After years of dyeing my hair red, I decided to embrace my natural brown hair color. I honestly can’t remember a time I haven’t dyed my hair- it has been a constant cycle of redoing my roots or all over color. When I was in high school I either got highlights or dyed it super dark brown. In college and after that, I was always striving for bold colors- bright copper, rich burgundy, high contrast with highlights, etc. Looking at older pictures now, I feel like I looked a little ridiculous at times. I’m not sure why I was so adverse to my natural medium ash brown. Now I’ve gone about 4 months without dyeing my roots. Here’s an overview of what I’ve been doing to transition out the red from the rest.
To fade the red as much as possible, I’ve used sulfate shampoo. I always stayed away from them to protect my color. This has definitely helped it fade. To cover the red while it grows, I’m using a demi permanent shade by Wella on the lengths. I highly recommend this if you’re wanting to dye your hair or tone it, but make sure to use it on damp hair. The first time I made the mistake of putting it on dry hair & my hair really soaked it in- darkening a lot of the highlights I would have liked to keep for dimension.
What I did:
- I mixed Wella 1 box each of 7A & 7N with Wella Demi Activator,
- Applied liberally to wet hair while avoiding the roots
- Let it sit for 30 minutes before rinsing
I chose a level 7 because I don’t want to go too dark & I want the highlights I have to still show up. I was super worried about getting too dark and ending up with dark brown that didn’t match my roots. My goal is to not have to touch up my roots anymore- not make it so I have to darken them every month. Overall I’m aiming to have my natural brown all over with a couple highlights for dimension.
I’ve gotten into a bad habit of going way too long in between trims. A couple weeks ago I got a good cut – about 5 inches off with lots of layers and texture. My hair feels amazing- don’t skimp on cuts! I brought in these photos for inspiration and asked the stylist to keep as much of my length as possible. My hair is shorter than I’m used to, but I’m aiming for the 90s Cher Horowitz/ Cindy Crawford Pepsi ad volume.
My voluminous blowout skills are severely lacking and I SUCK at round brushing. I purchased this hair dryer brush and it’s super easy to use. I use it on dry hair with some texture spray to give the front pieces and crown some oomph. I would kill to have the Dyson Air Wrap but that’s not in my budget.
If you’re like me and have always been in a root touch up cycle, I encourage you to embrace your natural color! For me, getting celeb inspiration really helped me visualize the brunette color I wanted. Not that I look anything like them, but it helped me get rid of the dumb notion in my mind that I didn’t want brown hair. It took me way too long to realize that.
Now that I have the color I want, time to go back to color protecting shampoos!
-Kim
Insta: kimandmakeup
LTK: liketoknow.it/kimandmakeup
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