You get addicted to it. Like seriously. You'll start wondering why you never ever got it earlier in your life.
Bleaching is TERRIBLE for your hair, there's no way your hair won't turn bad if you bleach, no matter how much olaplex you add into the mixture. The maintenance after is also a real headache. Your hair is going to take up much more time and energy than your face ever did, which is ultra weird for me.
It took some getting used to when I first got my mermaid hair. As my face is generally yellow-toned, the cool colours(blue, purple and pink) just emphasised how yellow my face is. And I didnt like that at first. Especially when I look into the mirror without makeup, I look like some dead person.
My hair was fried too, it was the worst state I have ever seen my hair in. And that made me really upset too. Even a trip down to Chez Vous, splurging $200++ wasn't enough to get my hair back to how it was.
But once I came to terms with my damaged and dry hair, I started loving the colours I have on my hair. It was liberating. I have people all around me, saying that I'm crazy, saying how bad it was for my hair, and how I should treasure my natural good hair, instead of destroying it with bleach.
But I'm pretty sure deep down, they are saying, omg it's awesome and I want it too. I mean, my mom was totally against me getting mermaid hair. Now though, she's always going out with me, so I guess she must think the mermaid hair looks good beside her;)
I just gotta start putting stronger eye makeup and use suitable bases to cover up my yellow-tones. And problem solved.
I just had to spend more time and effort on my hair, meaning coating it with coconut oil before washing my hair with (Marc Anthony's Bye Bye Frizz) sulfate-free keratin shampoos and conditioner, as well as blow-drying my hair till dry with a special (Marc Anthony's Moroccan Argon Oil 3 Day Smooth Perfect Blow Dry Cream *this cream is phenomenal and actually DOES what it CLAIMS*) keratin blow-dry cream. Honestly, while my hair is still damaged, it is good enough for me to let it down and go out of my house.
Sure, some people will judge you for your hair colour. Especially in Singapore, such bold colours are deemed "deviant" by some of the more conservative few, although the majority of us are pretty open to crazy occurrences. One such incident was when I was ordering a meal at macdonalds. The waitress wasn't exactly rude or anything, but I saw her eyes widen that little bit when I spoke to her in perfect English. Haha, I had a good internal laugh as I wasn't sure if she thought I should be some singlish-spouting ah lian, or if she just wasn't used to Singaporeans speaking perfect English. *I don't normally speak perfect English, but I was fresh out of a lineup of interviews, which would explain why my natural instinct then was to speak in perfect English*
So anyway, I am currently very attached to my hair, and I have not an ounce of regret for frying my hair. The colours are unfortunately fading fast on the top layer of my hair as my bed is right beside a big window which means a halo of sunshine every morning, and since I have been waking up at 10 nowadays, it usually means around 3 hours of UV rays on the top layer of my hair *sniffs* I would probably go back for a touch-up, but I'm kinda interested in watching it fade till a silver (my hair stylist added a purple pigment in the blue and pink she used as it fades to a silver). Maybe I'll get a purple shampoo to maintain platinum blonde for a while. I DON'T KNOW! I'll see how it turns out.
If you're considering getting some crazy hair colour, GO FOR IT! Honestly, when you're old with budding white hairs, you'll be regretting not having gotten crazy colours in your youth. Be fully prepared for the maintenance and change though, besides that, bleach + crazy colours is an experience not to be missed.
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Sunday, June 5, 2016
Getting that Unicorn Hair: Home-dye + Chez Vous
I finally got it! My colourful hair!! And this was after months of research and mental preparation.
Part I: Dyeing my hair
I'm afraid I didn't get it done at a salon, as I found a contact through a friend that would do it at a really affordable price. Note though, that this contact is no professional, licensed hairdresser, she's just really experienced in bleaching hair and doing creative colouring. I'm not sure what type of bleach she used, but for the colours, she used Manic Panic and Special Effects, which isn't as long-lasting as the new Pravana colours, but they are ammonia-free:)
It wasn't easy getting to my current hair colour though, it took around 8 hours just to get this colour. And this is just the colouring part, without treatment or cut.
