My Hair Journey Pt. 2 | Final Result. Spoiler, I'm Brunette Again.

I know I was supposed to finish up my "hair journey" last year, but I changed my hair after a couple months, and then I got into a slump.

I decided to bleach my hair at the end of June (2015). At that point, I'd never done anything drastic to my hair before, and I wanted to see what I looked like blonde. I got to about a medium-ish shade of blonde and thought I was going to go even lighter. But being blonde just didn't feel like me. And the stark contrast of my natural hair color growing out VS. the blonde was not my favorite thing.

After about a month and a half, the regrowth was getting to me. (This picture to the right is as of August 20.) But I still let it go until October 1st. It just made the blonde look darker. And my natural hair color grows out so dark before the sun gets to it to make it seem a little lighter.

I stuck with good old, trusty Ion hair dye. That was also part of why I waited until October to dye my hair. My local Sally Beauty Supply was always out of the shade of brown I wanted. Ion has a range of brown hair dyes called their "Mocha" range. I got the darkest one, shade 4WR (Medium Gold Mahogany Brown). This is essentially my natural hair color amped up. It's a little lighter and richer. My natural hair color can seem a little flat, and it's borderline black because it's such a dark shade of brown. I used a 10 Volume developer because I was depositing color, and not trying to lighten it. I left it on for about 30 minutes and then rinsed, and voila!

Now, it's been a few months since then. 5 months to be exact. It's faded some, but it's still very brown. It's a very, very subtle ombre. It doesn't touch on blonde very much, but there are the odd few highlights of blonde that pokes through in some spots. I'm very happy with it, and I've been thinking about going back over it with some more dye, just to help it grow out as, roughly, one shade.

As of the beginning of December, this is what my hair looks like. (I don't have a current picture more recent than December. Sorry.)

Well, until next time,
Abby

P.S. If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments.

My Hair Journey Pt. 1 | First Stages

If you've read my post about hair extensions (part 1), then you have a basic rundown of my hair. If not, I have thick, coarse extremely dark brown hair that has red and gold tints to it. It's oily, but my scalp is also very sensitive, dry and prone to some pretty bad dandruff. I've only ever dyed my hair once (black) and bleached 2 small sections, all of which has been grown out and cut off years ago. So starting this journey to blonde hair I started out with virgin* hair.
To start off: I AM NOT A PROFESSIONAL HAIR DRESSER! I only have basic knowledge that I've learned from my sister and the Internet. THIS IS NOT A TUTORIAL, just what I did to my own hair. DO NOT EXPECT IDENTICAL RESULTS IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS! This is just my personal hair journey and I'm only posting it as documentation for myself and if any of you are curious.
Also, if you are using bleach you will damage your hair. There is no avoiding it. My hair was in good condition, and I still had to cut about 3 or 4 inches off. I knew I would need to, but I also wanted to.

Technically this was a two-day process, but in total it only took a couple hours. I bought everything at Sally Beauty Supply. I went in with general knowledge and also asked the ladies working there for some advice. I got 30 volume developer and blue powdered bleach, and my hair color. I decided to go for an ash and neutral blonde because I have red and gold in my hair and the ashy/neutral tones would counteract it somewhat.
I enlisted the help of my sister and best friend, and together with my instruction we bleached my hair! When bleaching hair, you have to start at the ends. The farther away from your scalp, the longer it takes to process. Your scalp is a "hot spot" and the bleach will develop a lot faster! We didn't do the roots until about 5-10 minutes before we had to rinse the bleach, and we were checking it constantly.
We rinsed it out and used some purple conditioner, and it cut down on the brassy tones really nicely. Not like a toner would, but my hair was not light enough to tone. I didn't want to bleach my hair more than once, and I knew it wouldn't go platinum on the first try. I knew going blonde would be a process.
Next we went over my hair with the dye. I completely spaced on getting a lower level developer for the color and so I used my 30 volume (which lifts as well as colors). I got a level 8A(ash) and a level 8N(neutral) dye. I also used a color correcting additive to cut down red tones. We did the color the same as the bleach, ends to roots. I let the color develop and then rinsed with purple conditioner again.
Looking back, I would have used a lower developer and gone roots to ends because my roots turned bright YELLOW! The length of my hair was a nice color, but man those roots!

