Tuesday, March 28, 2017

The Day I Killed the Kool-Aid Man

*This post was also started over a week ago, but I never got around to finishing/posting it till not. Not that timing matters that much, but now I have more info I can add towards the end of the post. So get excited :)*

We all know him. Most of us loved him as kid. Some of us still love him today. Yes, I am talking about the Kool-Aid Man.


Well... I killed him.


Ok, not really. But it definitely felt, and looked, like that the first time I washed my hair after getting it dye red.

This is the long-anticipated update to my previous post that tells what happened the week following the day I went red.

* * * * *

To be fair, I had been warned and was WELL AWARE that red hair fades. I had red balayage highlights for the 3 months leading up to my full head of red, so I knew that red fades. When I first got red highlights my hair stylist recommended I use this new shampoo that recently came out called CelebLuxury Viral.

love this stuff

This shampoo re-deposits red into your hair every time you wash with it and it totally helped me keep my red on point for the 3 months between my hair appointments. So I figured, sure red fades, but I have my awesome shampoo to help me keep it going for a while.

3 months after getting red balayage
 It was 2 days after getting my hair dyed and I couldn’t stand the texture of it any more. I have naturally curly, course, and (although I have a hard time accepting this) thick hair. Which means, unless you flat iron it like an obsessive crazy person (which I do, but people with straight hair don’t always know how to do) it ends up having this poofy, almost-crunchy texture to it even though it looks “straight”. I’ve also learned over the years that “straight” has different meanings to people depending on one’s own hair type. Unless my hair has been flattened and coerced into being smooth I do not consider it straight. So, that was a long about way to say that my hair was not up to my straight standards and still had that awful “I’ve just bleached my whole head” feel to it. The next day was my good friend’s wedding and I was a bridesmaid. I couldn’t handle my hair looking and feeling that way any longer.

So I did it. I hopped in the shower, made sure to use cold water, and I washed my hair.

what my hair looked like pre-washing
As I was getting my hair wet I looked over my should and saw the bright red stream of water going down my back and pooling at the bottom of the shower waiting for its turn to go down the drain. It looked like a scene right out of a movie. I didn’t use my red shampoo this time because I didn’t want to possibly impact the pretty red I had just had done if it wasn’t already fading out. I felt like I needed to give it a try on its own first. However, it didn’t take long after getting out of the shower to realize my gorgeous red hair was now completely pink. I started blow-drying it a bit to confirm my suspicions, but it was clear my hair was SUPER pink.

I started freaking out. First, because I was going to have full on pink hair in my friend’s wedding pics (sorry Rori) and secondly because it was already a stretch explaining red hair in my professional/serious job role. How on earth was I going to explain pink hair?!

So I did the only thing I could think of at that moment. I got back in the shower and used my red shampoo and hoped for a miracle.

A miracle did not come. It might have made it a slightly darker pink, but the difference was not noticeable enough to make me stop freaking out. At that point I couldn’t do anything about it but wait and text my stylist in the morning.

The next morning I straightened my hair and got ready to head to the temple for my friend’s wedding. Before leaving the house I snapped a pic to send my stylist and see what we could do to fix this situation.

after one washing - even pinker in person
Because here’s the frustration. I get that red fades. I expected that. I was ready for that. However, after spending the very, very large amount of money (and time) that I did to go red, I expected it to last longer than 2 days.

I texted my stylist and sent her the pics I’d taken that morning. She was also surprised and wasn’t sure why that had happened. I mentioned I would wash it again Sunday night and try my red shampoo again, leaving it on for longer this next go-around, and see if that would make any difference.

Just for fun, here are some shots of me and my pink hair at my friend’s wedding.

bridesmaids and flower girls
bridal party

bride's posse

at the ring ceremony - my feet were killing me

bridesmaids

desperately trying to dodge the boquet
I had more than one comment made about how nice it was I dyed my hair to match my friend’s wedding color. I laughed it off because all the comments were made to be funny and not rude at all. But I was frustrated. I’m a 30 year old with pink here. #canyousaystrugglefest

I made it through the weekend and hopped in the shower again Sunday night to try and get my hair to take the red shampoo. Typically in the past I would lather the red shampoo up and shave my legs before washing it out. This time however I put it on and took a seat (I have a little sitting area in my shower, so it wasn’t like I was sitting on the floor of the shower). And I waited. I sat there a good 20 minutes or so and then washed my hair. If it made any sort of difference it was barely noticeable. If anything it made it a brighter pink.

I texted my stylist an update Monday morning and she said she could meet me at her salon Tuesday evening and we’d throw another round of red on my hair – a bit darker shade this time – and hope it sticks better.

So for 2 days I tried to slick my hair to my head as much as possible for work so it wasn’t as blatantly obvious that I had bright pink hair. My attempts were futile and I was still compared to Strawberry Shortcake on Monday.

Sidenote: I have been really surprised at how freely people give their opinions or jokes about what my hair reminds them of. It made me wish I didn’t bite my tongue sometimes and responded with a ridiculous retort about what some of their features reminded me of. But, alas, I’m trying to not be a terrible person all the time so I resisted the urges.

On Tuesday my sister and I met at a beauty supply store to get a bunch of new hair supplies to try and help my damaged hair (from the bleach and overall heat I’m constantly applying to it as well as it’s natural texture) and see if I could find any other stuff, in addition to my red shampoo, to help keep the soon-to-have new red hair from fading as fast. I picked up a bottle of this wash-in dye called Fireball.


I haven’t tried it yet (still haven’t at the time of this posting), but I’m excited to! And ironically when I met with my stylist later that even she’d also bought a bottle of that in case I wanted to get it from her and try it out. I ended up buying her bottle as well because if it can help extend my color and put off my next costly hair appointment it’s worth the $8.

So Tuesday evening I went back to my stylist and we threw on a darker shade of semi-permanent red. It was actually the same color we had used on my roots the first time around which hadn’t faded out nearly as bad as the color we used on the rest of my hair the first time. So I was hopeful.

While the final result of the second go-around wasn’t nearly as bright and bold as the first red, I loved it. And I felt like it was more natural (as far as a completely unnatural bright red hair could be) compared to the first red (which again I loved as well). It also didn’t seem so pink so that made me relieved that hopefully it wouldn’t wash out again to that same color.

someone's feeling pretty hahaha

trying all sorts of new looks
I procrastinated washing my hair for as long as I could… I got it done Tuesday evening and didn’t wash it until Saturday night. I was SO nervous! As soon as the water touched my hair it was a blood bath again, but I kept going. I used my red shampoo again and left it on a bit longer than I used to, just to be extra cautious. I can’t tell you how relieved I was to get out of the shower and still have red hair. I was so happy.

Since that first wash after the second round of dying I’ve only washed my hair one other time – two nights again, on Sunday the 26th. That’s right, I went a whole week and a day before washing it again. Haha Some people may think that’s gross. I think it was amazing my hair lasted that long and still looked good/good enough to not be ashamed of. Lol And this time around I had similar results – a flow of red down the drain and plenty of time letting the red shampoo do it’s magic on my hair. And the red is staying strong.

after second washing
Now it’s just a waiting game. Fading is inevitable. I have some tools to slow down/fix the fading, but I know what’s coming.... 

don't actually watch this show, but we all know this line

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