Thursday, August 8, 2013

Blue Hair? I Thought You Were In Your Thirties!

When my husband and I first got back together after our first attempt at dating (it's a long story, or a short one - regardless, we've been together ever since), I had pink hair. Lots of it. I'd been dying my hair various colors for years. Hair dye was just part of my life. He remembered pulling red and pink hairs off everything he owned.

Then, I worked at a bank and let it go natural - mostly because upkeep on pink hair sucks, but also because I worked at a bank.

Fast forward a few years, and I'm working at-home with a lot more disposable time. It was time. Jon made the demand.

"I miss your colored hair."

It took me almost a year to commit, but a few months ago I bleached out an ombre, then I covered it in Manic Panic Purple Haze. The first couple of days were great.

And, don't get me wrong - Manic Panic was my go-to color for-ev-er. Ferreal. But, the upkeep necessary was why I stopped dying my hair in the first place. I'm a greasy gal; skipping daily washes aren't an option for me, and spending a night a week in hair-dye-ville wasn't super appealing.

So, for the last couple of months, I've had a normal colored ombre. The purple washed out, and I couldn't be arsed to put it back. I mean, I did a few times, but when my tub of Purple Haze was gone, I chose not to replenish. I thought I was done with colored hair again.

Enter Pacific Rim.

The main character has a wedge-bob with blue peek-a-boos. Of course, that caught my eye (in the midst of the awesome robot-monster fight scenes (they had a fricking robot-sword!!!)).

During the movie, Jonathan said, "That's almost like your hair. You should put blue in."

After my haircut - especially because it was a little too short (which made me self-conscious) - I couldn't think of a reason why not.

At Sally's Beauty website, where I was searching for Manic Panic to find the right shade, it was suggested I look at Ion Color Brilliance Brights. The reviews were great, so I decided to try it. Plus, it was half the price of Manic Panic.



Some things about this brand - it's still considered a semi-permanent, so you need to pre-lighten your hair. Remember that pre-lightened hair still has a color (rust, yellow, whatever) that will mix with whatever color you put over it, so lighten to the correct shade.

I bought the Sky Blue - it's a really intense blue that stains anything it touches very quickly. Just be aware of that. This is some thick stuff. It comes in a tube (like toothpaste) and can be kind of hard to work through your hair. I used an old (clean) toothbrush.

Because it's a semi-permanent dye (which doesn't use developer), it's fine to leave on for hours (I like to wear my shower cap when I do this; it's classy!). However, I found 1 hour enough in most cases.

So, I started with some of the hair at the bottom, just to see how things went. I'd platinum'd it up already. I also had a tiny bit of ombre left at the ends, so I put some in there, too. The dye did not drip.

Two or so hours later, BAM! blue. But not enough, according to Mr. Sample.

So, I bleached out some more the next day (during work - I just took a couple of breaks for rinsing) and put some more blue in.

The second parts I bleached out had varying degrees of tone added. I have a strip on top and some in the middle. The one on top turned out the least toned, so it has some yellow left.

A note on the blue - I had some blue on the ends of my hair during bleaching. The bleach did not remove the blue. I have dark hair, so I know it wasn't wimpy bleach. Instead, this is some hardcore hair paint.

Everything is BLUE (not everything - highlights (low-lights? chunks)), and it's not fading. Granted, it's only been a few days - but it's had three hair washings in hot, hot water with clarifying shampoo (I don't play).

The streak near the top is more of a teal, but that's because of the yellowish hair below the dye. And I like that it looks sort of like seaweed through the rest of the dark hair. The rest are different shades of true blue. I'm actually pretty happy with my hair.

My coworkers and boss saw it on a conference the other day and complimented it. Score one for cool coworkers.

If this has even half the upkeep of Manic Panic, I'll keep it for a while (reviews say it does).

At least until I get bored. Then, maybe I'll see what the other colors of Ion are like.

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