Wedding Season & Summer Events! Is Your Hair Ready?

Wedding season and summer events are here! If you're looking to change your hair colour for a special event this summer, hopefully you already have those appointments booked, and are working with a stylist who has thoroughly explained your options and the process of each option.

Sometimes even the small changes require more than one appointment to achieve. For example, if you have dark dye in your hair, even if its done professionally, it is going to lift orange. That is not a hairstylist error. That is how the colour lifts off. Toners will neutralize some orange, but they fade. so if its not lifted out, you will always be fighting warmth. You need to know all your options and the pros and cons and future maintenance and cost. From there, you can make the best decision that works for you. but waiting too long will limit your choices.

There's a chance you might need to do a color remover to get a lighter base colour and remove the black. From there, the base hair colour or all over hair colour has to be evened out with toners. a colour remover can take 1-4 hours depending on how the artificial colour lifts out, and how much correcting needs to be done. Once the dark dye has been removed, and the base colour or all over colour is evened out, then highlights of any colour (depending on hair health) can be added. Here's a good example of this HERE!  Whether you want a bright silvery blonde, or a subtle brunette, sometimes the previous colour has to be completely removed before you add the highlights.

Blonde Colour Transformation

Another option is to add hair extensions. you pick the colour from the swatch ring and I sew them into your hair. It is by far the easiest way to get the guaranteed colour that you want. this is perfect for people who don't want to come in multiple times for the colour correction process. it is also less chemicals on your hair. remember, not all hair can handle the chemical process that lifts black to blonde. Its often safer on the hair and less expensive in the long run to get hair extensions. Here's a fun example of recent hair extensions I did HERE.  A few months later, HERE is what her hair looked like grown out.  this is what it looked like as it grew out.  She wanted to embrace her natural silver, but lifting black dye will turn your hair orange. so I put a few silver blonde extensions in while the old black colour grew out.

If you start the process early enough, you can do some highlights at each appointment until you reach the colour you want. This is good for people who don't mind warmth, since the hair will turn orange, and the toners will always eventually fade. Toning shampoos will be your BEST FRIEND and regular in-salon toning appointments to neutralize those unwanted tones. 

In my opinion and professional experience, this is not a great choice for people who are impatient or who have left it too close to their wedding, grad, or special event. I am currently working with a client who is already planning her hair for her grad FOR NEXT YEAR! She trusts the process and knows it will take time. The clients who I have had the opportunity to transform this way in the past have been successful because they started early. HERE is a grad from a few years ago who knew to book in early so she would have blonde for grad. 

I explain these 3 options to every single person who sits in my chair. and every single virtual appointment. yes, there are other ways to achieve a transformation, but these are the 3 main ways that I do them. And I have extensive training in all 3 ways. sometimes it is a combination of 2 or 3 methods. 

The important things to remember:
1. Start early! Pinterest searches, narrowing down your ispo pics, and learning the process is time consuming and can get overwhelming. Don't rush yourself. If you have waited too long, NO NEED TO PANIC, there are always options like extensions, or clip-in extensions. 

2. Do your research! look for stylists who can show examples of the transformation you are wanting. do they explain the steps taken and why.

3. Write out the pros and cons to each transformation method. Hair extensions are the fastest way to get the biggest and most accurate change. You will have hair taped or sewn into your hair, so put some thought into what that would be like. On the flip side, I am working with a bride to be who wants icy platinum wedding hair. she came in early enough to get the process started. I told her directly that she might end up having to cut a few inches off her hair after the wedding. She weighed out the pros and cons and made the best decision for her based on her hair goals! 

4. Look at cost and maintenance. Once old hair dye is removed from your hair, the toners neutralize the remaining warmth. and there will always be warmth so you will always have to maintain it to some degree. Having a clear image of what that will look like will help you make your decision. For example, if you are bleaching 5 levels lighter, your hair is going to need some major TLC. You will need $45-$90 just in take home repair masks alone, not to mention the toning shampoo and toning appointments to keep unwanted brassy tones neutralized.

It might be cutting it a little close, but there is STILL TIME! Contact me here to go over your options.