Going Blonde v2

The last time I dyed my hair was in April and May, where I bleached it three times (two were full coverage, and one time was just the top of my head because it was really uneven) and you can read about it [here].

Here are the end results:

So the night of coming back from Brazil I bleached my hair. Normally you should wait 1-2 days after you washed your hair to do it, but I washed my hair twice the day before. >< It's not a good thing, but I didn't have time to wait.

I mixed Ion Color Brilliance Powder Lightener with an Ion 30 vol developer in a 1:2 ratio. I started timing AFTER everything is applied.

I applied it to the hair that was already blonde for 25 minutes before proceeding to the some of the black regrowth and lastly my roots. I left it in for a total of 55 minutes. The packaging says up to 50, but I had to leave it in a bit longer because it hasn't processed my roots much yet so I had to wait for it.

The hair that was black is noticable a lot more orange. I think I should've applied it to the black hair (minus maybe an inch of roots) at the same time as the ends of my hair, but I was hoping it would still be considered my roots and lighten quickly. I can't tell if the rest of my hair has much of a difference aside from sections which reached a pale blonde (almost white.)

My hair was retaining a bit of water at this point because it didn't dry until 12 hours later. This includes minimal blow drying because it was still soaking wet when I went to bed.

The next night I bleached my hair again. This time I applied it everywhere minus about an inch of my roots. I left it in for about 40 minutes.

The color is still uneven because of how it was previously, but not too noticeable. My regrowth is also more yellow than the rest of my hair, but unless you're really close or staring at it, it's not noticeable.

After the second bleaching session, my hair became super porous and would absorb the shampoo, making it hard to wash out. The first time as it was drying, my hair started to harden wtf. So I washed it again and the same thing happened and I used more shampoo thinking maybe it was just the bleach not washing out. I think it's shampoo because the water I squeezed out is still slightly bubbly :( So I washed it again the third time in the morning without soap, but I conditioned it and it took forever to dry because my roots would retain water.

I ended up toning my hair about a week or two later. At first I was HORRIFIED because parts of my hair came out silvery because I have a bit of hair that's a lot lighter than the rest. But after a few days it faded to a more platinum sort of color. It's still noticeably lighter than the rest of my hair though.

My hair is definitely two-toned, but I like it from the front. Can't say the same about the back though.

 Outdoors.

 Natural lighting (by the windows)

Here's the back..where you can see the middle section is noticeably lighter :( I kind of just dealt with it.

To summarize, I basically bleached my hair twice and toned it. My hair came out a lot more uneven (to me) after toning though. My hair still feels healthy, maybe the flyaway hair is more noticeable, so it does look a bit damaged, but it soft to me, so idk. My hair was only porous in the beginning and went back to normal after a few washes. Overall, I like this color a lot better than the previous :D

Brazil: The Last Day; Haircut

Day 15: August 28

Today's my last day in Brazil :( I got woken up at 10:00AM to go out for lunch at Tokyo Restaurante. It's a Japanese and Chinese buffet, and you pay by weight. I think R$46/kg. 

The food looked really delicious, but upon eating it it was pretty bland. It wasn't bad but I didn't have much of an appetite to finish everything. 

I went to Ramavi Cosméticos to pick up some last minute cosmetic needs and ended up with a few more nail polishes (not that many, I swear, like around 5), a nail buffer, and some Vult cosmetics.

Not long after I went home, my cousin told me to get ready to go and I asked her where and she never told me lol. We ended up going to Desejo & Sabor with my other cousin's girlfriend for coffee and gelato.

Tiramisu Gelato

When we left, we went across the street to a beauty parlor called DN&K. O_O There they inquired about coloring my hair and a haircut even though I insisted I'll get it done at home >_< We opted for just a haircut in the end because the coloring would cost R$700-800... I ended up chopping it off to past my chest , so around 10 inches in total :X I wanted longer..but they kept pressuring me to do more T_T; And I was also hesitant because I was planning on killing my ends more first before it goes chop chop.

Anyways, here's some before and afters:

For dinner we went to Coxilha dos Pampas again. I was hoping to be able to eat more but got full really quickly again :(

Came home and packed up the rest of the things because we were planning on leaving at 2:00AM, so I took a short nap before that.

