Hairdye 8: Violet shampoo. A must for all dye hards!

In this entry, I will write about violet shampoo and why you should use it if you have dyed hair. Simple as that!

I am using this shampoo. Love it!

Violet shampoo has few different names depends on brand and place where you buy it. It can be called purple shampoo, bleach hair shampoo or silver shampoo. Make sure to try all of these name when you ask the shopkeeper about this specialized shampoo.

It’s a liquid in violet/purple color, hence its name. It’s not so lather compare to normal shampoo and you don’t have to use it in every wash. Just 1-2 times a week.

Why you need to use it? As I have said many times that violet will eliminate the brassy tone on your hair. So violet shampoo does just that. If you are suffering the greenish or yellow color of bleached hair or dyed hair (with permanent color), this is the product for you! Use it 1-2 a week, beside your normal shampoo and you will see the different.

Furthermore, violet shampoo is actually good for all dyed/colored hair, regardless of color. It helps revitalize your hair color, make it shine and come true to the color you want. And there is more, it also keeps your color last longer.

For me, I have blonde hair now and always struggle with the brassy tone as well as green tone (Curse you water with chlorine). I discover this product through another blond and have been using it since then. The strange thing is I had never got recommend from any hairdresser about it, which they should. So here is my advice to you: If you decide to bleach your hair, buy yourself a bottle of silver shampoo!

Hairdye 7: Product reviews. Part 1 – Hair dye.

Hey guys, I am back with a list of products I have used/tried and my own reviews. In this entry series I will also provide where to buy products with the best price and value in Europe and in Vietnam. This is only my personal experience and a limited number of products I have used. Remember that everyone’s hair is different and the result might not be the same. Feel free to comment your favorite hair dye product. This post is not sponsored.

Part 1: Hair dye

• La Riche Directions

Pros:

+Wide range of colors
+Cheap price
+Easy to buy in Europe

Cons:

– Color fade away
fast (After about 7 washes)
– Quite dry for hair

Directions by La Riche is a product from UK. In my own experience, Directions is a go-to product if you change your color often. It offers a vibrant color even though in short time span. The colors offered are also very variable. It’s easy to buy from any local alternative clothing store or hair product store in Europe.

• Manic Panic

Pros:

+ Long lasting
+ Smooth and moist
+ Wide range of colors
+ Pleasant odor

Cons:

– Expensive (1 bottle MP = around 2 bottles Directions)
– Hard to buy

If you are going for a signature color that last longer and impressive. This is the product I recommend. This brand is from USA. It is also my personal favorite and I always try to get MP if my wallet allows. It gives you a smooth, conditioned hair after dye and the color is very long lasting. The product is also offered in Amplified version, which claimed to be 30% longer-lasting. I have been using both original and amplified version in Vampire Red (my signature shade) but didn’t notice significant difference. So I suggest go for original version with more options and cheaper. I always buy MP through eBay. Although, it can be available in alternative clothing stores in some big cities in Europe.

• L’oreal Super Blonde

Pros:

+ Super strong and effective bleacher (equal 40 vol)

+ Smooth and soft

Cons

– Expensive (about 15 eur/ box in Finland)

This is one of my first bleacher I used before buying hydropeoxide and bleach powder separately. If you are looking for a complete kit of bleacher and after care, this product is perfect! Always remember to use with caution and don’t leave it on for over 20 minute! Check my bleaching post.

 

The next entry in this series will be about hair care products for your color treated hair. Stay tune!

Emily

xoxo

My salon bleaching experience. I am blond now!

Hi guys! It has been such a long time since I last dyed my hair and update this blog. This time, I am back with a very detailed entry about my salon experience. If you follow me on Facebook, you probably knew I dyed my hair in the beginning of the week. This is my first time going to a salon to get my hair bleached and I have learned so much from them. Therefore, I am writing this to share with you about my experience and new knowledge

Let me show you the before and after photo

You can see the change is drastic! It was a long process to achieve the final hair color. First, the hairdresser evaluated my hair condition and the color I had on. She asked question about my hair history, what i had done with it and when. As you could see, my original hair had at least 3 colors on it so she pulled out a bunch of shades (think pantone pallets!) to match with my hair condition. I had decided to chop off my hair so she didn’t have to match the tail color but the roots and the middle. After evaluation, I went to wash chair and got the green part chopped off. Afterwards, the bleaching started.

As you can see she put a lot of bleaching mix on my hair, this is where I learned that I have been using too little bleaching mixture. I think she used the strongest hydropeoxide on me, which means 40 vol. She put it on my hair evenly, 2 cm from root to tail and then the roots. I think that was the first time I ever have bleach that close to my roots. It was painful, felt like burning. She left it for about 20 mins and then washed off with cold water.