I dyed my hair brown a few months back, and so there was a significant amount of regrowth, hence she started putting the bleach on the regrowth first, avoiding the roots by about 1 inch. After she was done, she started spreading the bleach through my hair. After that she covered it with cling wrap and we waited for about an hour before she started on my roots and covered the hair once more with a layer of bleach. Cling wrap again and we waited for another hour before we're finally done! She rinsed the bleach out with shampoo then proceeded to dry my hair.
Somehow, my hair didn't feel bad while we were shampooing it, but when she was drying it, the true damage to my hair can be seen and felt. It was really dry and got tangled really easily. But well, guess this is to be expected. She didn't dry my hair totally, leaving it sightly damp instead as she was apprehensive about applying too much heat onto my newly damaged hair. Then she started mixing the colours together, diluting them with conditioner before placing it on my hair. After waiting for a while, we rinsed it out and tadaaa, I got my colourful hair!
I was actually interested in getting Pony's hair as seen here:
My hair stylist managed to achieve something similar, although the colours are lighter and more pastel, not as dark and metallic as Pony's. Am I happy about the colour? The combination is really pretty, but perhaps not very suitable for my tanned skin, as it made my skin look darker. Also the colours were more vibrant and clear-cut at the roots compared to the hair ends where the colour starts to get a bit muddy after all the mixing. I don't actually dislike the muddiness, as I feel that it gave my hair dimension and gave a "melted colour" sort of feeling. But oh well, the colours are bound to fade out fast, so I'll see about the end product after the fading.
Well, after 2 rounds of bleaching and 1 round of colouring, my hair was bad. Like terrible. It was really really really dry, rough and dull. I wasn't really surprised as I kind of expected it. My hair was on the drier side before bleaching, plus I had it dyed to a rather light brown a few months before. So such a result is not surprising. But wow it was bad man. I couldn't leave my hair down without it looking like straws poking out of my head. I constantly had it in a braid as 1. it shows off the colour 2. kept my hair together and hid the damage.
Part II: Treatment + Cut
So after the ordeal my hair had to go through to achieve the unnatural pastel colours, I had to treat it to attempt to restore any sort of health and shine I could. Chez Vous, a highly-rated salon for its top-notch hair services, happened to be doing a GSS Sale. Look at their website for the full list of packages they are offering, but note that it's only till end June! The one that caught my eye was Bundle 2: Cut + Express Revitalising Supreme Treatment for $199++. The treatment is part of their award-winning trilogy system, so I thought it would be a good treatment for my extremely damaged hair.
So I made an appointment and went down to Ngee Ann City to have my hair restored!
As I entered the shop, I approached the receptionist and she quickly sat me down and offered me a drink of my choice. Soon after, my designated stylist came and started assessing my hair. As it was obvious I had something done to my hair (pastel colours yo), he asked me about where I did my hair, and how just so that he has an idea of how he should treat it. After having a good look AND feel of my hair, he decided that he needed to intensify the treatment by increasing the amount used and time the product is left on my hair. He then proceeded to ask about how I would like my hair to be cut. As I didn't want it short, he simply trimmed off the irreversibly damaged ends and shaped my hair. After that, he got his assistant to help me wash my hair.
Gosh I don't feel like going into details here by I feel like I should, as I realised that reviews online are not giving the full story.
Ok so wash hair it was. The assistant was alright, he wasn't rough with my hair and scalp and the wash included a short head massage as well. I don't know much about massages but it was alright for me. Oh and he used the kerasilk shampoo on me too, guess it's part of the treatment.
Some people claim the chairs at the washing area to be extra comfortable, but to me, it was just a chair. A padded chair. I'm sorry but comfortable, in my dictionary, is one where I don't mind sleeping on. The chairs at Chez Vous were just normal. I would choose my aged sofa over their chairs any day.
Ok so after that, he put my hair up in a towel and we went back to my seat. They towel-dried my hair and then his other assistant came by to put the treatment.
At this point in time, I'm thinking that my experience is getting different from what many reviews online described. From research, it seems like Salon Vim is affliated to Chez Vous, and there is an abundant amount of reviews online that would enlighten you on the fact that at Salon Vim, the one processing your hair is often the assistant of the main stylist. And apparently, people are saying it's different at Chez Vous, that no matter what, the main stylist would be the one handling your hair the most often.
