kenra dyes, Olaplex and Fusio Dose by Keratesse. 

We finally lifted my horrible roots that didn't want to take the dark grey even and we didn't want to lift right away and have the overlapping to damaged areas touch and cause worse breakage on the top, which thus far has remained in good shape. My amazing stylist coated the already lightened pieces with some conditioning mask and Olaplex, then she painted on the bleach to the roots only on the crown of my head, very front and sides in front. The middle and underneath is staying for now since it's the damaged area underneath I am trying to rebuild the most. I miss my length I won't lie, but it is refreshing to have a cute and short hair style. I loved the longer angled bobs similar to mine a few years back but my hair was long and refused to cut it. Now that over bleaching and coloring one area has left its mark it is time to leave that hair alone and let it grow it. This cut is fun and stylish. Looking forward to braiding the linger front parts. 

Metallic Hair Color

Rainbow Metallic 
Hair

Happy Saturday night, tonight I wanted to share my new hair color. Anyone that has followed my blog or my social media over the years knows I'm a fan of dying my hair. I have always loved to have unique hair colors and always played with dyes. When I was a teen being blonde made it easy to change my hair color, I use to use kool aid, markers and store dyes to color my hair. I always loved to have fun colors and funky streaks in my hair. As I have gotten older it hasn't really changed much. I have had a few jobs where I was not able to color my hair as dramatically as I like to, during those times I would color it more natural tones or colors but with sliced in chunky high and low lights or coloring the entire underneath. I have also done the tips or ombre style looks too. 

Luckily for me dying your hair fun colors has become a trend and over the last 8 years many amazing color and hair care lines have come out with some amazing dyes for the hair. I use to use the store dyes like manic panic and it would fade so quickly. For a couple of years while working as a bartender I had an amazing stylist who didn't have experience with the brighter fun dyes but was willing to experiment with me, at the time my hair was white blonde and black. I had gone platinum and didn't like having my hair all one color so I started adding lowlights to give it some contrast. I started with a brown almost caramel color then before long had red and then a darker brown which led to the black and blonde. I dyed the entire underneath black and had the top sliced in chunks of black and blonde. While attending a hair show my stylist came across a new line of dye by Paul Mitchell I believe it was called Inked. Not sure it was over ten years ago, but it was the first line outside of the manic panic lines that had some fun bright colors. 

When she returned from the hair show I added a layer of purple between the black and blonde then a few smaller steaks of purple into my top section. I was hooked. Since then the only times  I have had my hair one color is while I was pregnant and when I was working for the school as a kindergarten aid and substitute. Even during those times I had clip in extensions in different colors and I would dye my hair with the manic panic and another brand of dye I would buy at Hot Topic because the colors would wash out after a few shampoos, on long weekends and holiday breaks I would dye the underneath or some small pieces for fun. 

Over the last 8 years I have pretty much had my hair primarily blonde with an ombre or underneath dyed a fun color. I have experimented with many colors and became a huge fan of hair stylist Guy Tang. I follow him on Instagram and YouTube watching his amazing videos, admiring his stunning colors and techniques. To me he is a hair color genius. He takes dying hair to another level and is a true color artist in my eyes. It has been a long time dream of mine to have him one day color my hair but for now I have spent several years looking for amazing stylists locally. While working making cakes, doing event and party planing and interior design I met one stylist that worked with Pravana dye, for a few years I had her color my hair and she did some amazing work. I was always hesitant to color my entire head because being blonde I have tried other colors over the years and always regretted it then would want to go back to blonde which isn't easy and is very damaging to the hair if done to soon after going dark. I have had to cut my hair many times due to damaging my hair from stripping so I decided to keep my blonde roots only coloring the underneath and ends like I did as a teen and in my early twenties. 

Recently I decided it was time to take the plunge, it is a huge commitment going for the entire head, a lot of up keep but I really was ready. I finally found colors I loved and they are lighter so it would not require going darker which is what I always seemed to not like. I was born blonde and it looks best on my skin tone versus darker colors. I have found some darker Browns and reds that look good in my skin tone but colors fade quickly within weeks of dying the pigment that made the clot look good would fade leaving me with just brown or gold hair. 