Here’s the result

I was frightened. Mostly how blonde I was but also how weird my hair color was. It had a dark spot on top of my head, some of the green was still there and even ginger shade near the tail. Bleaching with Asian hair is definitely tricky.

The supervisor of my hairdresser said that they would now need to dye my hair. The top would be dyed with a cool blonde tone and the bottom would be dye with a cooper blonde tone. The idea behind this is to even out the color pigments in my hair, as the top’s color wasn’t even and the bottom’s one was greenish (red neutral green. Color wheel). So there went, I had to endure another 20 mins of burning sensation. But it was definitely worth it!

What I have learned after the experience
1. When making bleacher, mix in a little bit of warm water. This will keep your hair from drying out through the process.
2. Use a lot of bleacher on your hair! Make sure it is soaked in bleacher and it should feel frothy on your head, not roughly.
3. Last but not least, it is very tricky to bleach dark hair, so I still suggest going to the salon for bleaching after all of my entries in this blog. It’s good to know what you should do to achieve the color you want! But if you are not sure, go to the professionals. Also plus point is they know how to put the chemical mixture evenly on your hair.

Even though I had intended to go red after the bleach, I felt in love with the color and all the effort to create it (it took 6 hours), so I decided to be a blondie for a while! Adventure of a blondie ahead!

Until next time!

Emily

From dark to rainbow: Bleach and toner

It has been such a long time since I stop writing. Just simply I am lazy haha.  Sorry for that but at least now I am here and bring you a new entry with photos! I recently got a hair cut and it took away half of the bleached part of my hair so eventually I bleached my hair again from my natural color- dark brown. In this tutorial I will show you the result before and after I bleach my hair and how to make your own lilac toner.

To bleach my hair I used Syoss Lightener 13-0. The strongest lightener from Syoss. I still prefer to use Schwarzkopf.

 

And this is the result with before and after photo. As you can see, my hair isn’t really blonde after the first bleach but this base color will be just fine if you want to dye your hair red or purple or strong blue. If you want pastel or lighter color, you should check the bleach bath method and do as follow.

 

Now, this is the most important content of the post. Make your own toner so you don’t have to spend on those blondie specialized shampoo, which is expensive and also extremely hard to buy in Vietnam. With this method, you can easily tone your hair every week to keep the golden color or just simply avoid the ugly orange shade . Enough talking, here’s the solution for your hair.

You will need:

1. Mixing bowl and brush

2. Conditioner, smooth and shiny or clarifying is preferable but you can use any conditioner

3. Semi permanent hair dye in purple shade to balance out the yellow (check color wheel entry). Here I use Manic Panic’s Ultra Violet and I recommend this one too.

Let’s do the mixing!

Firstly, squeeze some conditioner to the bowl, take as much as you need. Normally I take about 1.5 times much conditioner compare to my daily use amount.

Secondly, take the brush and tip dip to the dye. Start with small amount, use the brush to blend the dye to the conditioner. If the color isn’t satisfied, take some more dye and blend again. Repeat until reach the color desired, which is a lilac/pastel purple shade

Thirdly, apply the toner to your hair and let it sit for 5-10 minute. If you have very light bleached hair, don’t leave it so long or it will leave a purplish stain on your hair. Wash away with water and Voila!

 

Hope you enjoy my comeback entry. Until next time! <3

 

Hairdye 5: How to remove your old hair color?

The process of changing my friend’s hair color is longer than I thought so while waiting for that practical entry, why don’t we learn something new! How to remove your old hair color.  I wrote this entry since it happened to me last month, the old yellow mix with the black ( blue undertone) and created a green/jade shade. Oh my :(

Dying is putting color pigment on your hair, whatever type of dye you use, it still fade away but if you let it naturally then it takes probably 6 months to go away completely. So what are you gonna do when you want to change your color? Remember to take away all the old color completely before putting on new color. Otherwise, it will mix together and create unwanted results. The method s listed below are also things that you SHOULDN’T do if you want to keep your beautifully color stay.

The order of the method is from slowest to the fastest (which also harm your hair)

1. These methods provide gradually fading which also what you should avoid to keep your hair color
   • Hot oil treatment
   • Alcohol based hair product like hair spray, mousse, gel…
   • Exposing to water and sun light
   • Swimming in a swimming pool (should wear a silicon swim cap)
   • Sprinkle a spoon of baking soda to your shampoo and knead into your hair
   • Washing hair with harsh shampoo like anti dandruff, clarifying, deep cleansing or all purpose ( the one that guys use for both hair and body Eww)
2. The result is vary from people so if you patient enough then I recommend using above methods. If all are fail then here is the tough one.