Now, I know this is just a simple application of treatment, not doing any damaging chemical services, so asking an assistant to do it should be alright, right? Well, that's what I thought, so I let it go initially.
So this assistant apparently sucked at English, I had a really hard time understanding and communicating with him. So I simply whipped out my phone and let him do his work.
So apparently it's a 3-step treatment. The assistant explained the procedure to me and highlighted the benefits of each step. A special iron would be used to enhance the absorption of the treatment and he made sure to show me just how fascinating the iron was.
Firstly some hyaluronic acid-containing cream was placed on my hair. My hair was then ironed by that special iron.
Then the second step commenced as he placed another cream which contains some amazing oil and also used the special iron.
*Sorry if it seems like I'm being sarcastic, I'm not. I'm just too lazy to repeat all the terms and description that can be found on their website.*
After he was done with the second step, he ushered me to the washing area to rinse out the remaining treatment on my hair and placed the 3rd-step cream on my hair, which was suppose to lock in all the goodness from the 2 steps before. Normally the cream is left on one's hair for around 10 minutes, but cos my hair was deemed really bad, he left it in for 15 minutes.
So I had to lie down at that washing area for 15 minutes. I simply took a short nap.
Note that the assistant was always very ready and will always explain each step's procedure and benefits. Both the main stylist and assistant also tried to give me tips on protecting my hair, but unfortunately, I already knew of these tips as I researched online prior to going for the treatment. HAHAHA, but I appreciate the effort.
After the 15 minutes was up, he rinsed it out and ushered me back to my sit. The main stylist came back, and as he assessed my hair, guess what he told his assistant: "You let the cream sit for 15 minutes?" He said it in the are-you-sure-you-let-it-sit-for-15-minutes way.
Yes, people, there's a reason why I prefer salons with a hair stylist that would tend to your hair from start to finish. It's because you can avoid misunderstandings like that.
At this point in time, I'm thinking maybe the assistant didn't understand his brief accurately and didn't really placed more product on my hair. But then again, if it were the main stylist throughout, it could have been the same result.
But still, if the main stylist handled my hair from start to finish, we'll both know it's just because my hair was too damaged, and not because there may have been a misunderstanding in between.
*Sighs dramatically*
They finished up drying my hair and the main stylist proceeded to trim my hair to perfect it further. He then explained on how I could curl my hair myself at home to show off the colours properly, and proceeded to curl my hair.
It's not that the result was bad. I definitely saw an improvement in the condition of my hair. It is much less dry and rough as before. But it's definitely not back to what it was before bleaching. It's still rough and tangly, just not as bad as right after I finished the colour job. Like I can at least run my fingers through it smoothly. I would say that my hair changed from lifeless and extremely damaged, to damaged and dry hair. So it's not bad.
The service isn't bad too. My point is that reviews online may have over-glorified how good Chez Vous was. Or maybe their standard dropped recently. Either way, my experience was not like how reviews online described. I would even say that I was tired out from the process.
Maybe it's because both the main stylist and assistant don't speak English well enough for communication to be easy. I often had to repeat what I said for them to understand me. Maybe that's why it was tiring, because the silences were awkward and awkward situations tire me out like crazy.
I have had much experience going to hair salons, and I generally don't talk much while having my hair done at the salon. But rarely do I find the silence to be awkward. Here at Chez Vous, it was deafening to me, even though the salon was filled with background music and sounds from blow dryers.
Also, of all the salons that I have been to, cheap/expensive, local/overseas, none have dropped stuff as many times as at Chez Vous. The stylist and his assistant were dropping towels, clips, comb, curling wand, iron etc. It really made me doubt how "experienced" they are, if they can't even handle equipments properly.
Overall, my experience at Chez Vous wasn't unpleasant, but it wasn't amazing either. Would I come back? Yes, for their good hair services, but not for their customer service.
Part I: Dyeing my hair
I'm afraid I didn't get it done at a salon, as I found a contact through a friend that would do it at a really affordable price. Note though, that this contact is no professional, licensed hairdresser, she's just really experienced in bleaching hair and doing creative colouring. I'm not sure what type of bleach she used, but for the colours, she used Manic Panic and Special Effects, which isn't as long-lasting as the new Pravana colours, but they are ammonia-free:)
It wasn't easy getting to my current hair colour though, it took around 8 hours just to get this colour. And this is just the colouring part, without treatment or cut.
