I don’t know about you, but I have been SO READY for the hairdressers to reopen. I had a hair appointment booked in January, but then the third lockdown was announced and it got cancelled. And then as a challenge to myself, I refused to cut or dye it til I got back in that hairdresser’s chair (unlike last April when I attempted to cut it myself…never again). Have you ever seen The Addams Family? You know the cousin, ‘It’? Yup, that was the state my hair was in by the time I managed to throw myself at my hairdresser’s mercy.

However, me being me, I walked in with notions of waltzing back out with fantastic short BLUE hair, not thinking how much time that would actually require. My hairdresser took one look at the photo and shot my cobalt-dreams down in flames. Turns out it would take A LOT of time to achieve that look, and I’d only booked in for an hour and a half. On the plus side, I did get it cut short! And shaved on one side! Which I’ve wanted to do forever! So it absolutely wasn’t a wasted trip.

However….I am also incredibly impatient. So I did what any sane person would do….and bought a bottle of bleach and coloured my hair myself when I got home. Here follows a story, which I like to call, ‘Fifty Shades of Bleach and Violet: A Photo Compendium.‘

First things first – I had to choose my new colour. Although I went into the hairdressers wanting blue, I couldn’t find the exact right shade that I wanted. ‘Electric Blue’ was the closest thing I could find in my local Boots, but my eye was also caught by ‘Mauve Kiss’. Here’s the thing – I’d heard that blue hair is a nightmare to get out, so I didn’t just want to dye it a random shade of blue and then regret it, hence the back-up colour.

However, first things first, I had bleach my hair with this – L’Oreal Paris advanced lightening bleach. If there is one thing I’ve learnt over this whole saga it’s that I AM NEVER BUYING L’OREAL PRODUCTS AGAIN!! And here’s why:

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Ok, so in all fairness, at this point I didn’t realise anything was seriously wrong. But once I washed that shit off…oh my. I ran downstairs to my husband, and his response was ‘you look like a leopard’. THANK YOU HUSBAND, that’s EXACTLY the reaction I was hoping for!! So yeah, turns out I am not good at bleaching my own hair…I sent a video to one of my friends because I was laughing so hard at how much I didn’t look like the model on the front of the box. At this point I thought I’d have to call my hairdresser and beg her to do something, anything, but my husband calmed me down and said we could just go out and buy another (different) bottle of bleach and that he’d help me sort it. That’s true love for you right there, when your husband volunteers to bleach your hair for you. Awww.

So, a second trip downtown later, I came home with these:

You know what the most irritating thing about this whole saga was? This was the bleach I originally picked up, but I decided against buying in the end as the L’Oreal one was £1 cheaper. Life lesson learnt, folks, don’t be a cheapskate when it comes to hair bleach. And you know what? As soon as my husband put this on my hair, you could instantly tell the difference:

I was honestly blown away. My hair wasn’t going ginger or patchy – it was actually being bleached!! I felt sssooo much happier. Even the fact that had to wait for this bleach to work, rinse, apply toner, wait for the toner, rinse toner, AND THEN apply a hair mask to avoid any hair damage, couldn’t dampen my spirits. Although I can totally see now why I hadn’t booked in nearly enough time at the hairdressers – I’d started this process at around noon, and it was 10pm by the time I finished (with a trip downtown, trip to the doctors for a smear test, going to pick up the Little Terror from childcare, suppertime, bathtime and bedtime thrown in).

The next morning I could finally FINALLY dye my hair:

Ahh to see that much colour after 3 years of either blonde/brown/no dye…it was definitely a shock!

However, all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears, was worth it in the end. If you’ve suck with me this long, please enjoy your reward of seeing my shiny new purple hair:

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I am beyond thrilled with this transformation! One day I’ll dig out a photo of me with lockdown hair, and then you’ll really be able to see the difference, but I feel like I’ve rambled on too long as it is.

Would I do it again? Hell yeah! In fact, I bought a special hair dye bowl, some purple shampoo (not the kind for blonde hair, the kind that actually dyes your hair purple over time), and some more hair masks from Bleach London over the weekend – I was honestly so impressed with their bleach kit that I know I’ll be using them again when I finally take the plunge and dye my hair blue! For now though, I’m going to enjoy my shiny new hair as much as possible – I think this is the perfect excuse to buy some new hair accessories and clothes to match, don’t you ;)?

Z x

Have you ever bleached and dyed your own hair? If so, how did it go? If not, would you??