This is the first post by our newest columnist – Susie – a fashion-loving PhD student from the US, who lives in Scotland and blogs about her amazing personal style at Take-out In Couture.
Amy, who is my hair stylist at Percy and Reed in London has beautiful bright purple hair. And when your hairstylist has purple hair and looks fab, you tend to feel pretty comfortable taking the plunge from blonde to blonde-with-pink. I had been thinking about adding pink highlights for months, inspired a lot by Kate Foley of Opening Ceremony’s light pink and lilac strands. Several mood boards later (such as this one) and after a bit of deliberation, I decided to go for it.
1. We opted not to go for all-over-pink strands, which we thought could be a bit risky. When altering your hair color in any way, you have to keep in mind how well it will work with your particular skin tone. I knew that all-over pink would not work with pink undertones in my skin. Plus, while I wanted the pink strands to be noticeable, I wanted them to look more “pretty” than “punk.”
2. Bring pictures with you as examples. I saved a couple of photographs onto my Blackberry and showed them to my hairstylist when I arrived. When trying something new, it’s always a good idea to bring examples of your sources of inspiration and to then work with your hairstylist to come up with a shade and style that will suit you.
3. We used a semi-permanent color (Crazy Colour in Pinkissimo), which would begin to fade after five washes. Should I like how the pink came out, she showed me how I could separate particular sections of my hair and re-do it myself. If I ended up hating it..well, it wouldn’t be too much of a commitment. Plus, as the color is pigment-only, it is actually quite conditioning for the hair.
4. It took a couple of weeks for the newly dyed bright pink strands with to fade to the particular shade that I wanted. It also took me a couple of days to adjust to the change. I was very aware of which colors looked great paired with my newly pink strands (pinks, creams, whites, beiges, and greys), and which colors I disliked (bright reds, and black). I definitey started to rediscover my wardrobe in a new way! However, as the color began to fade to a more subtle hue, I found this to be less of a problem.
5. To keep your hair from fading, shampoo it less often. Use dry shampoo (and Percy and Reed also just came out with a dry conditioner, which I absolutely adore.)
6. If you decide you hate the color, wash your hair a couple of times with dish soap. This is really drying for your hair, and for this reason, I don’t really recommend it, but will take the color right out!
All right to the photos in this post belong to Susie.
Have your say…
What do you think of pink hair? Would you dare try it? P.S. Join us over at Facebook for lots more beauty and fashion tips and tricks by clicking on the link below!