I have one more Brazil post after this, so until next time!

Need a haircut

As the title suggests.. I need a haircut soon. I was planning on getting one back in January or February but it never happened. So my hair has been growing and the longest layer is right above my butt now. 

But I have no idea how much to cut it. I feel like I need to cut it a lot just to get most of the dead/dry ends out. At the same time, I feel like anything is too much and it'll be short. Also don't know how I want it styled. I was thinking just a straight cut on the bottom, but I don't think it looks that good on me. I don't want layers because when I braid my hair it sticks out everywhere. 

Also I feel like I haven't been styling my hair as much as I should, considering that long hair gives so much option to do that. But heat = killer for my hair.

Hm..

Going Blonde!!

This is a pretty belated post since I've already posted some photos of my new hair. But anyways I think I've mentioned this before, if not, if you know me, you'd know that I've been wanting to try going blonde for a while now. Here are the products that I used:

Ion Color Brilliance Powder Lightener ($19.99) & Ion Sensitive Scalp 30 Volume Developer ($5.19)

I saw photos online and in videos where the powder lightener came in a jar so I was a bit hesitant, but I figured it was probably just a different design of the same product. It's a 1lb bottle...and it seems like a lot O_O $20 is quite pricey, but it's more than enough. 

Wella Medium Beige Blonde T27 Toner ($4.79) & Color Charm 20 Volume Developer ($1.99)

So basically it's a 1:2 ratio (toner:developer). I bought two of each just in case I didn't have enough because my hair is pretty long. I was tempted to just get a bottle of a different branded developer because it was slightly cheaper and had more but I decided to play it safe and got Wella's. 

So all this stuff ended up costing me $40..I have no idea how much it'll be if I went to a salon, but probably a fortune given my long hair. 

My first attempt (indoor artificial lighting) on 4/24:

It was a disaster because I put it into my roots a bit later and I guess it just didn't work that well so it was really dark at the top :X I don't remember how it actually looked like but it looks like highlights in the photo lol.

So I redid the top and it was still kinda spotty, like on the sides and somewhere in the back (outdoor lighting):

It was soooo spotty in the back that it was kinda embarrassing to be out in public :X And I had it clipped for the first two days or so and then I didn't care afterwards.

Indoor lighting...omg that gold color was just gross.

Then finally a few weeks later (5/9) I finally bleached it again and then toned it. I couldn't tell if the toner did anything though and if anything it made the bottom half of my hair darker. I had my mom help me rebleach the spotty parts first, but she ended up just applying it to basically the top layer of my hair like.. the first 8-10 inches from the roots, which is why the top ended up a lot lighter than the bottom.

The next day I rebleached everything and toned it and the results were this and it's currently what I have now:

It's kinda like a reverse ombre color though because the top is lighter and transitions darker .__.

Tbh, I don't really know what color my hair is because it's different every other day to me ^^;; But I feel like 75% it's kinda still that golden-orangy color that I don't like.

Whatever color it is, it's not really the color I wanted to achieve, so I'm not sure what to do with my hair next ^^; The only option to get the color I want (which is like an ashy blonde) is to go to a salon because I don't think doing it myself will be good cuz I'll kill my hair more in the process of TRYING to get it (and probably failing again). The blonde this time wasn't what I was expecting at all :( 

But yeah, anyways, salons are expensive and my hair is long, so I don't think it's likely that I can get it done now. BUT if I go back darker and do decide to do it in the future, I feel like it'll just damage my hair trying to lighten it again since it's already light now ._.;; Decisions decisions!!!

Saturday Fun; Holi & Shopping

This weekend my school held a Holi Celebration, which is an Indian tradition where you wear white and throw colored powder at each other. I had a team meeting for my management class and then headed over to Holi right afterwards.

 Me & My friend, Yunc

A lot of people came for the event. I had to kick, punch, and shove people just to get more colors. Jk, but not really.

Yours truly at her finest

Anyways, I stayed for most of it..and it was pretty fun. The same thing is.. I actually liked the white shirt that I bought lol. I got it just for the event but actually like it. 

