My Hair Journey | Dark Brown to Light Blonde

I figured it's time to get into the nitty gritty and get real. I am loving blogging but I try to steer clear of sounding like I'm giving top advice. I only usually blog about stuff that helps me and only recommend it if you think it'll work but considering I've been on the brown/blonde hair journey for around three years now I thought I'd put my two pence worth out there for the internet. So then, grab a cup of tea and have a nosy at what I've put my poor hair through!


(Disclaimer: Please expect a lot of duck face in the not so recent pictures, I was clearly a serial pouter!)

I read so many articles and posts when I was pining after blonde hair that totally conflicted each other. I'd click on one that would say you can go from dark brown to light blonde in one dye and the next click I'd be reading that it would take me months and all I really needed to do was consult the one person who could tell me right from wrong; an actual hairdresser.

I luckily found Luke (visit his facebook page here) by chance. I was speaking to a lady at my work about wanting to take the step of going blonde and she recommended him right off the bat. I instantly called him and he was mobile at this point in time, so we got an appointment booked and he came to work his magic on my hair. He told me that I was going to be able to achieve my dream colour but it would take a few rounds of highlights given that my hair was so dark.

When I met him, my hair was box dyed ten times over and after just one dye and six weeks, it was in amazing condition and a lot lighter. I'm not going to pretend to know exactly why box dye is bad for your hair but after this whole process I did learn that most box dyes are made with synthetic dye, hence why they're so cheap. This means when they're on your hair, the colour creates a synthetic ring around your hairs and when any heat is applied, it burns the synthetic dye which burns through to your hair (ouch!).

Anyway, after a couple of appointments with Luke I was a toffee colour that I was so happy with and we were seeing progress. Disaster only struck when I changed jobs and lifestyle, I was partying every weekend and therefore had no money left over to keep up with my princess hair. Every brunette with a lighter colour will find that keeping up with it costs a lot of money and time and when you have it, it is so worth spending it but when you're suddenly without it, it gets ten times harder.

So the toffee grew out and I did what any lazy eighteen year old would do, I gave up and reached for the darkest box dye I could to tide me over. All of that beautiful colour gone because I didn't want to let it grow out. If you find yourself in a situation where you're in the middle of getting to the colour that you're desperate for but suddenly your situation changes and you can't maintain it, my advice would be just let it grow. You may hate your roots and wonder why you shouldn't just go back to an easier colour but just let your hair grow. It will be so much easier to match your roots up to your colour than to get back to the colour you were over so much box dye. You've got this far, why give up now?

I learned this the hard way around a month later and did the worst thing possible, (yep, it gets worse) I bought a bleach box dye! I put it on and was not surprised in the least when it went battery acid orange. I managed to buy a toner and take it down to a lovely strawberry blonde but I was so disappointed that my hair was back to it's brittle condition.

A few months down the line, I was so happy to find out Luke opened up a store right next to where I was working. Luke Williams Luxury Hair Design hit the ground running and is still, I believe a huge success. He has hired an amazing team and many more people in town are walking around with beautiful barnets due to him. I couldn't not book myself an appointment! By this point I'd put a light brown box dye on my head, it's a wonder he didn't have a heart attack when I got in the chair but as usual, he worked his unbelievable magic and took me to a lovely caramel colour.

He managed to do this using Olaplex, a substance he mixed into bleach that protects the hair from harmful damage making it possible to use harsher bleach to get a lighter colour. My hair has always taken to dye very well but we were actually so impressed with how light it got. I was so so happy with it.

After my second appointment with Luke using Olaplex, I was absolutely stunned at the now milky blonde princess hair I had. It was already back to it's shining beautiful condition thanks to the Olaplex and quality hair dye.

However, I kept going out on the weekends spending ridiculous money and by the time my next appointment rolled around, I decided to just stall it for another month. My roots got so bad that I completely disregarded what I'd learned about just leaving it and reached for, you guessed it, another box dye!

Now, due to how light my hair was, this dark box dye made my hair two different colours. Where the bleach had taken to my hair, the box dye stained it and made it a muddy brown but on the top, where all of the pollution and crap in the air had weakened the follicles, it was almost black. I went away with my boyfriend with this hair colour and I hated how I looked, I decided I preferred myself blonde and resolved never to ever touch a box dye again. Ladies, there's a reason hairdressers are professionals, they studied and trained so long to know what they know and work the magic that they do so please trust me when I say, you will never look back after finding your hairdresser.

Desperate to go back to blonde before my upcoming trip to New York, I tried and failed to get a last minute appointment with Luke. It's impossible to get a last minute appointment at any hairdressers so it was a shot in the dark, but I tried the other local salon, Indulgence (check out their website here) after hearing good things about a hairdresser working there called Jessica. After a consultation with her, she told me a balayage with Olaplex would be the best thing for my hair due to it's bad condition and colour form the box dye and explained why it's so important to continue to use quality dye. I swiftly
booked an appointment with her and she took me from a mess of browns to a beautiful balayage with Alfaparf Milano hair colour and Olaplex. I was very lucky to get the colour I got and it meant I felt amazing when we finally headed to New York. I would definitely recommend Jessica, too! She's so talented at colouring and has another job talking about a brand of hair colour with other salons, I was very lucky to find her last minute!

My situation has changed again living in France so far away from Jessica and Luke, but I have managed to find a salon to keep up with my journey and I'm now probably one appointment away from being the milky white blonde that I was this time last year! Keep an eye out on my social media to see where my hair journey goes from here but if there's one thing I can reiterate from this post it would be; please please please never touch box dye!

Until next time...

G x