Sadly I had made the decision after having blue hair that was stubborn and we couldn't seem to remove, I ended up having to go almost orange to cancel out the blue. Luckily the color looked good in me and I was able to pull off the orange look with some rose tones thrown in giving it a rose gold and blonde look but I wanted to do something I had not done in a long time and that was red. Right around the holidays I had a new stylist who was coloring my hair at her home dye my hair a deep red almost burgundy underneath with an ombre melt effect. The top was my blonde roots then melting into a pink, red then dark violet based red to look burgundy. The red and burgundy was gorgeous but it bled into my blonde and I had fifty shades of pink. Pink isn't one of my favorite colors and within a few weeks I had to have her remove pink tones which reminded me why I didn't like the red family. I decided after the new year my goal would be to lighten my hair little by little trying to keep my long length. I didn't want to over strip and bleach my ends since they had been dyed and bleached so many times over the years. I have strong hair and it had really surprised me how strong it was, it took a lot of the passed ten years and really was still pretty healthy for all the coloring I had done to that particular area of my hair. 

In January I began the process. Sadly my hair was so dark it took many appointments to get the underneath red burgundy color to turn pink. Once it was a bright pink I decided I could live with some pastel colors and really wanted to start the metallics. Guy Tang has a couple of color lines one with Pravana and one with Kenra, the metallics have been a favorite of mine for over two years when the grey first started popping up  and I had been really considering it but once I saw the silver I was in love. 

In order to have silver hair you have to have white hair to start. It can't have any yellow or gold tones it has to be white. Being a natural blonde I have a lot of gold tones in my hair then living in Florida the sun brings out those gold tones even more. Once my underneath was pink I decided to take the plunge and have my new stylist bleach my hair all over. Sadly she didn't use proper products and my hair didn't turn white. I suggested using a violet or purple based toner before dying it because I knew from watching videos and reading about the process of dying hair silver that any hair that was not as white as you could get it wouldn't take the colors. She believed it would take and only be darker in some areas so I let her dye my hair. All I can say is I ended up with silver streaks and gold with pastel pink tips. I will say the pastel link was pretty and then the areas that the silver took looked gorgeous but it was a mess otherwise. Mixing metals is one thing when it comes to accessorizing but when you are coloring your hair I don't recommend it. I left totally crushed along with feeling bad because I am such a nice person I didn't have the heart to tell her I hated it. My husband made me text her to explain I didn't like it. I felt horrible she had become a friend and we had spent hours together over the six to eight months she had been coloring my hair prior to this. Unfortunately she had messed up and had a hard time doing my hair more then this once but I let the other times slide because she charged way less then my previous lady and she was eager to learn. I just had to stop, you get what you pay for and I didn't want to teach someone who should know more then me and at the same time I didn't want to end up bald. I had to cut my loses and find someone new. 

Finding a good stylist is so hard and now I had a mess which would not only require someone with a lot of talent but someone willing to fix and risk working with damaged hair. I highly recommend with bleaching and dying your hair these types of colors to do a lot of research on the stylist you use also be ready to spend some money. It takes a lot of time, the products they will use are expensive and usually they work in high end salons. If someone is going to dye your hair for 100-200 I would want to see photos of their work and find out the brand of dye, and bleach they use, if they are familiar with toner, also do they use Olaplex and other conditioning treatments during the process. Olaplex is a life saver and I wouldn't allow anyone to touch my hair that doesn't use during the process of bleaching and coloring the hair.  My stylist uses an amazing product line by Kerastase.  The treatment she has used in my hair for repairing is called the Fusio Dose and it is amazing.  

Luckily I had a consultation with someone else who referred me to the my new stylist that is coloring my hair. He is an amazing stylist and color specialist but he does a lot of the popular Balayage style color, this is when they don't use foils but paint the bleach or color on the hair using a brush and paddle style board. This makes your hair have a grown out more natural look with less maintenance then regular foil style highlights or to the scalp dyes. This style of coloring and technique is not new, it has been around for a long time but it has slowly crept it's way back into style after ombre became a trend several years ago. He recommended me to the lady that is now my new stylist and I love her, she was willing to take on the task of repairing my color for me, and I was shocked when she told me she would be able to give me the pastel metallic silver and purple color I wanted to start. She was willing to work with me and told me she would be able to keep the health and integrity of my hair. Sadly my hair underneath had broken from all the prior bleaching and was mess. She cut it for me when she was done color correcting and in the end due to my crazy idea to go dark red and within less then 30 days change my mind making the choice to go into the silver metallic and pastel colors, I lost almost 10 inches of length underneath. My hair is to my neck bone on my back or maybe a little longer underneath now. I did manage to keep some length on the top layer and my new stylist did an amazing cut that camouflages the loss of hair. I was so blessed to have found her and feel like she is a God send. 