I went to bed and let my hair rest a bit, and then the next day we went back to Sally's and bought more dye and a 10 volume developer. I also decided on a level darker in color because my roots were so bright. I got some level 7N dye and a Red/Gold color correcting additive to cut down on the brassy tones. We applied it all over the roots and then went back and brushed it through the length a bit to blend everything together. I let it develop for 30 minutes and then rinsed. I didn't have the purple shampoo with me this time, but I only used the tiniest bit of shampoo and slathered on the conditioner.
It looks so much better now! It's a smidge on the brassy side, but I bought my own purple shampoo, so those tones will go down in time. The color turned out to be a medium-dark neutral blonde, but there's a small hint of red to it.

My hair is still in really good condition considering I bleached my hair blonde in one day. Only the very top layer is frazzled, but with some good, deep conditioning masks it'll be ok eventually.

Product List and Links:

Bleach: Salon Care Fast Blue Powder Bleach

Developer: Ion Sensitive Scalp 30 Volume Cream Developer

Shimmer Lights: Shampoo

Hair Dye: Ion Color Brilliance Permanent Creme

Levels I bought: 1 Level 8A, 1 Level 8N; 2 Level 7N

Developer: Ion Sensitive Scalp 10 Volume Cream Developer

Un-Red additive

Red/Gold Correcting additive

I hope you guys found this interesting, and helpful if you are on the same journey as myself. I did a lot of research before I started to consider going blonde. I came from pretty much a level 2 brunette shade and went all the way to a level 7/8 blonde. I'm still not done, but I'm really loving where it is at right now.

Until next time,
Abby

Hair Journey Part 2?

*Virgin Hair means untreated, unprocessed, natural hair.

SheaMoisture Purification Masque

When I got the news that ULTA was opening in my town I was ecstatic! When I got a job with them I was on cloud nine! There were so many products I wanted to try and play with!!! And this baby has become my golden goose!

I grabbed this hair mask on the off chance that it would work. My hair is the weirdest I know of. It's oily, coarse, thick, wavy and curly, with a sensitive, dry scalp that is very prone to dandruff. I can wash my hair and have dandruff the very next day. But with this mask it's about four days before my hair starts showing signs.

This mask has a very mild "grit" to it that I'm assuming is to exfoliate the scalp. (The package doesn't really say anything about that.) It has a base of Shea butter, coconut oil, and avocado among other moisturizing creams, oils, and butter. For medicinal purposes, it has salicylic acid, willow bark extract, and tea tree oil. It is extremely natural, and it says "homeopathic remedy"! It's made without a lot of icky things like parabens, phthalates, sulfates, and a lot of other crap that's bad for you.
It says to: "Apply generously to dampened hair, leave for 5-30 minutes and rinse thoroughly."
What I typically do is shampoo my hair and use this as a conditioner in rotation with my actual conditioner. My hair stylist has me using Paul Mitchell's tea tree line with lavender. She says it's clarifying yet soothing which is good for dandruff prone hair. The results with my conditioner isn't as long lasting as it is with the mask, but it still works.

The tub says it "Conditions hair while relieving dry, itchy and flaking scalp while regulating sebum production. Plantain Enzymes, clarifying Tea Tree Oil and Willow Bark Extract removes product buildup and strengthens hair by sealing in natural moisture." It does all that and more for me! Since I have a very sensitive scalp I have to be careful with the products I use on my hair. Certain things aggravate my dandruff, and some will even clog hair follicles and cause "acne" on my scalp. I've been using this mask for almost a month and nothing bad has happened! Only good!
Now, I know very little about hair care, but I would highly recommend this product, and line, to anyone! I haven't tried anything else by SheaMoisture, but I will be in the future! I'm always happy to find new products that are natural and work amazingly!
Until next time!
Abby

Hair Extensions for Beginners, Pt. 2 | Getting My Extensions Blended

Hey there! Sorry it's been so long since I posted Part 1!! I was being kind of paranoid about taking my extensions to just anyone to get them blended. And they needed to be blended let me tell you! When I first got them they came just above my butt, and they didn't blend very well with my hair natural.

