pretty in pink

so on tuesday i was talking to carmen who had bleached her hair the night before, and was concerned about the 'block colour' as opposed to 'lots of regrowth' look; we were discussing if she should tone it another colour, and if so, which one. at the same time, i was emailing rebekah, who was also having a hair crisis. out of the blue, it occurred to me that i wanted pink hair. not all pink, but i wanted pink tips in my hair. i guess the kids are calling it 'ombre'. i just call it dip-dye. whatever, i wanted it, and i was so so resolute that i would have it, that carmen and i went out at lunch and bought all the supplies. the last time i made a rash decision like that, i quit my job and moved half way around the world.. i love my hair too, and i don't like to do things to it (like cut it) without thinking it through a lot first. yet, when it came to the idea of bleaching and dye it bright pink, there was zero hesitation.

i google imaged different colours, and what sort of outcome i wanted, and just to see how it would look. i didn't want to look trashy, or emo, or any kind of 'trying too hard' - i just wanted pink tips! i did not read or watch a single tutorial - i have bleached my own hair before, so i kind of knew what to expect, so when i got in on tuesday night i had my mind set on PINK.

step 1 was re-dying my roots dark brown. as i knew i would be bleaching the tips, i didn't take the dye past my ears - i literally did around my scalp and massaged it right through until the bottle was all gone. sexy, no?

next, i mixed the bleach up and pulled the top third of my hair into a 'sumo bun', pulled the remaining hair into two sections and pulled these (like pig tails) over my shoulder and then started to paint. i started with only a few centimetres, then to make sure there were no hard lines, i took the brush up slightly higher with every second stroke. i made sure that the ends were quite well covered, then wrapped them all up with tin foil (like they do in the salon!) and left them for 30 minutes

i checked the ends every 10 minutes or so, just to make sure it wasn't falling out or going a strange colour, then washed it all out after around 30 minutes when it stopped changing colour and remained a peculiar ginger colour. it actually didn't look too bad just ginger, but i was determined to finish what i had started! good to know though, that when the pink does fade out, that the ends will look totally socially acceptable anyway. next was the pink. BE WARNED IF YOU USE CRAZY COLOR: it stains EVERYTHING. i used about half of the bottle, and although it said to leave it in between 15 and 30 minutes i knew i didn't want the colour too intense - just incase it was horrid. after i finished applying it, i found pink splatter eveerrrrywhere. and it took aaaaages to clean up. so maybe i left the colour in about 10 minutes total. i will never dye my hair pink in my white bathroom. ever. again.

omg so worth it though. i absolutely LOVE the outcome. it's perfect. i've had so many compliments, and although it's maybe not what i had in my mind (i think i wanted a soft, pastel, marshmallow pink), this colour is so 'me' and totally suits. i cannot fault it. i'm in love with myself! haha! what do you think? X