This all happened the week I was leaving for our family spring break road trip and had a huge event for my job so I didn't want to look a mess. My hair is something I am known for in my work field and I was embarrassed to show up with bad color. She was able to fix it and helped repair it drastically with an amazing cut and using Kerastase Fusio Dose treatment that her salon carries along with Olaplex. If you didn't live with me or weren't one of my closest friends you wouldn't ever know the bad experience I went through that week. My hair looked amazing and it was one of my favorite colors.

Being a creative person I already had my next color ready by the time I returned from vacation. Luckily it is in the metallic family and doesn't require bleaching and changing my hair much. Also the lighter tones fade really fast so I was able to send her photos of my inspiration then she let me know what was doable. I went yesterday and after many hours and lots of bowls of yummy Kenra Metallics I now have the color I have wanted. It was the photos that inspired me to go silver and purple to begin with. I cannot even begin to tell you how gorgeous the colors are. She lifted some of the purple using color remover, I have decided to leave my roots for now since I will have to tone my hair often since the silver will fade quick. Having roots doesn't bother me and eventually will just have a darker grey root. For now it's just darker against the silver looking almost dark grey in photos but really it's my natural color, she did add a darker silver tone with some violet booster but it didn't really take to my natural color, my roots have a violet blonde tone but I think using my purple conditioner and silver based shampoo it will just tone it more grayish. 

Enough babble about colors and old dye jobs let's show some photos. I have had a hard time capturing the colors because it is so hard to really get the colors in photos. For one my hair has three colors in it plus some of the colors will bleed or blend when the hair is all parted or laying a certain way so you really get so many tones, contrast and dimension. To me and I really am an admirer of hair color, I think it is just stunning. You can part it, flip it and style it so many ways and it will look different. The more you play with my hair and move it around the more you see the many colors and all the yummy metallic goodness in it. The top layer is silver grey, the rest is all sliced in perfectly with metallic silver, violet and rose pink. When the silver and violet meet together it looks blue. Let's post some photos finally. 

Here is a shot in horrible lighting, I hate finishing my color so late at night because the sun is gone and I have to wait for the next day to really capture the colors. This photo is with my hair parted to my left side so you see more pink. When it is parted down the middle you see mostly silver with some of the colors peaking through and visible on the ends. Parted to the sides you then see more of the pink and violet colors. 

Here is a shot when I ran my hands through the hair and flipped it around letting it fall so you can see the pink and violet colors primarily. 

Excuse my unmade bed my daughter was asleep in my bed when I got home since it was after nine. Here is a shot with my head tilted at an angle showing more pink with the violet and in good lighting you can also see the blue shades. The blue is again from the grey silver tones meshing with the violet shade. 

One last bad lighting shot but wanted to show my length, the cut, how healthy my hair has managed to stay and trust me it really could be way shorter and fried but luckily Olaplex and Keratesse has made it soft and healthy looking. I won't lie I have breakage and fly always but nothing like I could or should have from all it has been exposed to. 

The photo on the left is my original inspiration photo I sent my stylist by Guy Tang from his IG page. I had ten to fifteen pictures I had sent her and I had saved in my iPhone as far back as last summer but this one he had posted this week. I really wanted something like this or just the metallic silver, violet and some pink. It is amazing how close she got it. I have to say she pretty much nailed it and if you dye your hair these colors you would know that you never really know what the end result will be. You pretty much go for it and hope the colors will taken turning out with the end result being close to what you wanted so imagine my surprise or I will be honest here, my excitement when she finished my blow dry and I saw my hair looked almost identical to the photo. In all my years of using an inspiration photo only one other time was it exact. It is hard because the colors don't always look exact and then sometimes depending on the way the colors or sliced in or placed it will give it a slightly different look. I couldn't be happier with the results and it's just an overall fun color. Braided it looks like art, half up or all up is beautiful, side parted and parted down the middle looks totally different so I have many different looks with this color. 

Both this photo and the one above are photos my amazing stylist posted on her Instagram page. She really did capture the colors good for being indoors, way better then I was able to capture with the photos above at home. 

I was at the beach all day today and I had a hard time capturing good pics but once I was home I took a moment to apply a little makeup so I could capture a few decent shots with the remaining daylight. My hair got pretty wind blown at the beach so it is a little messy here but I really love how the color looks. I got a lot of compliments at the beach along with people stopping to look, snap photos and some even wanting to touch it. 

I will continue to add more photos here and to my social media as I take them. This one was taken on my patio which is covered so I did have to adjust the light and brightness some so you don't get to see the true colors completely but it does show some of the blue and silver in the portion of my hair. 

