Achieving Lavender Locks

I've always been obsessed with the lavender hair trend - helloo Kelly Osborne's hair? Je t'aime! I wish I was ballsy enough to completely go for & completely dye my full head - but for now I just have been experimenting with the underside of my hair.

Having dark hair to start is basically a pain in the ass. If you have blonde hair I'm envious; although it's probably better I don't - my hair would be a different color every week. But my dark hair required multiple bleaching attempts (3 to be exact, and I should still probably do it once more) & a lot of trial & error. I read a lot of blog posts about it online & it seemed relatively easy enough. I purchased Hot Topic's RAW White-Out Bleach Kit, SPLAT Lust Lavender, & a british hair dye, Directions Colour Violet. The Directions came very highly recommended, but since it was shipping from Britain I knew it was going to take awhile so I started off with the Splat.

After my multiple bleachings, I mixed my dye. To achieve the Lavender/pastel colors you need to mix the dye in with a white conditioner. For the conditioner, I just used some cheap $.99 shit from CVS. It was recommended to have a lot of conditioner and add a little dye at a time. I mixed it to the color I wanted to see in my hair and finally applied the Splat color to my hair. The first time I kept it in for the recommended time: 2 hours. It completely washed out of my hair. I tried it again for 4 hours, washed out again. Finally, I kept the dye in for 7 and a half hours & it finally stayed relatively in my hair, but was more of a pink color. It washed out the second time I washed my hair. I was very disappointed in the Splat dye, but for a boxed dye from Ulta I guess its what I get.

When my Directions color arrived I mixed the conditioner-dye together & applied it to my hair for again, their recommended time of 2 hours. This time the dye completely stayed in after I washed it! The color even looks like what I want! I am obsessed with the Directions color dye & highly recommend it to anyone who is considering it. Unfortunately, it is impossible to keep up with the unnatural colors - it still washes out in two washes, so every few days I am re-dyeing my hair. Thank god I only have to keep it in for 2 hours. I find myself showering at night the day I wash my hair & just applying the dye sometime during the late afternoon & going about my nightly routines.

There are definitely benefits to these unnaturally colored "dyes". Firstly, they are vegetable based and therefore not really harmful at all to your hair. Mixing it with the conditioner also leaves your hair super soft when its washed! Also, because you're mixing it with conditioner & using such a small amount each time, the amount of dye does last for a long time. I've probably dyed my hair three with the Directions 3 times so far & it barely looks like I've touched it!


** I'm not super particular or anal about perfectly coating every strand with the dye. I like the look of the messiness of it when the colors are fading. The image of my hair in the bun is a good example of what I'm talking about. Also, the images aren't the most accurate depictions of what the color really looks like in real life because my bathroom has the most unnatural lighting ever. **