After Holi, my friends and I went to clean up and shower. There was a minor incident in the bathroom, but I won't talk about that :'( 

After my friend and I went shopping with my roommate :D

Like almost half a year later, I FINALLY got the chance to go to Sally's to buy my hair dye. I did some last minute research and opted for Ion Color Brilliance Powder Lightener and their 30 volume Sensitive Scalp developer. For toner, I got Wella Medium Beige Blonde T27. 

I think I've mentioned before that I want to go blonde at least once or something while I'm still at the appropriate age. 

I also went to VS to get the latest PINK dog :') It's a Red Sox one. They came out with a line of nail polish recently, and I picked up the shade "Tantalize," which is a nude shade. I also picked up polishes at Sally's.. I'm surprised to see the Glitz Blitz 'n Pieces polishes already marked down..especially because the display was still up lol. I also got a Tranzitions polish.. It was B2G1 free hehe :)

I couldn't debate between the nude or the shimmery white flats at Aldo's. I ended up getting neither :X I had a leaning towards the nude ones, but the white ones were cheaper.. so I couldn't decided. After a while I did like the white ones, but something about white shoes were kinda weird, Idk. 

Image from www.express.com

I really liked this wristlet D; It was $29.90, and it was such a shame that the $15 off $30 couldn't work. That's just how they get to you. :'( So I didn't get it because I didn't think it was worth $30.

After shopping, we went to get sushi. I treated my roommate because I lost a bet D;

To end the night, we went to visit a friend's dorm and stayed for a few hours before heading back out separate ways. It was really relaxing and it was nice to see everyone again. 

New Haircut..Bangs!!

(This is actually like a 3 week old post that I drafted)

I haven't had bangs since I was in first grade..and from then forth I started growing them out. But I just wanted to see how they look on me now..so I went for it! I actually wanted side bangs.. but since I was going to cut it down, might as well start with straight bangs.

The before photo was right before I went to get the cut.. and after was straight out of the salon. The after photo looks so dull xD But it's probably just the lighting.

Anyways.. I got a Google Offers deal that was $29 for 2 cuts, wash/blowdry/deep conditioning included. When I made the call to book the appointment I pointed the deal out twice in the beginning and at the end. And after the person was done cutting my hair, I asked about the deep conditioning.. apparently the girl who picked up the call didn't take a note of the deal that I had nor did she take down that I wanted a deep conditioning (the first thing I mentioned when she picked up.) 

My hair stylist didn't offer to make it up to me.. so I spoke up and basically just asked if I could come another time for it. She was like.. when you come for the second cut we'll do it for you.. but my deal gave me a deep conditioning PER cut -__- It wasn't even my fault and I feel that they should've made it up to me, especially after I spoke up. Overall everything was still quite cheap, but it's not what I paid for, so I feel that it's unfair.

So what do you think? I think it suits me.. but compared to before, I think I look better with no bangs. And it makes me look younger :x

Going Bald?

Knock on wood.

I've already noticed this for the past two years that a lot of my hair has been falling out, whether it's when I wash it or brush it. Every time I run my hand through my hair while washing it, i t comes out all over my fingers -shudders- It hasn't been like this in the previous years.

I know that it's natural for a lot of hair to fall out daily, hundreds or thousands (I don't remember,) but usually that's when you don't notice it right? I feel like I'm losing those hundreds/thousands PLUS another hundreds/thousands that I do notice.

When I was little, I've always a lot of thick hair. I used to not be able to wrap my two fingers around all of it when I hold it into a pony, but now it only fits into 1/3 of my fingers wrapped around. Er, yeah my hand grew bigger over the years, so that explains why, but ever year the pony tail seems to be getting smaller and smaller T__T;; It might be due to dying my hair too much -__- But I feel as if my natural hair color is too dark for me D: So I'm not willing to let it grow out like that.

But yeah. Just ranting.

Review: L'Oreal Preference Lightest Cool Ash Blonde Mega Blonde

So since my friend wanted to dye her hair, I decided to do mine too, especially with all the unevenness and it bothered me how I have to many inches of black hair at my roots. I dyed it two weeks ago on the 7th.