I dyed my hair brown a few months back, and so there was a significant amount of regrowth, hence she started putting the bleach on the regrowth first, avoiding the roots by about 1 inch. After she was done, she started spreading the bleach through my hair. After that she covered it with cling wrap and we waited for about an hour before she started on my roots and covered the hair once more with a layer of bleach. Cling wrap again and we waited for another hour before we're finally done! She rinsed the bleach out with shampoo then proceeded to dry my hair.
Somehow, my hair didn't feel bad while we were shampooing it, but when she was drying it, the true damage to my hair can be seen and felt. It was really dry and got tangled really easily. But well, guess this is to be expected. She didn't dry my hair totally, leaving it sightly damp instead as she was apprehensive about applying too much heat onto my newly damaged hair. Then she started mixing the colours together, diluting them with conditioner before placing it on my hair. After waiting for a while, we rinsed it out and tadaaa, I got my colourful hair!
I was actually interested in getting Pony's hair as seen here:
My hair stylist managed to achieve something similar, although the colours are lighter and more pastel, not as dark and metallic as Pony's. Am I happy about the colour? The combination is really pretty, but perhaps not very suitable for my tanned skin, as it made my skin look darker. Also the colours were more vibrant and clear-cut at the roots compared to the hair ends where the colour starts to get a bit muddy after all the mixing. I don't actually dislike the muddiness, as I feel that it gave my hair dimension and gave a "melted colour" sort of feeling. But oh well, the colours are bound to fade out fast, so I'll see about the end product after the fading.
Well, after 2 rounds of bleaching and 1 round of colouring, my hair was bad. Like terrible. It was really really really dry, rough and dull. I wasn't really surprised as I kind of expected it. My hair was on the drier side before bleaching, plus I had it dyed to a rather light brown a few months before. So such a result is not surprising. But wow it was bad man. I couldn't leave my hair down without it looking like straws poking out of my head. I constantly had it in a braid as 1. it shows off the colour 2. kept my hair together and hid the damage.
Part II: Treatment + Cut
So after the ordeal my hair had to go through to achieve the unnatural pastel colours, I had to treat it to attempt to restore any sort of health and shine I could. Chez Vous, a highly-rated salon for its top-notch hair services, happened to be doing a GSS Sale. Look at their website for the full list of packages they are offering, but note that it's only till end June! The one that caught my eye was Bundle 2: Cut + Express Revitalising Supreme Treatment for $199++. The treatment is part of their award-winning trilogy system, so I thought it would be a good treatment for my extremely damaged hair.
So I made an appointment and went down to Ngee Ann City to have my hair restored!
As I entered the shop, I approached the receptionist and she quickly sat me down and offered me a drink of my choice. Soon after, my designated stylist came and started assessing my hair. As it was obvious I had something done to my hair (pastel colours yo), he asked me about where I did my hair, and how just so that he has an idea of how he should treat it. After having a good look AND feel of my hair, he decided that he needed to intensify the treatment by increasing the amount used and time the product is left on my hair. He then proceeded to ask about how I would like my hair to be cut. As I didn't want it short, he simply trimmed off the irreversibly damaged ends and shaped my hair. After that, he got his assistant to help me wash my hair.
Gosh I don't feel like going into details here by I feel like I should, as I realised that reviews online are not giving the full story.
Ok so wash hair it was. The assistant was alright, he wasn't rough with my hair and scalp and the wash included a short head massage as well. I don't know much about massages but it was alright for me. Oh and he used the kerasilk shampoo on me too, guess it's part of the treatment.
Some people claim the chairs at the washing area to be extra comfortable, but to me, it was just a chair. A padded chair. I'm sorry but comfortable, in my dictionary, is one where I don't mind sleeping on. The chairs at Chez Vous were just normal. I would choose my aged sofa over their chairs any day.
Ok so after that, he put my hair up in a towel and we went back to my seat. They towel-dried my hair and then his other assistant came by to put the treatment.
