Friday 20 July 2012

My Hair Journey: Part One

Since I can remember, I have always been the girl with the long hair. I have briefly experimented with shoulder length cuts, and even a bob once (what a mistake!), but I always go back and grow my hair out again. By the time I was 11 years old I already wanted to experiment with hair dye, and for some reason my very laid-back father let me dye my hair purple. As I'm half Asian, my natural hair is a very rich, dark brown (a colour I haven't seen on my head in nearly 10 years!) and so fortunately the colour didn't take very well - not that one little set-back was going to stop me! After that first time I suddenly developed a taste for hair dye. 

After that stint in Year 7 (grade 7 for my American readers), my family moved a fair old way from the Midlands to the South coast, and so I started a new school. At my first secondary school, my purple-haired wannabe-grunger ways had been the norm, but I got bit of a culture shock when my new school seemed to be Chav Capital! The baggy jeans and black t-shirts I had been used to were definitely not in fashion here, and a standard Lonsdale hoody seemed to be everyone's outer-garment of choice to attempt to hide their school uniform. All the girls seemed to be sporting blonde highlights, regardless of their natural hair colour, and so in a shameless bid to fit in - I did the same.

Blonde highlights just growing out from my 14 year old hair
Mind you, this attempt to fit in seemed to work - I made friends and enjoyed my days at school. I no longer had to make an effort to adopt these norms (note the horrific white eyeliner), as they simply became my routine behaviours.

By the age of 15 I had begun to start finding out who I was, and realised that I didn't like my blonde low lights, or the clothes I had persuaded my mum to buy so that I could look like the other girls. This was a big moment in my life, and saw me reaching for Schwarzkopf's XXL Colour in RED. 

Pictured in 2010 and 2011 with my usual long, red hair
I sported this colour and cut all the way until the summer of 2011 when Rihanna and Cheryl Cole both famously dyed their hair red, igniting an absolute tidal wave of girls to rush out to their nearest Boots and pick up some red hair dye. I couldn't stand being the same as everyone else (I know, how hipster of me), so I went for a complete image overhaul. At this point, Made in Chelsea (this is just a semi-reality programme about the filthy rich, for those of you who don't watch it) had also begun airing on Channel 4 and I had taken quite a liking to Caggie's hair.

Caggie, caggie dunlop, caggie made in chelsea, made in chelsea, e4, channel 4, spencer matthews, hugo, binky, cheska, rich, famous, chelsea, kensington, mic, towie, the only way is essex, the hills
Caggie Dunlop from Made in Chelsea
I took this picture of Caggie to my stylist and simply said "I want my hair to look like hers". In this same appointment, they also stripped and bleached my hair to within an inch of its life to remove all traces of the red (5 years of dying your hair red will definitely leave you with some hair stains!), and put a nice medium brown colour all over, with a few added low-lights. Although the cut wasn't quite what I'd had in mind, I was very happy with it.

Pictured on NYE 2011
As you can see, my light brown locks were a far cry from my usual red number, and I was definitely happy. I felt that 19 was too old to still be dying my hair red - although I still feel a pang of jealousy when I see other girls with their red hair.

Now, if you know me *really* well, you'll know that I have an irrational fear of going to the hairdressers. Don't ask me why, I can't explain it, but if I was told I'd never have to get my hair cut again I think my outlook on life would be considerably more positive! Due to this ridiculous fear, I rarely go to the hairdressers. It has currently been over 7 months since that hair cut, and I only just got my hair chopped yesterday (pictures of that will be up soon). Obviously in that time, hair will grow out.

Pictured at a friend's birthday in May 2012
The light brown mixed in with my natural dark roots, and any style had been lost in a sea of split ends and uneven length! I gave up heat styling as in true honesty, I prefer my natural waves to poker straight heat-induced hair, and it has saved me a good 10 minutes on my every day routine! By this time I had also decided to grow out my side-fringe, but this got a bit annoying when I wanted to put my hair up - I had to deal with that annoying "middle" stage of hair length which was too awkward-looking to leave down, but would fall back down if I attempted to merge it in with the rest of my hair!



So this is my hair journey to date. As I said, I got my hair cut yesterday, and I'm planning something a lot different again soon! What are your tales of your hair journeys? 