 Before

After

I went to Sally's in the morning to pick up the dye. I was almost tempted to buy Palty, but they tend to always turn out the same for me (color-wise) no matter which color I actually use and never seemed as brown/blonde as the box. For some reason, I feel like my hair is always orangey. In the end, I went to Sally's next door to find a dye.

I heard nice things about their Mega Reds like a year or two ago and read similar things about the Mega line in general, so I decided to give that a shot. I was expecting something from their Mega Browns series, but they were all too dark to my liking, so I opted for a blonde dye. I know my hair is too dark to actually get blonde out of a blonde dye anyways, so I wasn't expecting much but some lightening. They promise, "Lifts up to 4 levels, no pre-lightening required."

I bought my dye in MB8 Lightest Cool Ash Brown. I was debating between MB8 and another shade (Lightest Cool Beige Blonde?) but I opted for MB8 because it was blue based...and (unless I'm wrong,) if you have orange undertones, you should be using a blue based dye to neutralize the undertones. Mega Blondes also require you to buy their Mega Blondes Cream Developer (30 volume) so if you buy their dye, then make sure to get the matching developer too. I'm not sure if other 30 volume developers would work for it, but I wouldn't risk it if you're just trying to save like a dollar or two by getting another one or even if you have a developer that works really well for you. They say "Use only with Mega Blondes Developer" and they don't do that for the Mega Browns or Mega Reds, so I don't think it's really like a market scheme.

I finally got a Sally's Beauty Club card... If you have it then you get discounted prices for their items. It's only $5 for one year and you get a $5 off coupon for your next purchase (no minimum) so it basically cancels out. It's also $5 to renew it and when you do it online you get a $5 coupon again, soo.. it's worth it if you know you're going to come to Sally's again within the year or even if you're making a big purchase. I already saved $3 on the spot, so $5 well spent :)

L'Oreal Preference Mega Blondes MB8 Lightest Cool Ash Brown ($5.69) + Developer ($3.69)

Mixing bowl ($2.29) + brush ($1.59)

Ion Effective Care Treatment ($0.99)

So you're going to need a bowl for this, you can probably use any, but I'm not going to use the ones I eat with lol... and if you know you'll be dying your hair again, it's reusable and makes application way easier than the bottle applicator.

First I dumped all the developer into the bowl and then put in the dye. I mixed it for about 2 minutes or so, and you can tell if it's not mixed well because you'll see the yellow dye, so make sure to mix until all the color is even. Then my friend helped me apply it all over starting from the bottom most layer and leaving about an inch or two to do my roots later on. If you put it on your roots and scalp in the beginning and without waiting then it's going to turn out wayyyy lighter than the rest of your head!

I waited about 30-40 minutes before applying to my roots. After that was done, instead of just sitting there doing nothing for the next 20 minutes, I helped my friend apply her dye. She used L'Oreal Preference in Light Brown... she had virgin black hair and indoors after dying it, you can't really see a difference, but in the sun, it has a hint of brown, so if you have naturally dark hair, it's good if you want a subtle change that can only be seen in the sun..otherwise, you'll be lucky if you look a shade lighter indoors.

The process of applying her dye took longer than expected and at that point it's been well over half an hour since I applied the dye at my roots and I began to worry that my roots are going to become way lighter. Finally after I finished applying her dye, I went to go wash it off. The instructions on the bottle of dye said to use shampoo, so I did, otherwise normally I'd just skip it and go straight to conditioner. I used the the Ion Effective Care Treatment for my conditioner and it worked really nicely through my hair. All my hair was lumped together after shampooing, and I could really feel a big difference while applying the conditioner. I kept it on for a few minutes and washed it off.

I finished applying the rest of the dye onto my friend's roots and by then my hair was beginning to dry and all I saw was like super light roots and dark hair everywhere else D: But once it dried up everything looked more even...waaaaayy more even, especially on the top! Here are photos in different lights/angles...

To be honest I don't even know what color my hair is anymore... it looks like a orangey/reddish brown to me, but when I ask others they said it's like a light orange color.. and in photos it looks red at times, orange at times, and light brown at times. But I think it's probably just a light orange.

Other pics:

I don't think the roots are that uneven, so it might just be the angle that the pic was taken in.

 Orange-y... this is probably how my hair really is.