I know I am in love with the color.  Whenever I am in the bathroom or in front of a mirror I spend time flipping it and moving it around to see all the pretty colors and tones. I have to say that geniuses like Guy Tang and of course my talented stylist Chrissy make hair color look like art. I'm so pleased with the final outcome and most likely will be keeping this color for a long time. I can't guarantee because I am always inspired by photos I see online and in magazines so I can't say I won't see something else soon and want to try it but for now I am concentrating on getting my hair healthy again as well as growing it back. I will be staying lighter for sometime and any changes I make will be in the metallic or pastel family. 

I always love to see other colors and hear about other amazing stylists or good IG feeds with inspiring hair color photos. Feel free to message me or email me or links. I also am always open to trying new hair care products to review here on my blog. I have worked with Hot Heads, Pravana, Olaplex, Revlon, Wet Brush, and other products. Some items I buy myself or get samples from my beauty supply store then review and other items have been sent to me for use to review. I am always honest about all products and will not promote something I don't stand by. If an item is sent to me doesn't mean I will endorse it or love it. One product I have review coming up on was sent to me from Grace & Stella Co. I received the Moroccan Argan mask then used it in my daughter's hair first then my hair. It worked so good I decided to post it and will be doing a detailed review with information for everyone interested soon. If you have a product whether its hair care, styling products, tools or even hair accessories I would love to try them or style them into my daily outfits to post then share. I am always looking for hair care products for my hair and my two daughters. Also I am currently interested in hair styling tools for curling and smoothing hair, also hair accessories from clips, headbands and other pieces I can wear with my daily outfits to work, I would love to have some fun stuff for summer to post here and on social media. Feel free to email me or message me here. 

Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed my hair color pictures. You can find more photos of my previous colors over the years here and I have a hashtag on Instagram #melissashaircolor and then somehow I forgot which tag I was using so have also used #melissashaircolors and #melissahaircolor. I also share my hair color photos on Pinterest. 

Have a fabulous and relaxing weekend.

XoXo 

Links for products or items mentioned in above post:

Kenra hair care and color:  Kenra Professional Products

Olaplex: Olaplex

Kerastase: Kerastase USA

Hair secrets and tips, Olaplex and Pravana.

Hello and for a while now everyone has been asking me about my hair. I am always bleaching it to add a new fun color and a lot of people ask me how I manage to keep it so long, hence the question is my hair real or fake? My hair is real I don't have any extensions. I have used extensions in the passed. I had the hot heads which attach using a medical grade tape and can be reused they don't have the same bulky heavy feel that clip in or the old style braided and threaded in extensions have. I can't do the threaded in ones they are so heavy on my head and I suffer from migraines so not good for me. 

I also have had the glue in kind but never really liked any of them longer then a few weeks. Its fun to add length when you have shorter hair and want to have it long quick. I use clip in pieces for special events or if I have a style I want to wear that I need added length but not often. My hair is all mine. I recently committed to not cutting it off for four years about two years ago. I had cut it short and regretted it so I decided I would let it grow out. I still get tempted to cut side bangs or layer it but my hair lady knows not to listen to me for another couple years lol. 

My hair colors are all done in the salon, I use to color my own hair for many years before Pravana became really popular in the salons because it was hard to find salons that carried the colors I wanted. Now you can find them in almost every salon. I use Pravana dye and then I touch up my roots once every 3-4 months. I use a technique they call Balyage, where the stylist paints the highlights on with a brush versus using foils so you don't have the bad re growth and it doesn't need to be touched up every few weeks. I like a natural look on my blonde because I was born blonde. I change my blonde often lighter in the summer, more golden or honey in the fall and more of a strawberry blonde in the spring. I love ombré I don't have it in me to dye my entire head one color. I get bored with hair color very quick and it is a lot easier to only have to strip the ends and underneath versus my entire head. I also like my natural color to frame my face because I think it looks best with my complexion, there is a reason we are born with it. I always like my lighter blonde shades right around the front framing my face.

Okay so the next question I always get is how do you keep your hair looking so healthy when you strip it and bleach it so often. Before a year and a half ago, it was always using a clear coat and developer to strip my hair instead of bleach. I still don't use bleach to strip my hair but when using the pravana colors usually the stylist is well trained in what procedures work best to remove the bright colors without damaging the hair.

Also I have never been one for shampooing my hair a lot. I don't use shampoo first off I use a cream cleanser with no sulfate or harsh soaps. I only wash it once a week, between washing I use dry shampoo, or baby powder lightly to absorb any grease or oils. For a year I used the Wen products but got costly and wasn't loving them. Matrix makes a similar product that smells amazing but u actually use my own concoction that I created. It has aloe, olive oil, keratin, and coconut oil in it and then I use a cream cleanser that conditions and cleanses at the same time. 

