Hello!

My hair has been through a lot in the past two or three years – so many colours, far too much bleach and not enough trips to the hairdresser.

I wouldn’t say my hair is particularly healthy or in good condition, however it is much better than the straw-like condition it was in January. I’ve put together a few tips for if you’re considering coloured your hair or if your hair is a feeling a bit worse for wear.

Conditioner! I always use too much shampoo and conditioner but I’ve found using a little more conditioner and really massaging it into the ends of your hair (not too much into the roots, if you over condition the roots they get greasy really fast) can help with split ends and dryness and can make your hair feel pretty and touchably soft. I don’t tend to buy a specific brand of conditioner or shampoo but I try to get something different every time they run out so my hair doesn’t get bored (which is a thing) but I tend to go for something that says it is repairing, hydrating or for dry hair. Tresemme is good too but women’s shampoo and conditioner which isn’t own brand rubbish is so expensive.

Don’t wash your hair too frequently! I spent months (literally months) training my hair to not need washing as frequently – I only wash it every four or five days and that means that the colour in my hair lasts much longer because washing it destroys the colour (only in ‘extreme’ colours, natural colours are fine for that really). It also makes your hair healthier because it uses it’s own oils to keep itself clean – there are people who’ve trained their hair to not need washing at all but I don’t like the idea of taking it that far. But over washing it can lead to your hair becoming really brittle and getting greasy really fast because it becomes so reliant on being washed so regularly.

Hair masks! I’d suggest once every couple of weeks doing a hair mask if you can afford it – it’s a good way to super condition your hair and if you’re looking for a somewhat healthy way to remove colour from your hair because I used an Aussie hair treatment after I dyed my hair red at Christmas and that’s what kickstarted the weird pink pastel hair thing I had going on but the hair treatment did take a good 40% of the colour out of my hair that I’d dyed three days prior. However, hair masks can be really good for your hair and a good way to recover if you’re just about to top up the colour anyway – just be careful about brands and what you want in regard to losing the colour.

Avoid using heat on your hair! Curling it, straightening it, crimping it (do people still do that?!) and even blow drying your hair – if you don’t have to, don’t. It makes your hair even drier and more dehydrated and really damaged the dry and split ends you may have. There are natural ways to curl your hair and hairspray can keep it curled, straightening is harder to do naturally but I’ve found with everything I’ve done to my hair it doesn’t curl naturally anymore. I used to have such gorgeous curly hair that I barely had to style because it was naturally so curly but now it doesn’t curl at all, it’s basically a not-quite-straight frizzy mess. I’m hoping that not using bleach anymore, trying to keep my hair healthy and getting it cut short again (soon ish, might be a few months not sure) will bring back the curls, but I’ll keep you up to date!

Get it dyed professionally if you can! It costs so much more money, like painfully so much more money, however it is much healthier for your hair as a hairdresser is a professional for a reason – they know what they’re doing and if they think you’re asking too much of your hair they will tell you and communicate with you and design the hair that will suit you best and is closest to what you want. Or alternatively to forking out hundreds of pounds for someone to dye your hair, aim for three months before changing the colour of your hair. Except for topping up the colour, that doesn’t count.

The most obvious tip is to avoid bleaching your hair or consult a hairdresser if you want to bleach your hair for a really bright colour. Don’t do what I did and use an at home bleach three times in 48 hours. I’m very impatient.

But I’ve learnt! I’ve vowed never to bleach my hair again and never to dye my hair blue, green or purple ever again because they’re the hardest colours to remove. Always.

My plan is to keep topping up the purple in my hair (to cover the goddamn blue) until the purple dye I have runs out, then I’m going to see what happens when I put a lighter red over this colour and hope for the best, then when that runs out I’ll use a darker red I have, I’m never ever using the colour indigo because it’s too blue and I’d rather through it away than put it on my head and then by that point hopefully it’ll be a few months down the line and I can afford to go to the hairdresser and get them to dye my hair red properly and cut it short again and make it better. I cannot wait I’m literally so excited to get my hair cut it’s a little unreasonable.

Let me know if you have any more tips in the comments!

Thank you for reading,

Sophie xx

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