And light brown looking lol

Conclusion?
Cost: ★★★★★
It costs about $10, so it's not that bad..and everything was enough to cover my whole head, considering my hair is thick and long, that's really good. I was initially worried about whether it'd be enough even though I know American brands usually have a good amount, but my hair is long, so it did cross my mind.

Color: ★★★☆☆
Uhh... I don't think I'm even close to blonde, but I'm sure it'll work for someone who has lighter hair lol.

Coverage: ★★★★☆
My hair is pretty even now :) There are some parts that are lighter than some but that was because it was like black in the first place and compared to my lighter hair color elsewhere, there's no way everything can magically become the same shade.

Application: ★★★★☆
My friend applied it, but I would assume it wasn't that hard lol. It was a bit drippy and wet, so just watch out for that, but other than that just brush it onto the hair.

Overall: ★★★★☆
I liked it and I'm happy with my results. Like I said, I wasn't expecting to turn out blonde (okay, maybe just a little but not the shade that they intend it to be) and I didn't, so I can't comment on whether it'll work out or not, but if you're looking to lighten your hair, then give this a shot. I don't think most of my hair was really lightened that much, but on my roots there's definitely a change.

Triple Hair Killer

After complaining about Prettia in my last post, I've dyed my hair again on Saturday :) I think it looks much better now and more even. I'll have a post more about it later on. So Sunday I went to Six Flags for the first time this year :D I went with the boyfriend and a bunch of friends. We all went to the water park = chlorine. And when we got home it was already almost 1:00AM ): And my hair was gross so I had to wash it and since it was late and I had to get up early for my first day of work, I had to blow dry it.

So hair dying + chlorine + blow dry = hair killer :'( My hair feels so dry right now.. so hopefully it'll soften up over time. Right now it's a bit hard to wash cuz it sorta gets into chunks.. so yeah. But conditioner makes it much better. Anyways, just a short post, so until next time! :)

Review: Prettia Custard Brown

Soo if you have seen my past posts, I have bought two boxes of Prettia, one back in January and the other in March. Not sure if that's really the color, but that's what I'm making it out to be :x

 (Ignore the Opal Hair Treatment)

I don't really have proper before after photos.. but I'll try my best with photos that I already have :D They're photos RIGHT before I dyed it.. they're from back in October and November.

So the first one is when I dyed my hair back in January. January 11 to be precise.

Before:

I used Palty Natural Brown & Palty Bleach Root for my roots.

After:

(Pretty sure these are afters..no way my roots can be so brown after a few months lol)

Looks like it has nice coverage huh...

But look again x__x If I lift my hair then it's still black -__-

I thought I just applied it wrong or something.. since mine didn't get as foamy as the one in the official tutorial video.. so I gave it another chance and bought it again for next time.

The second time, I did it right before prom. The before pictures are from about two weeks before I dyed it.

Before:

After:

Conclusion?

Cost: ★★☆☆☆

It's about $16 a box, which is a bit pricey for a box of dye.. and even though most people say one box is enough, I find that I end up running out.. then again my hair is long, so it might be enough for someone with slightly shorter hair, but not me.

Color: ★★★☆☆

Err.. I don't have the box anymore, but I know that I didn't achieve the color on the box. But I'd say it worked well with blending in with the rest of my hair. There's very, very subtle difference in the color of my hair. I can't even see the difference myself.

Coverage: ★☆☆☆☆

Prettia is known to give even coverage and not spotty like traditional hair dye, but not for me. My hair is so spotty. It fails to even get my roots lightened. It's normally an issue where the roots is too light compared to the rest of the hair, but not here because it doesn't even lighten most of it. If I lift my hair up, it's still black. The second time, it feels like I didn't even dye my hair at all.

Application: ★★★★☆

It was foamy, so it's pretty easy to apply. It doesn't get as foamy as the video look though.

Overall: ★☆☆☆☆

I would not be repurchasing Prettia. I don't think I'm applying it wrong. I do exactly as the video says and it's sort of simple, so you can't really go wrong. I thought the first time I messed it up, but after the second time, it's just a waste of money. It doesn't dye my hair well, so I've wasted over $30 for nothing -__- It seems to work well on other people, but not me.