The number will indicate the ratio of the chemical

• 3 Developer
• 2 Bleach Powder
• 2 Clarifying shampoo
• 2 conditioner for dry hair

Mix all the chemical together and create a liquid mixture

Apply to your dry hair quickly then start kneading gently

Leave in for 5-10 minute, remember to check your hair frequently

Wash away with WARM water

Shampoo and deep conditioning.

The second method is quite similar to bleaching so it will harm your hair and you need to be careful with it!

Any question? You know where to ask!

Source: manicpanic.com

Hairdye 4: Bleach Bath (For dark hair color)

I know I have been lazy for so long and I am so sorry about that. No more procrastinating, I am here and give you what you have been waiting for. How to do bleach bath

Bleach bath. Simply it’s bleaching your hair. However, it’s not as strong as normal bleach due to the chemical used, which we will know later. It is recommend to lighten your hair slowly, week by week. The last result is the same as normal bleaching but the progress take longer. If you have dark base hair color, bleaching few times (3 months gap) would help but it’ll damage your hair so bad. Trust me! Bleach bath is for you. Do it once a week or once in a fortnight.

Here is the how to

Equipment and chemical

Mixing bowl, tint brush, gloves, comb…basic stuffs (Check my first entry)

Bleach creme developer: They normally  have 5 different volume (strength) 10 to 50 and 50 is the strongest. I recommend using 30 or 40 vol since we will use it in a long run. Be patient!

Bleach powder

Shampoo: Normal one, clarifying one is the best (the one that use to make your hair smooth all the way)

Remember what I told you about the orangish after bleach? So if you don’t want it make sure to have a bottle of toner around to tone it down to brown/hazel/platinum…

The steps are quite simple
1. Mixing the developer, powder and shampoo in the bowl. The ratio is 1:1:1 so it’s quite easy to achieve this ratio.
2. Apply the mixture on your damp hair from the top to the root.
3. Keep it in by putting on a shower cap for a while. 15-20 minute is what I recommend. DON’T keep it longer than the time stated on the developer bottle or bleach powder box.
4. Rinse it away with cold water.

Bleaching bath is lighter so it will give you result little by little. Be patient and repeat it every week or two and you will have really nice blonde hair. It also use when you want to remove the color that you have already dye on your hairs.The brand used in the photo is not examples. Just what i found on google.

If you have any question. Feel free to ask!

Hairdye 3: Bleaching

Hello, I have just finish 8 hours sleeping in dye ( semi-permanent) and write this while waiting for the hair to dry.

As I mentioned before, bleaching is the first step to reach rainbow hair. Whether you are natural blonde or a dark head, still you need this step. It brings your hair to a shade of white/transparent that easily absorb the right color you want in its most vivid shade.

Okay, that’s enough for the revision so what exactly is the bleach?

I have friend in Vietnam thinking that bleach liquid is something special which is very hard to buy. In fact, it’s so simple. You don’t need to get the bleaching kit from Manic Panic from USA.It’s exactly the lightest blonde dye that you can find in your local store (big one, should be?). It can be named ice blonde or plantinum blonde… So now you know the right type to buy. Or if it is allowed for you to buy the chemical separately then do it! Buy bleaching powder and peoxide developer.

A kit of bleach consist developer and cream as the same normal dye. However, since we use the lightest blonde kit, you will find 1-2 pack of lighten powder or bleaching powder to mix in the liquid. So make sure you find the right type.

How to use it?

Mmmh I wish I have photos for this tutorial but I don’t have time for that so I will post the photo later when I can

Basically what’s you have to do is on the instruction of the box but I will give you the tips

1. Use it right after you finish mixing the liquid

Doesn’t like colored permanent dye, blonde dye (bleacher from now on) need to be consumed right after it’s mixed. That when it’s strongest and will help you get the best result.

2 Remember to comb after apply all the dye

Bleaching is a very hard work with your hair. So remember to comb it through and apply more liquid if needed. This tiny step keep the dye even so you will have the same color on different area after bleaching.

3 NEVER over bleaching your hair

Which mean don’t leave it on your hair longer than the allow time. Many people believe that will make your hair lighter. It does but the consequence might not be your hair anymore. If you have very dark hair then you should use the technique in the upcoming entry

4Rinse with COLD water

Never ever rinse your hair with warm or hot water after dye. Always use cold water. Otherwise, it will damage your hair so bad

5 Don’t forget to use toner if needed

You should have toner ready for your after bleached hair. Remember that toner won’t damage your hair but neutralize the orange/yellow shade on your hair. Bring your hair to a light blonde/white shade which is the result that you are longing for. Of course if you have light base color, toner maybe unnecessary for you

6 NEVER bleach your hair more than once a month

I’m warning you!

To all the dark head: Next entry will tell you how to go from black to blonde without seriously damage your hair.

Emily

xoxo