       //My Best Hair Secret: Olaplex//

Olaplex three step system for protecting hair. 

I don't use any styling products in my hair. No gel, hair spray, mousse nothing. I use the Wet Brush to de tangle and then every other week I do a deep condition treatment in my hair. My true secret for the last year and a half is Olaplex. I have mentioned it in previous posts and on my social media. It is an amazing product that came out around the time I started using it and they mix it with the products when stripping your color or lifting (bleaching) and then my stylist also uses after she dyes my hair, then I have step 3 for at home use. I don't over use it cause to much of a good thing can always be bad eventually, but if used just right it is amazing. I don't have to cut inches off my hair every time I change my color because the Olaplex saves it every time. My hair usually looks healthier after my color is done then it did before. 

I am so addicted to Olaplex that I don't use anything else and refuse to color my hair without. It's my secret weapon. Yes, I trim my hair every 2-3 months when I touch up my color to remove split ends. I only wash once a week, try not to use hot tools like flat iron, curling iron or blow dryer. When I do use hot tools I have a spray in protector for my hair, I also use Miracle 10 leave in spray in my hair after every wash. Also when using hot tools I let my hair air dry then right before it is fully dry I use cool air from my hair dryer to fully dry it and then hot air to smooth it. I don't use styling products because they usually make my hair greasy or cause build up which would make me have to wash it more often. 

When I shower I wear a towel wrapped around my hair or a shower cap, my shower cap is scented so it makes my hair smell yummy after I get out of the shower. I have a silk pillow case so my hair doesn't crease when sleeping or get messed up. I could go on for hours with hair tips. I always have loved to style hair and color hair, all my friends come to my house for blow dry or to have their hair curled. 

//Google before and after photos of hair that Olaplex has been used on for some amazing results you can see for yourself. I have been using it for awhile so I don't have before and after shots of my own, then before Olaplex I have used Keratin and usually get my hair blown out after my color so it almost always looks healthy and amazing when I leave the salon, but Olaplex has changed my hair for the better for sure, and made my crazy coloring even more possible because now I have Olaplex to protect my hair from future damage. //

When I use the flat iron I only go over the top by my roots or crown of my head because that is the only area that looks wavy usually. Then when using a curling iron I start with the hair closest to my scalp and curl then gradually pull down to bring in the ends and hold that area the least amount of time so it doesn't get damaged. We all know that the ends of our hair are the most damaged so as long as you keep long exposure to heat off the ends it is all good. 

//Biolage Matrix makes this amazing cream cleanser for the hair that doesn't strip natural oils from your hair and it smells amazing. //

When I have fly aways or need something to smooth my hair I will use Bio Silk oil or Redken frizz dismiss but only a tiny amount and try to stay away from your roots and only use on your ends to avoid greasy or oily hair. Another great tip is using clips instead of hair bands when wearing your hair up, that way you don't get a line or crease in your hair. If you do get a crease you can use the flat iron quick to smooth it out. 

               Redken Frizz Dismiss

Hope this helped with some of the questions I always get asked about my hair. My ombré is done similar to my roots with the balyage style application of color. I color the underneath of my hair using the lighter shade closest to my roots since that lifts the lightest then going darker as it gets to the ends. Then on the middle and top layer I have blonde roots with the color going from lighter to darker, darkest part being on the ends. Also remember that the color will bleed when washing so you have to use dark towels, and be prepared for some bleeding on your linens, bedding and clothes. I use shout to remove from my clothing and hot water removes any dye from my pillow cases. If the hair is wet and it bleeds that color will not come out that is why I recommend gray or black towels for your hair when using Pravana colors. My orange and coral has not bled at all but when I had my purple and magenta colors those bled big time. I had purple on everything and I have white bedding lol. 

//My personal collection of favorites for leave in, frizz smoother and brushes.//

So be sure if you are bleaching, stripping and dying your hair to ask your stylist about Olaplex. In use the 3 step treatment that you can at any salon supply store but have to have your license or your stylist purchase. Step 1 is used when lifting or bleaching, step 2 is used after rinsing color before drying, then step 3 you take home a small bottle to use after washing. It is amazing and my favorite hair product ever. 