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18 comments:

  1. ooh this was an interesting read! you really suit all colours - i love the red! you look lovely in the latest picture too, its nice that you like your natural waves! im trying to embrace mine a lot more nowadays too ;)
    nicola xxx
    itsneecola.blogspot.co.uk

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    1. Thanks! I was really worried that it was too long as I normally write quite short posts, but I'm glad you enjoyed it :) I miss the red so much! I find it's a lot easier to embrace my natural hair now I'm a bit older and don't worry so much if others dont like it, as long as I do hopefully thats all that matters!

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  2. I really enjoyed this post! I have naturally honey blonde hair and everyone tells me not to dye it but I really want to change my hair colour! I swear every colour you dyed your hair suited you!! xx

    livelaughlipstick.blogspot.com

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    1. Thanks! Dying hair is so tempting! I see it as somewhat of a rite of passage in life as well, that everyone goes through at one point or another in their life :)

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  3. This was really interesting to read!

    http://laurenlovesmakeupxoxo.blogspot.co.uk/

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  4. I've been recently thinking about dying my hair for the first time. I put highlights once in high school, but I wasn't in love with them so I never touched it again. But I'm a big fan of dying the under half of my hair...mainly because I'm too lazy to upkeep the dying. Any advice for a dye newbie?

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    1. For a newbie dyer I would definitely recommend going to a salon or getting a friend who dyes their hair regularly to do it for you. I became the resident hair dyer amongst all my friends as I'd done it for so long and had perfected the technique. The last thing you want is someone who doesn't know what their doing to leave you with patches all over!

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  5. Lovely post! I like that you have gone back to your natural colour, I do think that people look better with hair which is close to their natural colour, although yours looked super cute as red! I have always been blonde but I'd love to give a rich brunette a try --- I know it would make me really washed out though so I am embracing the blonde! x

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    1. Yep I'm trying to embrace the natural colour too :)

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  6. Your natural waves really suit you :) I've never dyed my hair before, and I really want to. But I have black hair so I'm scared that it wont show up AND damage my hair in the process. I just came across your blog after you left a comment on mine! I really like it :)

    http://smithamanojmakeup.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. Well when I first started dying it nothing took to my hair very well, but after I kept trying, each time got better and better so it depends how much you're willing to do! And thanks so much :)

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  7. Awww, you're never too old for red hair! I'm nearly 27, and I still dye my hair red. :3 I haven't been able to find a beautiful, natural red, though, which is what I'm really searching for. I love the red that you had, though; it's gorgeous!

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  8. your so lucky your hair is such a gorgeous colour naturally :) I did love the red on you I must admit :D Can't wait to see your new cut :)
    Love Holz oxo

    http://beautifulsimplicity-holziepink.blogspot.co.uk/

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  9. Your hair looks really pretty now! :) XOXOX


    -MayT
    MayT Essentials

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  10. Ah, someone else with an interesting hair journey! Well.. yours is maybe slightly more interesting than mine! I was always the person who was never going to stray from my natural dark mousey brown, until about a year and a half ago (aged 16) when I started using a sunkissed blonde gradual highlighter on the ends of my hair. After a couple of months of this, it began its journey through random sections of my hair - leaving me by early summer with golden brown hair, the shade very dependent on the lighting, and not matching me at all! So by the end of the summer holidays I bought my first proper dye: darkest natural brown. After a few months this wore off - hinting at the goldeny brown underneath, so out I went to buy another box! March this year I took the plunge that I'd been waiting for for almost 2 years, and ombred my hair. Unfortunately, the ends didn't go blonde, but an auburny brown.. (ORANGE) I sported this right up until this week, when my sense of extremeties changed and I used XXL colour to dye it black! - but definitely more Snow White than gothic haha! So here I am.. And I am in fact blogging about my recent colour swap tomorrow! Hoorah!

    Rachael XX
    rivasoave.blogspot.co.uk

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  11. What an interesting post! For someone who doesn't like going to the hairdressers, you've had your fair share of hair colours! That's the same with me though, I went from blonde with highlights, to with dark brown underneath like Avril Lavigne, to all black, to black with pink, to black with purple, to brown with blonde at the front, to blonde, and then sometimes with some random colours at the front! How much fun it is to experiment, and now my silly work doesn't allow unnatural hair colours and I have to stay at my blonde :( boo!

    http://melissaknowsbest.blogspot.co.uk/

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