Purple People Eaters..

Just another day at the shop in federal way. After working two 12-hour days in a row, being sick with some god-awful virus, I can honestly say I woke up this morning ready for this week to be over. Unfortunately, I had a full day booked so I knew I couldn't be throwing in the towel any time soon. It really ended up paying off when my last color client of the day showed up asking for purple hair. As an overly creative person, this makes my heart extremely happy, as not many of my very conservative clients come in asking for such a dramatic change on the reg.

Anyways, I was lucky to have a client with a natural light base, it made the purple really stand out. Being trained and educated in Loreal color products, I decided to use the Luo line as they have tons of purple and red-violet options to choose from. Below is the color that inspired both me and my     client to create a deep red-violet ombre.

Obviously this photo was found on pinterest, because lets be real, pinterest is life. 

Now, as glad as I was not having to bleach any hair to give her the vibrancy this picture shows here, I also had to warn her the color would take a slightly different shade and would definitely blend different with her natural Level 7, Sandy blonde hair. She was ready for whatever change I brought to the table. This girl was totally trusting me and giving me creative freedom! This does not happen often, and I was so ready to make her look like the bomb.com.

I used the same back-comb ombre technique I used with Cassandra in my last blog post. If you haven't gotten to check that out yet, you need to. 

http://baileysbeautyadventures.blogspot.com/2015/10/cassandra-color-correction-extraveganza.html

To get a truly unique red-violet tone, I mixed Luo color 4.26 and 6.52 in equal parts (1:1) with the Luo 25 volume developer. Because I did not want a hasrsh line of demarcation between her natural color and the color I was applying but I wanted strong vibrancy throughout the ends, I double foiled each section. So, I sectioned off my parting size, foiled through and backcombed, and also backcombed the fallout of that same section. This technique guaranteed solid color throughout her ends and I brought some sections of color up higher than others to diffuse it softly toward the top. Here's what happened..

Something so fun for fall, She absolutely loved it, and I got to get my hands a little dirty (Reference pun in the title). 

A happy client is a successful day in my book, well worth the over booked- understaffed week I had to endure. Holla for the weekend tho!!

Cassandra color correction extraveganza

So to start my week, we had a beautiful young girl come in with a color gone awry. She had gone into a shop she had been offered a discount to take her ombre-blonde hair SLIGHTLY darker. This is not what happened.  Her previous hairdresser had taken a darker color, applied all over to the mid section of her hair, then combed the color through to almost her ends to keep her "ombre" effect. In a case where the client wanted a significant color change, this would have been a good method to use. However, for this particular situation, the client wanted to incorporate more of her natural light brown hair into her blonde hair. Had she come to me originally asking to go slightly darker, I would've foiled in some low lights, but not all hair dressers are created equal. I contemplated foiling through her fresh dark hair to bring back some blonde, when I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Because her hair was still fresh with color, I could probably extract most of it with Pravana's Color Extractor Kit. Below is how my journey went.

Step One: Color Extractor

If you've never used Pravana's color extractor kit, you have not lived. This is the ULTIMATE product when a color process doesn't quite go the way you planned. There are a few other products on the market advertised to have similar results as the Pravana set does, but just like hair dressers, not all products are created equal. 

The Pravana Color Extractor Kit is designed to strip artificial hair color without causing the damage that bleach does. It typically works better the fresher the color is, but its always a good first step to try before a bleach bath. The kit comes in three steps, they are all labeled. 

First, you want to shampoo the hair, I used Purelogy Hydrate Shampoo.

Now that the hair is clean and damp, you'll want to mix equal parts of step one and step two in a color bowl together, and with a color brush, apply the product all over the head at the shampoo bowl. Be aware of the scalp, as it tends to strip lighter than the mid sections will. After I applied the product, I capped her and sat her under the dryer for 20 minutes. Then I brought her back to the bowl and rinsed her thoroughly for 3 minutes, then using the Clarifying Shampoo that comes in the kit, I washed her for 5 minutes, I did these two steps a total of 3 times, after the 3rd, I applied straight 20 volume developer to her hair to prevent her hair from oxidizing over night and her hair going back to dark. I did this for about 3 to 5 minutes then rinsed. After washing Cassandra one more time with the Pureolgy Hydrate shampoo and conditioner, I brought her back to the chair and blow dried her, hoping for a miracle. 

Lucky for me, Cassandra was in love with the new base color I was able to give her with just one application of the color extractor. If you are not so lucky with your results, you can follow the same steps listed above for 3 applications; so don't lose hope if the 1st isn't perfect,

Now, being the perfectionist that I am, I wasn't completely satisfied with the overall look. The new base color was gorgeous, it reminded me of the color Blake Lively had when she was that strawberry blonde. I just felt like she was still lacking some dimension, some pop. We were on a tight schedule so I asked her to come back later in the week so I could add some more blonde, and she was all for it.

Step Two: Perfect

She came in and I did a full foil using the ombre- back combing method, to create a beautiful diffused ombre with NO harsh lines. I used Redken Flashlift bleach with 40 volume developer and lifted her to a natural golden blonde. It turned out amazing, and she couldn't stop repeating, "This is better than I could've imagined." And in that moment, I felt a wave of satisfaction. I dolled her up with big, loose curls and sent her on her happy way. It was definitely a good week.