Hi everyone! I know some of you may be feeling the urge to change your hair colour. I understand; it’s good to switch it up sometimes. However, you have to make sure that you do it right. Unfortunately for me, I learnt this the hard way. Let me share with you my hair dye woes. (SEE PICTURES BELOW)
It was summer. My hair was about 2 and a half years old at the time. I had a month of vacation, so of course I thought to myself that this was the perfect time to do purple and blue locs!
I was only dying the last 3 inches of each lock, and I really wanted to make sure that the black part of the lock stood out against the coloured part. So I decided to dye my hair black first. This was my first mistake. Dying all of your hair a darker colour before dying it a lighter colour just makes the latter harder. I mean, this should’ve been common sense. However, me being clueless about hair dying at the time, I did not consider this.
I decided not to do the colours myself (my only smart decision). Since I wanted the colours to be arranged in a certain way, I decided to go to a general professional salon. This was my second mistake. I should’ve gone to a salon that is accustomed to dealing with locks, or even natural hair.
In order to achieve the purple and blue locs I wanted, the stylist bleached my hair 3 times. This was my third mistake. I should have never allowed them to do that. Moreover, a salon that caters to people with natural hair would’ve known better. The amount of damage that my hair went through still makes me cringe to this day.
The year to come would only show how badly my hair was damaged. The coloured ends were brittle and eventually thinned or just broke off. About 2 to 3 inches of a lock would drop off at a time. I lost a lot of precious length. People actually used to ask me if I had cut my hair! After lots of trial and error, I figured out a great repair and regrowth regimen to get my hair back on track, but it was a huge setback nevertheless.
That aside, the stylists really knew what they were doing in regards to colour, and actually managed to achieve a better look than the one that I envisioned in my head. Not to mention, the colour lasted for several months.
So the KEY TAKEAWAYS from this are:
- Do not double dye your hair
- Go to a salon that specializes in your type of hair
- Do not bleach your hair more than once in one session
Related posts:
Bleaching without damaging your locks
How to dye dark hair naturally: red ochre (iron oxide)
How to lighten hair naturally – does lemon really work?
How to grow locks: my hair repair and hair growth regimen
Until next time!
~Jay
Hello what exact shade of blue and purple did you use for this hairstyle
Hi! Unfortunately, I did this before I started this website and I don’t have any record of what I used. All I know is that there was a light and dark blue (not navy) and a purple and pink-ish colour (the pink used sparingly throughout the hair so it still looked close to purple) and they were all from the Adore brand.
I’ve never dyed my own locks but I’ve been growing them for 4 years. I had them professionally dyed but my locks still break off and looks brittle when they’re not styled what can I do at home to get them back healthy and strong?
The same thing happened to me! It’s normal to have some parts break off if they are overly damaged. However, it is possible to fix the brittleness. I did follow a strict regimen for a couple months that I talked about in my post: How to fix damaged locks: my hair repair regimen. Also if you ever dye your hair again, check out my post: Bleaching without damaging your locks
Very interesting and well put out. I’d like an article about adding extensions to your locks.
Thank you! And that’s a great idea! I actually put extensions on my locks for the first time last year. I’ll be sure to do a post on that.