Sunday, January 19, 2014

Goodbye 2013, & my hair extensions....

One of my 2014 New Years Resolutions was to dedicate more time to my blog. We're halfway through January already and this is only my first post, so I already need to up my game!

But I'm starting off the New Year with a bit of a hair disaster. Quite a bit, actually. You see, I've had {very long} hair extensions for the past six months, and I suppose that as much as I adored them, I was beginning to tire of them. It's cumbersome, having to blow-dry them each time I wash my hair so that naturally drying them won't break down the bonds, pinning my hair up whenever I swim, so as to avoid having to wash and go through the whole drying process again unnecessarily. And then the knots. Oh, the knots! I tied it back often, I wore it in a plait to bed, I used the specific extension hairbrush, but on both sides of my head, where I sleep on my pillow, the hair would just matte up all around the bonds. Painful to try to brush out. Even more painful to have the hairdressers detangle them!

So it was time for them to go, and I had to do it STRAIGHT AWAY, before I changed my mind, because I DO like how beautiful they look when curled. I also decided that once back to my natural hair, I wanted to give the ombre look a whirl. I found a gorgeous picture on Pinterest, and thought it would be achievable. Little did I know, I was taking SUCH a risk, because my hairdresser barely spoke English and another woman had to do her best at translating for him. Not that I was overly worried, it IS just hair, and I can always default back to dark brown, which is generally what I end up doing anyway, I'm a brunette at heart! {and roots}.
 
Before :: the beautiful {but cumbersome} extensions

It was goodbye extensions {and knots!}, and then the ombre was attempted. Long story short, after they washed all the colour out, I almost cried. My hair was orange. ORANGE. The closest comparison is an oompa-loompas face. Seriously. I tried to remain impassive but I tell you, I was sobbing my little heart out on the inside. Instantly, they tried to fix it with toner. Five minutes before the salon was closing for the night, they dried my hair, styled it, collected my money, and sent me on my way. And I pretended to be in love with it. Because I'm non-confrontational like that. And besides, if he barely spoke English, what was the point?! I left the salon looking like a teenager who was trying to grow out a bottle of Sun-In {remember that product?!}.

It's embarrassing, but I'm an honest blogger :: the "ombre". I didn't even bother trying to make myself look nice with makeup

I came home, rummaged through the bathroom cupboards and found a chocolate brown semi-permanent packet colour that I bought in Australia before we moved to Thailand. The next day, after snapping a few God-awful photos of the disaster colour, I was brown again. And relieved. The colour is obviously darker on top of my head where they dyed it dark for the ombre attempt, and lighter where the orange was, but I don't mind that. It adds dimension. What's sad is that my hair is now in very bad condition; incredibly dry and straw-like, due to the bleaching. But that's okay, a regular hair mask can keep that under control. But my hair is so thin! I think half of my natural locks came out as they were attempting to detangle the matted extensions. I considered cutting it into a bob to mask the missing hair, but after this colour disaster? I'm VERY hesitant to let a Thai hairdresser near me with scissors!

After :: back to my natural length, and brunette in colour
 
So. My New Years Resolution? No more extensions. And no straying from brunette! Lesson learned!

Have you ever had a hair disaster as bad as mine?!


6 comments:

  1. Aww babe, what had they done to your poor hair! Seriously your description of a teenager with sun-in is spot on! Not only is the colour just not right, they also started the ombre too high up on your head making it look like regrowth. Brunette definitely suits you much better! Hope all the products you've bought manage to restore some vitality back into your hair. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh Lilit, I'm still recovering from the trauma of it all! It DID look like regrowth. There was no gradual colour change, and yes, it started way too far up on my head. And the colour itself... I don't even know what to say. Thankfully the hair care products are already leaving it a bit softer Xx

      Delete
  2. Eeek! How long did they leave the bleach on for? I'm assuming your hair would need an hour with a heat lamp like mine. They didn't try to blue shampoo the gold out a bit? I can see what you were going for, and I think it would have been brilliant if the colour would have been right. Ombré does damage the hair quite a bit unfortunately. My sister had it done a couple of years ago (just to a caramel colour) and she was really upset with how much it dried out her ends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Miss Pink... it was so awful. I can't even remember what they did; I'm trying to block the memories now! There was definitely no heat lamp involved. Your blonde is just beautiful, and I was hoping that my ends would lighten up like that. I think I'm forever a brunette now, I can't go through this trauma again!!

      Delete
  3. Oh no poor you, the brunette colour is beautiful on you! I tried to dye my own hair blonde before and it came out a similar colour! I am a new follower, please check my blog out if you have time, xxxx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hair extensions are a great way to completely change the way that your hair looks. I'very done hair extensions in the past myself and have always had great luck with them. It might also help for you to take the extensions to a stylist who will be able to custom them for you when you need them to be cut.

    Tommy Clark @ Her Hair Company

    ReplyDelete