♥ How I Went Blonde ♥

Hi everyone! I've been getting a lot of questions about how I went from dark brown to blonde so well and I wanted to make a blog post about it!

First off, this might not work for you because all hair is different! But if you're trying to go blonde, the main thing is to keep your hair healthy. This means constant care, trims, deep conditions, and NO BRIGHT COLORS!

First off, let me explain how hair color works. Every layer of hair color you have is on your hair shaft until you cut it off, unless you have stripped your hair or bleached your hair. Since the last time I was blonde, I have put red and brown on my hair. This means that there was a layer of red underneath my brown hair. I've been coloring the roots of my hair brown and trimming it on a regular basis for three or four months, waiting for the red to be all the way out of my hair. With every haircut, my hair had less and less red in it, because it was being cut off. I knew that once all of the red had been cut off of my hair, the brown would pretty easy to bleach out. I had to have a lot of patience, because if I tried to bleach my hair before the red had grown out it would turn very orange. Red, along with any other bright color is VERY difficult to get out of your hair, making it really difficult to go a lighter color, such as blonde. This is where having short hair comes in handy, it takes A LOT less time to cut off all of the red. So after only a few haircuts, the red was completely trimmed out of my hair and all that I had left was natural hair with one layer of dark brown.

That may seem a little confusing, so I'm sorry, I suck at explaining things.
I went to beauty school, so I learned a lot of these things and this is me trying to explain it in simple words because I can barely understand "technical terms"

So when I knew I had no red left underneath my brown, I decided to bleach my hair.

I used "Up To 7" bleach with 40 volume developer.
Hair levels go from 1-10, 1 being the darkest and 10 being the lightest. "Up to 7" bleach can lift up to seven levels, which means that my dark hair, which was probably a 3 or 4, could lighten up to 7 levels, bringing it to a light blonde color. I used 40 volume developer even though it is harsher on the hair because I knew I needed a strong developer if I wanted to get to a really light blonde.

After the first bleach, the ends of my hair were still a little orange.

I then put more bleach on my hair, only on the orange parts. The rest of my hair was about the color of the inside of a banana peel, which is as light as bleach can get you, so I knew that putting more bleach on would only damage my hair, not make it lighter.

After that, my ends were the same color as the rest of my hair, a light yellow..

Now, to get it less yellow, I used a toner.
A toner is a color you put over bleached hair to take out the yellow and make it white.
There are many different toners. Some make your hair seem grey, some make your hair completely white, and some (when put on very light or white hair) can even give your hair a purple hue. There are many different toners, so before you use one make sure you ask a stylist or a local beauty supply shop worker to make sure you're using the correct toner.

After this, my hair isn't white, but is very light and not orangey. I would like to go a little lighter, but for right now I'm going to give my hair a little break and keep it as it is!

I hope this helped some of you, I know it seems a little confusing, so if you have any questions feel free to ask me and I'll try my best to explain better!

Thanks for reading! ^-^

♥ Hello ♥

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I've decided to make a Bloglovin!
I've been discovering so many new and great blogs lately, and I've seen links to Bloglovin on nearly every one! I thought I wouldn't need it but really it is very handy especially to keep up with people who don't use blogspot!

♥♥♥

Confidence

♥ Pixie Cut Confidence ♥

I've had a pixie for about a year and a half now. It was the most liberating and wonderful freeing feeling, cutting off what society believes makes women beautiful.

Most girls asked if I cried. I didn't. I was so happy. I remember being worried while he cut it because my hair looks terrible wet, but when he dried it I felt a huge wave of relief and pure joy. My mom, on the other hand, did cry. Her little girl was taking the first step in being her own person and giving up on making other people happy. (She probably was also a little worried I was going to tell her I'm only interested in girls, saying my sister has short hair and is going to marry her longtime girlfriend) I didn't regret it. I still don't.

 It's such a staple to me as a person. My hair fits me and my personality so well. If I could have long hair in the snap of my fingers, I'd turn down the opportunity.

Sometimes I get bummed out and miss doing things with my hair. Going to beauty school really made me miss it, but at the same time I realized that my hair is so fine and thin it looks scraggly and frizzy when it's long. Watching other girls wand their hair and do top knot buns makes my little heart ache, but then I remember that my hair isn't like theirs and that even if I grew it back out I wouldn't look good if I did those things. It's sometimes hard, but I always talk myself back up.

I am going to buy a couple of kanekalon fiber wigs so when I feel like having cute and fun long hair I can do it. They're cheap and super cute. Extensions are so expensive and don't last, and they wouldn't blend with my short hair anyways. I'm definitely not against wigs. 

Here is a picture of my cute friend Mariah in a wig. Wigs aren't just for dress up! 

Sometimes it does bum me out a little when my friends ask me when I'm going to grow out my hair, try to casually mention that it looks better long, but I try to keep my chin up. It also sucks when my family bugs me about how weird I look, people tell me I would have a boyfriend if it wasn't for my haircut, or when little kids ask why I have "boy hair" or look like a "boy". It makes me so sad to think that they are just raised to believe women can only have long hair. I know they are still just little kids, but it does hurt my feelings. A lot. Whether it's a family member, a kid, a person from school, a friend, someone online, whomever. My feelings get hurt really easily when it comes to my hair because it is still so looked down upon. 

When I get down in the dumps and feel like I'm just not up to snuff I look up pictures of girls with pixie cuts on Tumblr. I don't have a Tumblr, but it has so many cute pictures of cute girls that make me feel so much better about myself. 

Sometimes I get bummed out thinking that they are prettier than me, but they probably have self confidence and self esteem issues sometimes too, because we all do! I shouldn't feel bad because of the bad things people say about my hair, because it's not something everyone can pull off well and it's not an issue of me just growing out my hair because well, I have the finest and thinnest hair on earth and it just doesn't look good long! I'm also super lazy and hate doing my own hair, so this haircut is the right one for me. There are so many different short styles to choose from, and I use a lot less hair color than most people, so I can save some money on that too! I also love accessorizing with cute headbands, clips, bows, head scarfs, and hats. When I'm having a bad hair day, I automatically reach for one and it makes everything 100 times better! 

This is Caroline, she's a bald babe. I figure I'll put her in here because she's cute.

This post isn't really for everyone, but I just wanted to post this for me and so I can look back on it the next time I start to feel my self esteem dropping.

Society is changing, and hopefully soon more people will start trying out pixie cuts.
They're so cute and fun, and honestly, if you can pull off a pixie cut you can pull off anything, in my opinion at least!

If you have any questions or comments about pixie cuts or anything let me know! 
I'd be glad to help!

Thank you for dealing with my sappy post!
♥