//Hope the photos of my hair curly and straight then below some other colors help show the health, length and then how vibrant the Pravana colors are. Above photo was taken today and my color was done the first week of July. It's still as vibrant as the day I got it done just need to do my roots soon. Love the Balyage style high lighting because it doesn't go all the way to the root on each section so it doesn't show regrowth right away like regular highlights tend to.//

Then if you are washing your hair daily or multiple times a week try cutting back to 2-3 days a week, or as little as you can. Also try using a cream cleanser, sulphate free shampoo and products. Then remember the less styling products you use the less oil and grease or build up from styling products you will have in your hair so you won't need to wash as often. Grab a bottle of dry shampoo, even suave makes an inexpensive dry shampoo that works amazing. It's basically powder in a can. I used baby powder for years before the dry shampoo came out. I admit I am lucky I don't have thin hair I have thick curly hair so my hair doesn't get greasy quick. I can a week or longer without washing it but I don't like how it feels. Sometimes I will just rinse it and use conditioner to scrub my scalp then rinse to make it feel clean, specially when I am going to the gym or over the summer when I sweat more. 

If you have hair that tangles or is hard to comb after washing you need a Wet brush I have three in my house and we all love them. I also use a wide tooth comb, if I don't have time to dry my hair before bed, I towel dry, spray in my miracle ten and brush out with a wide tooth comb then braid it loosely. The next morning I take out the braid and sometimes wear it wavy using a salt water spray for that beach wave or I just lightly dry using cool air then hot to smooth it down. 

Above are some photos of my favorite products and I have also posted about Olaplex, Pravana and other faves for my hair in the passed so check back some previous posts for more details. 

     

  

A few photos of my old hair colors top one is the most recent with the coral and orange ombré. All colors are Pravana. 

Any questions you have feel free to leave a comment below and I will do my best to answer for you. Also if I left anything out feel free to let me know. Xoxo❤️✌️

End of the week styles.

Quick post before bed to end the week with my outfits for Wednesday through today, Friday the 13th. Got my hair colored today and willl post a quick preview of how it came out at the end. I will have much better photos this weekend. These photos were taken at night with poor lighting. It always looks better in sunlight. I love it, the colors are so bright and vibrant. I stayed with the purple and blue tones but added more of the neon and pastel blue so that it doesn't look so dark. I also colored higher up on my top layer so now the underneath is three shades of blue and then the purple pravana from the vivids line. The blues I have are pastel, neon and vivid shades. The top layer had some purple and orchid that had faded to a light almost pastel pink. Now I have the neon and pastel blue also for a more ombré look, which looks teal and royal blue. Really happy with how it looks. My hair feels soft and looks shiny which is honestly amazing with all the coloring I have done the passed six years or longer. If you like cool and fun hair colors check out some of my older posts with hair photos. I am always changing my color, I have been in love with hair dye since I was 15. Being blonde makes it easy to be any color you want, also been using the new Olaplex system in my hair my passed few visits and won't color or bleach my hair without it. What an amazing product. Moving along,,,

Here are my outfits from Instagram posts for the rest of the week. Monday and Tuesday are in the previous post. 

Wednesday 

All ❤️ NOH8 from the NOH8 campaign. Love this tee. Paired it with a cute pair of LA Idol black capri length jeans. 

The Wander Full Great Smoky Mountains were calling me on Thursday and we are going to be heading there next week. Super excited. This cute tank is from Old Navy along with the gold long pineapple necklace.

Button down long sleeve tee with pineapples is from Target I got it on clearance last year, and the shorts are yellow JCrew chino shorts. Super soft and my favorite chino style shorts. I also have this same pattern tank top from Target and a cute cream with gold foil pineapples from Old Navy to match the necklace perfect. 

Today before my hair appointment I threw my hair in braids since it was raining and I was about to get it colored, I didn't sleep good last night due to my hubby working the midnight shift and being sick with a really bad head cold I suddenly came down with on Monday. No matter what I was not missing my appointment today. Always so excited to get my color done. Really didn't want to wear anything that could end up ruined from bleach or hair dye so figured I would wear some older clothes. 

I picked an old tee from Marshall's by Lucky Brand, this cute worn looking black tee says "Don't feed the hipsters" with a bear. Since the salon is always cold and it was raining decided to wear my leopard print cardigan from Kohl's by A Byer. Jeans are by American Eagle and are the super skinny stretch in dark wash. I rolled them up for a cropped look so the bottoms didn't get wet in the rain and threw on some cute leopard print reef sandals from Macy's. 

Hope you enjoyed my end of the week outfits, most of the items are older pieces I have had except for the NOH8 vneck tee which I purchased back in January online. Hope everyone had a great week and has a fabulous weekend. Xoxo ✌️❤️

I didn't forget here are a couple peeks at my hair, and promise to post better photos over the weekend when I have time to curl it and take some good shots. 

A little collage of some quick shots I snapped. Hard to see all the pretty colors and contrast. 

