Brunette to Blonde // Bleach London

And she's at it again...

First of all can I just get a massive appreciation for keeping my hair dark for 7 months, considering how notorious I am for dying my hair I think I did pretty well to leave it alone for that long.

So summer is quickly approaching, and as much as I did like my dark hair I found myself getting bored and I always prefer my hair lighter in the summer. So it was time to bite the bullet and attempt to go back blonde. As I am very much a DIY hair dyer, I knew this was probably going to be one of my most difficult dye jobs to date. *has horrific flashback to the last time I tried to dye my hair from black to blonde.*  I went into it this time a little older, wiser and with a few more tricks up my sleeve. What could go wrong, right?

Before

Well...

It's a pretty difficult task to going from dark brown to blonde without using bleach, so I wanted to try and find one which would be easy to use and wouldn't completely destroy my hair. I opted to try one from the brand Bleach London, it's in their name so I thought it wouldn't do me too wrong. It was actually pretty kind to my hair and did a really good job at stripping the colour. I tend to forget when dying my hair that my hair is actually quite long so annoyingly I did run out of bleach, hence why it's a tiny bit patchy. As a lot of bleaches can do, it made parts of my hair go quite yellowy/brassy so I used the Bleach London White Toner to try and diminish those tones as much as possible. It didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped unfortunately, but did enough of a good job that it wasn't ridiculously obvious.

I left the hair a couple of days after bleaching to let it rest and restore a little bit before opting to put some Colour Freedom silver blonde all over my hair. (I forgot to take a picture of the packaging before I threw it away, oops. But you can buy it in Superdrug and they have loads of colours.) Silver or Purple shampoos/toners are the best for getting out the yellow/brassy pigments in your hair. Whilst this did help to tone down the brightness it did leave the ends of my hair with a slightly pinky tinge. Which I don't mind too much, it looks quite cool.

After

Since then I've been using purple shampoo/conditioners alternating when I wash my hair just to keep those brassy tones at bay, so hopefully that will gradually help get it to my ideal colour.

I'm actually really happy with how it turned out, considering how dark it was before I'm really pleased with the colour. It's not exactly how I wanted but it's a good base to start from, cost a lot less than getting it done professionally  and my hair didn't all fall out so that's a massive bonus.

I would definitely recommend Bleach London if you are looking to go blonde from dark hair, it works well, is fairly cost effective and has actually left my hair in surprisingly good condition.

I wonder how long I'll keep it like this for before I start playing about with the colour again? Here's a spoiler, it won't be that long ;)

What's your go to hairdye brand?
Are you a DIY-er or a Salon junkie?

Speak Soon
Char xx 

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Garnier Nutrisse | Caramel.

Guys I've got a confession to make...I've dyed my hair again. I genuinely think I have a hair dye addiction or I just got bored very easily -- bit of both I reckon. There is method in the madness this time I swear though! During the winter months I find myself wanting to spend less time on my hair, with hats to cover it up & wind blowing it left, right & centre I just can't be bothered with it to be honest. This laziness extends all the way to dyeing it, I just don't care about touching up my roots which leaves it looking rather scraggily! So to avoid gross looking hair & as winter is the perfect time for it I've gone to the dark side! 

I'm still a bit apprehensive about going full chocolate brown after my last dark endeavour many a year ago, so I've stuck in the shallow end & just gone for a caramel/ light brown colour (maybe I'll go all out brown one day, we'll see!) and I actually really like it! Obviously I am a blonde girl at heart and this will by no means be a permanent fixture! But I just fancied something different and a bit more natural so voilá! What do you think? The thing I like most about it is a) it makes my eyes look even more blue. b) my hair for the first time in a long time matches my eyebrows. A very big deal!

The dye I used to achieve this colour is Garnier Nutrisse Créme in 6.3 Caramel. As you probably know I love Garnier hair dye and don't think I will ever venture away from it. It always gives me a gorgeous colour & leaves my hair in amazing condition whereas some hair dyes I've used it in the past just leaves it feeling like straw, not nice at all. Of course the soft feel is mostly down to the conditioner, which I just adore, I've said this before but if they sold full size bottles of it I would be first in line to buy it. Amazing! The other thing I really like about this particular hair dye is the scent the dye itself leaves on the hair, obviously there is the standard hair dye whiff left on the hair for a small while but it isn't over powering in the slightest like I've found with some brands, theres nothing worse than stinky hair dye head! 

The colour itself is lovely, as I mentioned before its a light brown, caramel colour, its a very natural colour which I like and has both blondey and brown highlights running through it which makes it so much nicer than just a one dimensional block colour! I'm very pleased with it and would thoroughly recommend if your looking to go darker without going too dark, it is a very autumnal colour which is lovely for this time of year. The only thing to note is that when I washed it out I did have a moment of horror as it did look very dark when I was drying it, but once it was dried it looked lovely -- so just bear that in mind if your going to give it a go. 

Have you ever tried this colour before? What did you think of it?

Whats your favourite autumn/winter hair colour?

Would you give this colour a go?

p.s. expect another hair dye post in the spring for when I eventually get bored of it -- if I even last that long.

Speak Soon

Charlotte xx

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