Awkward Rose..
So we've all been there, that moment when you look in the mirror and have a sudden urge to make a drastic change and we've all 'joked' about shaving our hair off and starting again, when in reality, in that moment, we aren't actually joking at all.
One thing I have always wanted to do is have pastel pink hair but then looked at myself in the mirror and thought 'hmmm no I'm not cool enough to pull it off'. It's not to say I'm shy about colouring, I've definitely had my fair share of hair colours since I started hairdressing 8 years ago (not all of them intentional haha) but I've always managed to talk myself out of this one. I have to say I am one of the lucky ones being naturally blonde, even more so after my holiday to Mexico last year and having no colour in my hair at the time the sun really bleached up my hair, and when winter started to approach I decided to darken my roots with a light brown, which leads me to my starting point and base for my first experience of pink colour.
With my job I do have access to all different professional brands & products but whilst I didn't want to potentially do something I'll regret and go for a permanent or semi permanent colour I decided to buy Bleach London mini non-permanent colours which came in a pack of 3 including Rose, Awkward Peach & Violet Skies from Boots for just £7, you can also buy them for just £5 each for full size bottles (currently 3 for 2.. absolute bargain!). You'll see many tutorials/video's online of people using these products and one thing you will notice is that most of the outcomes of colour are slightly different, this is down to the fact that everybody is starting with a slightly different based shade so if you are going to follow these videos try and find one who's original starting hair colour is similar to your own. Even though I had never used these colours before on myself over the last year or so I have had a lot of my clients use and love them, and so following the experience from one of my lovely clients who got the Rose Gold look using Bleach London Colours I aimed for a similar shade.
How I did it -
- So first things first, before washing my hair I prepared the area where I would be mixing and applying my colours as any accidents can leave a bit of a mess! I then added the full 50ml of both Rose and Awkward Peach into a mixing bowl, I also added a tiny drop of the Violet Skies and mixed it all together.
- I had already washed my hair that morning with my cleansing conditioner so I just rinsed my hair through with warm water, towel dried and then combed it through. I would recommend wearing old clothes or maybe wrapping an old towel around you if you don't have access to protective colouring capes as these products will stain.
- I then put on some protective gloves and horizontally separated my hair into 3 sections clipping the top two with different clips for ease knowing my hands will be full of colour when it comes to removing them.
- I then applied the mixture of colour as quick as possible with a tint brush to each section and combed through with a wide tooth comb, massaging in where I felt necessary (this colour starts to take instantly so the quicker you get it on the more even the colour will be).
- The bottle recommends leaving the colour on for 15 minutes before rinsing but after just 7 minutes my colour was looking very vibrant and much brighter than I wanted so I didn't leave it on for any longer. Just using warm water I washed my hair through and then dried it.
The Results -
This is it!!! I finally did it, and I am sooo pleased with the results. I'll admit my hair is slightly frizzy on this picture because it was 5pm and I was rushing to get it dried and take a picture outside for you all while there was still some natural daylight. I honestly can't believe is has taken me all these years to finally put pink in my hair but I can confidently say it won't be the last time.
Once coloured there is only one more obstacle to overcome (well.. except having to keep up a tan and a face full of makeup whilst only wearing black and white clothes so you don't clash).... Fading!! I wasn't too worried about the fade because I initially wanted it more pastel than the outcome. My next wash was with my trusted Grow Gorgeous Cleansing Conditioner and as its only used on my roots I didn't lose much colour. However the second wash I decided to test this product a little and I used some of my standard bulk salon services shampoo and the Bleach London Reincarnation Mask (which as all my clients will know, I absolutely LOVE!). When rinsing my hair after the mask I could see the pink water running down the drain so I instantly knew my hair would have changed quite a lot.
Here's a picture of the outcome from those two washes....
As you can see my blonde has started to show back through and the colour is less pink and more peachy (I think that it the awkward peach showing through). It's very different from the original colour but I'm still very happy with it and now I know if I want to keep it pinker for longer, avoid using a deep conditioning mask. Don't forget there are so many colours available in this range of non-permanent colours and if you're feeling creative you can always mix different ones together!! Each colour does fade leaving different undertones but the Bleach London website has information and advice on this and all the different colours in their range if there's anything you are unsure of. As always with any colours do a little patch test on your skin to check for allergies, nobody likes those kinds of surprises!!
Coachella season upon us ladies so be adventurous, get your hair festival ready!!!!
Elle x