Here it is all pulled forward so you have some pieces peeking through that are from the back. Underneath is purple, dark blue and neon blue, then the top layer in the back is neon blue and pastel blue which gives a teal color when blended. Then you will also see some purple and pink left over from my ombré over the summer with the shades of purple and pink. 

My hair stylist uses Pravana color for my hair. Today I had some color applied to my roots to lighten and then she added these three colors. The middle bowl is a blend of pastel blue a neon blue, then you have the vivids purple and neon blue.

Can't wait to post more photos with better lighting so you can really see how pretty the colors are and the contrast. 

Enjoy and thank you for passing by. Remember life is too short for boring hair if you have been considering adding some fun color to your hair go for it. We only live once and it's just hair, it will grow out or you can always dye it back. Start small with some highlights or the underneath, maybe a thin layer and if you like it you can gradually do more. I highly recommend going to a salon because I have colored my hair at home, the color they sell at Sally's and other stores doesn't last long. Usually washes out or fades right away. Also I do not recommend bleaching your hair at home unless you have experience and help. I have colored hair for many years and still wouldn't do my own hair alone without someone to help with hard to reach areas. It's worth the extra money to get good quality hair dye that will last and someone with experience so you don't fry or ruin your hair. You can also by hot heads brand extensions in fun colors that are easily applied with a thin medical grade tap, no glue and they don't ruin your hair. They are also washable, reusable and you can style with flat iron or curling iron. They have small ones my salon sells for $5-7 each and I have a few wider ones I got for $10 each. You can google hot head extensions to read more about them. I have blonde ones in my closet I wore when my hair was short for a wedding, saving in case I ever want to add some length. Luckily my hair is really long, I cut off two to three inches today which was hard because I loved the length but needed it. Again can't rave enough about the Olaplex, balyage system. They have three steps one for adding to the bleach or color to lift your hair without burning or damaging which means you can now achieve the lightest shades possible. Second step is added to your hair after coloring to condition and seal the hair leaving it healthy and shiney. Then they have a third step to use at home. It works wonders and has improved my hair so much. I noticed a difference the first use, and keeps getting better. Trust me I strip and bleach often to achieve these bright vibrant colors because you have to have a white base. Google it for sure and ask your stylist it can be pricey but depends on the salon. I am lucky to have several friends with their beauty license and get it at retail. Paid $85 from the salon for a small amount and $30 for the third step but now pay way less at the beautician's cost. Having pretty cool hair isn't cheap or easy but thanks to pravana and my Olaplex I can have it. Okay I am off to bed, good night all... Sorry if any typos late and didn't sleep good last night. Bless you all ✌️❤️

My many shades of hair color

For those who read my blog regularly you know that since I started this blog back  3-4 years ago, I have always had fun colored hair. The artist in me loves to express my personality through my hair. I don't wear make up and I am not much of girly girl, more of a tomboy type, but I love hair color. For me I express my love for art and music through my hair, clothes and jewelry. 

I love heavy metal, rock and absolutely love going to concerts. The louder and crazier the better. I have always dressed in ripped jeans, lots of black, studs, leather and skulls. I was wearing skulls and ripped jeans as a teen. I also was dying my hair lol. I am blonde so it is easier to change the color often. 

I have tried every color and many different dyes, I have done it myself and now have a professional do it because it lasts longer. I use pravana hair dye now and the pigment is so much brighter and holds longer. Two summers ago I went from just dying the underneath layers to doing the ombré all over. I loved it and have been playing with different color combos ever since. I have dyed my entire head and I had the black underneath with black lowlights and white blonde highlights for a couple years in my mid twenties, it got very popular so decided to go to a red and blonde then got pregnant so just went natural. 

After I had my daughter I wanted to go super blonde so I started bleaching my hair myself which lead to boredom with it all being one color, that's when I started dying the fun colors myself again. The store bought dyes don't last and usually wash out a lot the first rinse. I started looking for a colorist and eventually my business baking led me to a party one night that I had a table set up at and I met a lady that was doing the hair for the fashion show for the event, she gave me her card and I eventually went to see her. I had not let anyone color my hair since before I was pregnant and the lady who did color my hair for ten years had moved to Texas. 

I started out just adding lowlights to add some pigment back to my hair along with contrast because It was super white blonde. After a few months I asked her about adding some pink and the rest is history lol. Like I mentioned above I started with just the underneath layer, then led to two layers one pink and one purple. Two summers ago as soon as the school year ended and I knew I didn't have to worry about people thinking, wow look at her, lol I went ahead and did the ombré. I had her dye the underneath purple and then the ends of all my hair a ombré purple. It came out amazing, I had the perfect blend of lilac, purple and then a bright darker purple on the ends. 

