Friday, May 26, 2017

Black and Blue

Several attempts to change my black hair to purple left me with an ugly multicolored disaster. I had a mostly black ponytail; pinkish brown, dark blue, and black splotches all over my head; a greenish streak on one side; and around my face, two small spots of purple along with my natural brown regrowth.



After 10 months, 20+ hours in the salon, and hundreds of dollars, I was DONE with this ordeal. No more catastrophic kaleidoscope on my head. I was going back to black.

Still... after so much time and money... it was hard to abandon the dream. I decided to color most of my hair black but try for purple bangs/fringe.

I bleached my bangs and a small portion of hair around my face. I was briefly tempted to leave it yellow and orange because that would have completed the entire color wheel on my head. :P


But I forged ahead with my attempt at purple. I used Splat Purple Desire mainly because it was readily available. Knowing my hair grabs pigment, I diluted the dye with about 1/3 conditioner and left it on my hair for only 30 minutes.

Instead of purple, I got a combination of pink and blue. Not entirely surprising because mixing dye with conditioner can sometimes give a patchy result.

Though the dye encounter had been diluted and brief, the color stayed on pretty well. Especially on my skin! My scalp remained blue through about five washes with tea tree shampoo. After another five or six washes, my hair had faded noticeably.

For my second attempt, I chose Manic Panic Ultra Violet. In the jar, it's essentially the same shade of purple as the Pravana violet which had twice turned my hair nearly black. But I know that Manic Panic has less pigment... so I took the risk and applied it full strength. I left it on for one hour.

Instead of purple, I got blue. Or maybe you could call it blueple. But it's a pretty color, and it's nice and even, not splotchy.

The rest of my hair is back to black. Despite the bleaching and redyeing abuse it's endured over the last few months, it's in pretty good shape except for the ends. A decent haircut should fix that.

I would have liked purple hair. But the black is easy to maintain, and maybe I will eventually find something that makes my bangs purple. For now, I'm okay with black and blue.

21 comments:

  1. I love your hair. I understand it maybe not exactly what you wanted but it looks awesome nonetheless!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! It's the first time since December that I haven't hated my hair color(s).

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Indeed. And compared to months of failure, it feels like a big win.

      Delete
    2. I think the end results, the lessons learned in the process...oh & let's not forget the time you took taking detailed pictures & descriptive details on each step, and product etc. are FAR from a MINOR success, especially when you have probably saved countless dark haired dames time & money with this blog! THANK YOU FOR YOUR BIG WIN!

      Delete
  3. And now, the biggest question: how people in salons, who know (presumably) how to dye hair, left you with either black or pinkish brown hair, while dyeing your hair at home brought a result much closer to what you wanted? We may never know.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the short answer is my hair is incomprehensibly bizarre. It does things that defy logic. The second stylist consulted three different experts from the hair color companies... and they were all confounded.

      Of course, I've lived with (and fought with) my hair my whole life, and I know it better than anyone. Usually, I can predict my hair's reaction pretty accurately... I know what it does, even if I don't know why.

      Delete
  4. I love the purple in your hair! I hope it sticks around for while! When my hair used to hold dye manic panic was a wonder for me...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! The Manic Panic seems to be staying pretty well so far.

      Delete
  5. definitely try out overtone! weekly deep conditioner that adds color. i had purple for a month [a jar lasted that long in my short half-bleached hair] and its safe for hot showers unlike manic panic; plus it smells really good. but it's more high maintenance than i'd prefer - usually i dye with permanent loreal or the likes every 3 months.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm actually awaiting an Overtone order. :)

      Delete
  6. Wow, the blueple looks really good on you!

    ReplyDelete
  7. You must have the world's strongest hair to still be in such good shape after all that! I really like the blue bangs but I do understand your desire for a lovely purple. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is strong. Ornery... but strong. ;) Plus I use lots of heavy conditioner. The blue is a pretty color and not a bad result, though I'll try again for purple next time.

      Delete
  8. I think that your hair is still looking good for all the stuff it went through! Have you tried Special Effects colours? That was the only colour which worked for me without bleaching and where I had to make a touch up because of roots and not because the colour was fading. I would recommend "Deep Purple" to you, not only because of the name (Smoooooke on the Waaater... *sing*) but because it is the most reddish purple they have!

    Here they show pictures on real people: http://www.beeunique.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=72

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Special Effects Deep Purple was my favorite when I had purple hair many years ago. :) I'll try it again at some point.

      Delete
  9. Getting really purple hair (for more than a day) seems difficult for some reason. I have also ended up with either red or blue *sigh*

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know why purple should be so difficult! I am getting closer to the color I want, though.

      Delete
  10. Love your black hair highlights! Thanks for the comprehensive tutorial! I like black hair. I find it convenient and super attractive! I love hair highlights for black hair with the whole heart. To get more black hair ideas like this Look at more info.

    ReplyDelete