I've been highlighting my hair for years. I'm a natural blonde, but my natural color is much darker than I like on the crown of my head (I only highlight this section of my hair, the section underneath is my natural hair color). Like a lot of you, I've had great experiences with coloring my hair, and not so great experiences. In college I hopped around to a few different salons until I found a stylist that I loved that gave me the perfect color at every appointment. I went to her for 5 years until we moved back to California, but made sure to wrack her brain and take notes on exactly what to tell my new stylist to do to my hair.
Blonde hair can be really tough to get right. It can look too fake, too brassy, too white, etc. A lot of it has to do with your individual coloring. I have a pink skin complexion, so if my hair is too platinum my skin tone ends up looking more pink. My hair responds really well to bleach, so that is all I use to highlight my hair (I just do the crown and sides). I've tried using darker blonde colors as well, but found that they pull too brassy and look less natural than I like. I also have my hair stylist do an added step called "breaking the base" when she shampoos my hair. Basically it is a solution that is applied to my roots when my hair is wet that helps to lighten my regrowth. There are a few different ways to apply the solution, but my stylists just leaves it on for about 5 minutes when wet in order to get the best results for my hair color. This way I can go a little longer in between getting my hair done and I don't have quite as drastic of a regrowth line as my hair grows out. It's usually only about $10 more to get this done and is one of my secret weapons to extending the life of my blonde.
Even with the perfect coloring session, over time color-treated blonde can turn brassy or dull. I've always struggled with this and was
so thrilled to discover
Redken's new line of hair products created specifically for blondes called
Blonde Idol. The idea behind this line is to help you keep your 'salon fresh' blonde throughout the entire 6 weeks (or..3 months..) in between trips to the salon.
I had the opportunity to meet with
Summer, a Redken color expert, at the
Gavert Atelier salon in Beverly Hills (I instagrammed about it
here). Her knowledge and years of experience put me instantly at ease, and when she explained the color of blonde right for my coloring could be achieved using just bleach, I knew I was in good hands. It was such a relaxing experience and the perfect pamper session before heading out to celebrate our 8 year anniversary
that night with Garrett. I was so thrilled with the result! My blonde was bright and fresh, and my brassy ends were fixed. The best part about the experience was that I left knowing that I would be able to maintain my fresh color for weeks with Redken's
Blonde Idol products.
Since my trip to the salon, I have been using Redken's Blonde Idol products to maintain a fresh blonde color. The Blonde Idol line consists of:
I use the cool blonde conditioner to keep my blonde from going too brassy. I would strongly suggest watching this video tutorial on how to select the correct color for your hair and the proper way to set your "dial" on the conditioner. Basically, the longer you get from your last salon visit, the higher you can turn up your dial to deliver special toner to keep your blonde from fading or going brassy. I only use this conditioner about once a week and only keep my dial set at 1, because it hasn't started to change at all and if I set it any higher, it would make my blonde too platinum this soon after a coloring.
So to recap, here are my top 3 tips for achieving and maintaining the perfect blonde:
- Find the shade of blonde that works best your skin tone.
- Break the base to help soften your regrowth in-between visits to the salon.
- Keep your blonde bright and fresh with Redken's Blonde Idol products.
Thank you to Redken and Conde Nast for sponsoring this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Labels: beauty, hair, LB at home, lifestyle, tutorial
