hair die

i am a brat about my hair. i may not always style it and my roots may get a little out of control, but i am a brat about my hair.

for a long time now liana has been maintaining my mane (and pretty much all of my other kc friends) and doing a killer job. this cut, that i have been rocking some form of for almost a year, is the best cut ever. for me at least. and the color. oooh the color. i just love it blonde. my fine hair gets a volume kick, it works great with my skin tone and well, i just really love it. liana has always brought something new to the table to keep the look constantly evolving. i love that i never have to think about it.

going to liana’s salon, hairpins, is something i always look forward to. the decor is perfect. the music is always good. and there is always wine.

i have naturally darkish, dull, mousey brown hair. we bleach the snot out of it. liana mixes up her magic, slops it all over my head and then we chat until i can no longer handle the burning on my scalp. and that is usually it. last time we toned it to warm it up a little for the summer. however, b mentioned that he really loved the platinum. the almost white. and i have to agree. so i wanted to go back.

the way that my trip to kc works out i would need to get my hair done one more time before the wedding. so i decided i would find someone to do the color down here, liana will cut it when i am in kc next week and then i would get it done about a week before the wedding. good plan.

before b and i even moved down here i asked his cousin, who always has good hair, who she goes to. as i suspected..she was having a hard time finding a stylist that wanted to jump all over the color spectrum with her and try new things. urg. but then i figured it is bleach. how hard can it be? ha! i made an appointment at the aveda salon in the nice shopping center. when i called to book i told the desk girl i was new in town and looking for someone who was good with blondes. she set me up with someone for the same day. score.

when the girl came to get me from the waiting area i was trying to remain hopeful. she was young, with looooong blonde highlighted hair. that she wore parted to the side and totally straight. i am judgey and question how this is all going to turn out. so i tell her what i want. i show her a picture of what i want. i tell her that i am used to bleach all over with no toner. she gets her swatches to find my natural level. then she gets the blonde swatches. um…i said bleach.

did my previous stylist do an all over between my highlights?-i don’t have highlights

she thinks she can pull it to the lightest shade currently in my hair. my stomach balls up into a knot. i tell her to go for it. she consults the other stylist again.

she recommends that i do a conditioning treatment before the color, as they are worried about breakage and damage to my hair- no thank you. i am going to barf. i want to text the world, but i my phone is dying. i tell myself to calm the eff down.

WHERE IS THE WINE!?

she will be putting one color on my new growth and then at the end will put it through all my hair to lighten it up.

BLEACH. ALL OVER MY HEAD.

(i should have just said something then, but i am overly polite in situations like this and often times pay for it later….note to self…)

ok. so she starts sloppin it on. we talk about aveda. where she went to school.  she wishes she could have more bold hair but her fiance doesn’t like it. she died her hair dark blonde once and it really changed their relationship-like they were totally different people. so she is a stylist that lets someone else control her look. i know this is the last time i will sit in her chair. call me what you will, but that girl isn’t going to bring anything new and exciting to the table. so whatever. she finally gets all the goo in my hair, covers me with a shower cap and gives me a stack of magazines to peruse. she probably stops back every 20 minutes to check my progress. b stopped in to see what was taking so long and i was so thankful to be able to verbalize my hair anxiety.

“what’s the worst that can happen?” he asks. “your hair could fall out. then we would have to reschedule the wedding. or get you a nice hat”

at some point the guy that my stylist had been consulting with stopped by to check on it. i think he may be their lead stylist. i explained to him what i was used to, what i wanted, and expressed my concern at it taking so long. apparently i said something that he got because he told my girl to let it finish lifiting and to just rinse me and see how it is. b asks how long. at least another 30 minutes. good god! this is the longest hair appointment of my life. now i know how all you thick haired ladies feel! finally she the puts the bleach on the rest of my hair. we rinse. she is amazed at how my hair lifted. and then she is joyous. it was so fun! no one ever does anything like this. something about how it was the first time it came out right. she was genuinely excited. and it was so nice to see someone be so excited about their trade, but also at that very moment i couldn’t help but think “this chick is never getting anywhere near my head with shears”.

i think my color usually takes about 30 minutes with liana. i sat there processing for over an hour. my scalp never even tingled. i understand that it is nice of a stylist to not want to irritate your scalp, but i want my scalp irritated! the first time i saw someone going from dark to light without bleach i was shocked! who does that?

it is still a little golden. not quite back to the white yet.

i see liana next week for a trim, a wedding ‘do test run. and hopefully a quick lesson on home hair bleaching.

if you want amazing hair go see liana (or any of the awesome stylists) at hairpins salon in kansas city’s crossroads district.