At this point in time, I'm thinking that my experience is getting different from what many reviews online described. From research, it seems like Salon Vim is affliated to Chez Vous, and there is an abundant amount of reviews online that would enlighten you on the fact that at Salon Vim, the one processing your hair is often the assistant of the main stylist. And apparently, people are saying it's different at Chez Vous, that no matter what, the main stylist would be the one handling your hair the most often.
Now, I know this is just a simple application of treatment, not doing any damaging chemical services, so asking an assistant to do it should be alright, right? Well, that's what I thought, so I let it go initially.
So this assistant apparently sucked at English, I had a really hard time understanding and communicating with him. So I simply whipped out my phone and let him do his work.
So apparently it's a 3-step treatment. The assistant explained the procedure to me and highlighted the benefits of each step. A special iron would be used to enhance the absorption of the treatment and he made sure to show me just how fascinating the iron was.
Firstly some hyaluronic acid-containing cream was placed on my hair. My hair was then ironed by that special iron.
Then the second step commenced as he placed another cream which contains some amazing oil and also used the special iron.
*Sorry if it seems like I'm being sarcastic, I'm not. I'm just too lazy to repeat all the terms and description that can be found on their website.*
After he was done with the second step, he ushered me to the washing area to rinse out the remaining treatment on my hair and placed the 3rd-step cream on my hair, which was suppose to lock in all the goodness from the 2 steps before. Normally the cream is left on one's hair for around 10 minutes, but cos my hair was deemed really bad, he left it in for 15 minutes.
So I had to lie down at that washing area for 15 minutes. I simply took a short nap.
Note that the assistant was always very ready and will always explain each step's procedure and benefits. Both the main stylist and assistant also tried to give me tips on protecting my hair, but unfortunately, I already knew of these tips as I researched online prior to going for the treatment. HAHAHA, but I appreciate the effort.
After the 15 minutes was up, he rinsed it out and ushered me back to my sit. The main stylist came back, and as he assessed my hair, guess what he told his assistant: "You let the cream sit for 15 minutes?" He said it in the are-you-sure-you-let-it-sit-for-15-minutes way.
Yes, people, there's a reason why I prefer salons with a hair stylist that would tend to your hair from start to finish. It's because you can avoid misunderstandings like that.
At this point in time, I'm thinking maybe the assistant didn't understand his brief accurately and didn't really placed more product on my hair. But then again, if it were the main stylist throughout, it could have been the same result.
But still, if the main stylist handled my hair from start to finish, we'll both know it's just because my hair was too damaged, and not because there may have been a misunderstanding in between.
*Sighs dramatically*
They finished up drying my hair and the main stylist proceeded to trim my hair to perfect it further. He then explained on how I could curl my hair myself at home to show off the colours properly, and proceeded to curl my hair.
It's not that the result was bad. I definitely saw an improvement in the condition of my hair. It is much less dry and rough as before. But it's definitely not back to what it was before bleaching. It's still rough and tangly, just not as bad as right after I finished the colour job. Like I can at least run my fingers through it smoothly. I would say that my hair changed from lifeless and extremely damaged, to damaged and dry hair. So it's not bad.
The service isn't bad too. My point is that reviews online may have over-glorified how good Chez Vous was. Or maybe their standard dropped recently. Either way, my experience was not like how reviews online described. I would even say that I was tired out from the process.
Maybe it's because both the main stylist and assistant don't speak English well enough for communication to be easy. I often had to repeat what I said for them to understand me. Maybe that's why it was tiring, because the silences were awkward and awkward situations tire me out like crazy.
I have had much experience going to hair salons, and I generally don't talk much while having my hair done at the salon. But rarely do I find the silence to be awkward. Here at Chez Vous, it was deafening to me, even though the salon was filled with background music and sounds from blow dryers.
Also, of all the salons that I have been to, cheap/expensive, local/overseas, none have dropped stuff as many times as at Chez Vous. The stylist and his assistant were dropping towels, clips, comb, curling wand, iron etc. It really made me doubt how "experienced" they are, if they can't even handle equipments properly.
Overall, my experience at Chez Vous wasn't unpleasant, but it wasn't amazing either. Would I come back? Yes, for their good hair services, but not for their customer service.
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