(As stated in Part 1 my hair is naturally thick, coarse, and a mix between curly and wavy.)

I tried straightening my hair...and it worked a little better! But not much.

(My hair straightened. A little more believable, but not much more.)

So, I'd kinda been holding out for ULTA to open in my town. I'd gotten a job with them, and I was curious who would be working in the salon. When opening came my niece got her hair cut there by a stylist from Washington, and she did an amazing job! As soon as my niece was done with her hair cut I booked my appointment! And I'm so glad I did.

MacKenzie did an awesome job with my extensions. She told me to straighten my hair and extensions, clip them in how I would like them to be, and she would blend them into my real hair. She's got me going in for a regular trim at the end of the month, and she told me to come in the next day with my extensions in so she could see how it all looks, and she would fix anything that needed to be touched up!

(A little hard to see, because of the angle, but I can definitely tell it looks like my actual hair!)

All in all, you pretty much have to get extensions blended. I swear the girls on YouTube that claim they can just order them and clip them in..no. Not possible. My stylist even said so. There's no way a company can cut extensions to suit everybody's hair. Especially because they're pretty much cut straight across. My extensions now sit just a little bit above where they were before my hair cut. I told MacKenzie I wanted the least amount possible cut off, but if a little extra had to go to ensure a realistic blend, then so be it!

I love my extensions and would recommend them to pretty much anyone!! My only suggestion towards Bellami would be more of a shade range.

Again, the set of extensions I got were the Magnifica 240g 24" Hair Extensions in Mochaccino Brown (1C).

I hope this was informative for anyone as much of a beginner as myself, and a nice read for anyone else!

Until next time,

Abby.

Hair Extensions for Beginners, Pt. 1 | A Rundown of the Company and MyHair

Hey Everyone! Hope 2015 is going great for all of you!
To start with, this is not sponsored. I'm not being paid for this. I am a customer, and this is my honest opinion. I'm a complete beginner here as well. I've never tried extensions beyond those 1 clip wefts that Hot Topic and Claire's/Icing sell for little pops of color here and there.

I'd been contemplating buying extensions for a while now. My hair is very thick, and naturally an in between of wavy and curly. When I was a little girl my hair grew naturally in ringlet curls until is got too thick and weighted down. Today my hair is about mid-chest length. My want for hair extensions is partially for a costume idea I have, part for special occasions, and just an all around want of long hair. I did a lot of research online, websites and YouTube, and finally settled on Bellami Hair.

I didn't really need them for volume, but when it came to it for length there was only one option for it. The Bellami extensions are 100% natural, Remy human hair, and the wefts are thick all the way from top to bottom. They don't go all scraggly and thin at the ends.

I was a little wary when it came to the color choosing process because it's my natural hair color. I have extremely dark brown hair with a lot of red highlights and some (but not much) gold highlights. I was also a little apprehensive because the people I saw that ordered the color I did, it seemed like their extensions were so much darker than my hair. I kept going back and forth between 2 different colors before finally settling on one color. (Bellami also doesn't have the widest color range when it comes to choosing either.)

The really nice thing when it comes to choosing the right color for you is you can email a picture of yourself in natural lighting to the company, and they will evaluate it and tell you the closest color match. And even if it's not, when you get your package there's a "tester weft" that you can see if it matches before opening the larger package (which voids your return policy). If it doesn't match, then wrap up the "tester weft", contact the company, and mail it back for an exchange for the next color. If it does match, then keep the tester weft (because it's actually part of the set) and open them on up!! Not very many companies offer this testing service. So that was a definite pro when it came to choosing which company to go with.

I ordered them on New Years Day (that night), and they were shipped out by the next morning/afternoon. If you order before noon PST (Pacific Standard Time) they will ship your order that same day. It took 4 days total to get to me from California all the way up in Alaska!

So, that's it for now. I will post Part 2 after playing with my extensions a little more. (I've only had them for 2 days!) Photos included! Stay tuned!

Abby