girl-ish
By Seline Jung Nobody ever truly prepared me to experience the near-impossibility of maintaining blonde hair. Blonde hair, especially for Asian people, is the equivalent of owning a 100% silk jacket that you must wear every single day: High-maintenance like you wouldn’t believe; damage is inevitable; and tons of TLC is mandatory. I dived into the world of lighter hair on a kind-of whim. I’d always thought Asians looked chic bleached blonde and had been lustfully researching pics upon pics to serve as inspiration for the day I might actually do it. Finally, in October, I called a hairdresser friend to do the deed for me. Though of course, I was wholly unprepared for what came next. Any form of blonde goes yellow and dull pretty quick, no matter who you are. But for Asians especially, that stuff goes downhill fast. My hair turned a different shade of color practically the next day, and then every day after that. What had happened to my fresh color?! And so a saga ensued...and to be honest the saga continues. Here are the key points of drama and the biggest lessons I’ve learned along the way. Mid-October: Five+ hours, two rounds of full-head bleach and two tubes of dye later on practically-virgin, thick Asian hair. Turned out a pretty light, ashy blonde. I was happy. That only lasted for a couple of weeks before turning completely yellow. Lesson: If you are naturally dark-haired, all bleached hair will go orange and then yellow. You have to just continuously bleach until your hair gets as light as the inside of a banana peel and then go in with toner or a dye to get the shade you want. Early November: I lived with that bright yellow color for a few weeks, when I finally decided I needed to hide that shiz. So I made an appointment at a salon I had never been to that I assumed would do a good job because they have many foreigner clients and a lot of blondes. I was so wrong. The guy there ended up bleaching my whole head again and sending me off with FLUORESCENT YELLOW HAIR. He didn’t tone it or dye over it or anything. I mean, it GLOWED. In a bad way. Lesson: Do your own research beforehand and be vocal about what looks and feels wrong. I should’ve told the guy he couldn’t just let me go by simply bleaching my hair once. Didn’t he have to tone it or something?! Mid-November: Took my case to my tried-and-true hairdresser who I should’ve gone to in the first place. He gasped at my hideous yellow hair and got down to business. He covered it in a gorgeous dark ashy brown color, which would go on to fade into beautiful light blonde goodness with not a hint of brass. Praise be to him… Lesson: If you’re a newbie and can’t DIY everything, blonde is crazy expensive. No matter where and no matter what. So go somewhere good to someone you trust; don’t take any chances, unless you’re into that. Mid-December: My beautiful ash blonde hair was no more. It was now back to a disgusting straw yellow. I needed to take action, so I went to the closest salon in my proximity and told the hairstylist that I wanted a dye over it that would completely cover yellow. So my whole head was dyed in a concoction of bluey-grey and khaki green. It was nowhere near blonde, but I loved it. It was different and edgy and I rolled with it. I had dark forest green hair! Early January: That khaki green had faded out and my hair was once again mostly yellow but with a murky tone to it. You could just see all the dyes that had been in and out of my hair for the last few months and you couldn’t even tell what color it was anymore. Mid-January: I was in Sydney, Australia, on a vacation. My best friend and I both needed serious hair help and booked an appointment at a small, family-owned salon that specialized in color. Let me say I don’t even think I’ll be able to fully detail my love and awe for our hairdresser Jessica and the magic she worked on us. She knew and understood everything about bleached hair and immediately knew what to do. It was a literal “Jesus take the wheel” situation and I sat back as she gave me a gorgeous ombre situation in which she dyed the top portion of my hair a cool dark brown and made it fade into the rest of my blonde. She then covered the blonde in a bleaching shampoo and put a silver toner over it. YELLOW NO MORE! Lesson: Australians know a thing or five about being blonde. Never have I seen more perfectly bleached blonde and platinum white-haired girls as I did in Sydney. Blonde heaven. Current: The gorgeous silver blonde tone Jessica in Australia made my hair turned quickly into yellow again in just a week. The brunette is fading so now is a lighter brown. The ombre doesn’t look as fresh but still looks good and is low-maintenance since I don’t have to worry about my roots. I’m pretty okay with where I am now in my hair chronicles. Now I just wash and condition my hair with purple-tinted products (to fight the brass) and give it some at-home TLC with deep conditioning masks and treatments. With fellow contributor, Kayla! The Big Lesson: I don’t regret anything. As frustrating things have been, I’ve genuinely loved this journey and learned a lot about how to take care of my hair and even about the science of color. I never thought I’d be one of those girls whose hair color changed every 5 minutes but hey, I’m only 23 and a little crazy is never a bad thing. Read More From Our Body Section:
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