I kept that for almost two years adding some orchid, which is a pinkish purple. I loved it and then after this passed summer I decided I wanted to try the blue shades. In the passed I have posted many photos of my hair but got some recent shots of it that look pretty good. With the blue it is harder to see in photos the true colors. The purple was a lot easier some shots it would look more pastel but then some shots it would look really vibrant. 

If you are curious how I continue to lift my hair with out losing it or ruining it, my hair dresser introduced me to Olaplex, they have three products, one you add to the bleach when stripping or lifting the base, to help protect the hair and make the process be able to stay on longer without burning the hair, step 2 goes on after color to seal, protect and make it look amazingly healthy, and step 3 is a take home product you can use to continue to help reverse any prior damage. I highly recommend this product, it can be pricey but worth every cent 

Here are some shots from previous posts:  

 

Those are the pravana vivids purple ombré. I got this color done in March and it lasted till October. I got more compliments on my hair over the two years I wore the purple and pink then any other color I have done. Will probably go back after this summer. I stopped worrying about what parents at the school or anyone would think, I love it and enjoy it, so I am going to rock it. 

Below are some photos of the blue shades and you will see it either looks super bright or dark. 

This shot above you see more of the purple but this is the blue not the purple, I do have purple in it and even some pink still that didn't come out, plus she blended the underneath with purple, a royal blue and neon blue, then have some pastel and neon on the ends. 

Here you can see more of the blues and some of the purple. I use to wear my hair straight always but the coloring made me start to curl it, braid it and wear it wavy. 

Here it looks more of a dark almost navy blue. 

Funny I posted this photo on my IG and heard rumors I was being accused of touching up my photos. I don't have airbrushing or any editing software on my iPhone lol, barely have room for my photos always deleting photos and apps. I have pic tap go and vsco which you can add a filter or adjust colors etc but I don't touch up my photos and all of them are taken on my phone. This is the lighting, this shot was taken in front of white doors, with one over head light, it appears to be very bright and washed out my face. I laugh when people accuse you of retouching your photos because they don't have photos recent of themself and use old photos always. I promise I am not airbrushing or touching up my photos it lighting. I hardly ever wear makeup either, only for special occasions or if my face is breaking out which happens once every couple months. Also I have been accused of getting Botox lol, yes I have a post on here about my migraines and that I now use prescription Botox for the control of my migraines. It has been a life changer but it does not change my look at all. It is applied to the hairline, two shots between my eyebrows and the rest of the 34 shots all together are in my head, neck and shoulders, not my face. I have joked with the doctor about giving me some extra shots but he does not administer Botox for cosmetic reasons only for medical reasons. I am only 37 and I have always had a younger face, I take care of my skin and only issue I have since having kids is sunspots I get if I don't wear sunscreen daily. I always laugh when people have to act like high school even as grown thirty something women with kids lol. I don't have time, back to my hair, just wanted to clear that up really quick. I am horrible at taking selfies and practice more now that I post more shots of myself on here and my IG. I wish I could touch up or retouch some of my photos lol. 

Here you can see in the above photo some of the color but on the black cardigan it looks almost navy blue. My hair is super long, I am growing it as long as I can, hard because my hair is a lot of work but I am trying not to flat iron it or blow dry it like I use to, and let it just be so it can heal from all the heat styling snd color damage.  I have super strong hair trust me, it has been though a lot lol. 

The above photos are hard to tell the color due to the bright light, light hides a lot of things and can mask a lot of things but it can also change the appearance of colors. 

I took this shot outside on my patio when the sun was going to down some and not as bright, I am in the shade under a covered patio but this is the closest photos since I had it colored months ago in October, of the actual colors. 

As you can see it is fading on the ends but the middle section is still super bright and vivid. I love the neon blue, and pastel blue, of course the purple also. The purple is my favorite of all the shades I have used. 

 

Some of the blonde hair around my face has had some slight bleeding of the blue, which I worried about because if you are or have ever been a blonde green is not a color we want lol. I don't think anyone wants green hair, lucky for me mine is more of a turquoise or teal shade. 

I will be getting my color done in the weeks to come and decided one more go with the blue, I want to try just the pastel and neon blue. Ty for reading and if you are wanting to do this to your hair I recommend going to the salon. 

Wore my hair curly today have had it in a braid for a week or so probably since I have been cleaning or working around my home. Got lucky and captures some almost true to life color to show you. Finally lol