New Year, New Hair #lorealmagenta #hicolorhighlights

It's a brand New Year, so I wanted to make a change. Besides all of my New Years Resolutions, I wanted to make a change in my appearance. I decided, ah, what the heck- why don't I try something a bit dramatic and dye my hair...

I normally either henna it or use some vegan dye on my dark hair. Then, the color is just subtle until I'm outside in the bright sun.

I wanted something that showed up indoors as well, but I truly was afraid of destroying my hair.

I hate bleach. I hate everything about it. 

I searched all over the internet and also talked to my sister who is a hair stylist about what my options were. I wanted to use a product that would be dramatic, yet not fry my curls!

It all came down to one product.

L'oreal Hicolor Hilights.

It would lift my original hair color and dye it all in one step. It also wouldn't cause as much damage.

Sound too good to be true? I watched a ton of YouTube videos and read a ton of blog reviews- yes, I read other people's as well- and they all seemed to have pretty great results. 

I finally decided to take the plunge myself.

Here's what I ended up buying:

I bought three boxes of the L'oreal Excellence HiColor HiLights in Magenta, Neutral Protein Filler, a spray bottle, and Ion Sensitive Scalp 30 Developer. (I got sensitive because I hate using strong chemicals and was afraid to irritate my scalp. I also heard it works just as well as the regular, so why not?)

I had latex gloves and a whisk in the house. My sister let me borrow a dye bowl, measuring dye tube, a brush, and gave me a plastic cap.

Now, not everyone is too familiar with a protein filler. Have you heard of that stuff before?

I never had until after the numerous videos I watched on achieving the best hair color. Basically, from my understanding, a protein filler helps "fill" in the gaps of damage on your hair, and equalizes the porosity of your hair. They come in a few different colors and neutral. I bought the neutral one. Long story short, I was told, and if I'm incorrect, I apologize, (I AM NOT A COSMETOLOGIST), but it helps make your hair look less damaged and healthy while coloring it and seals the color in better and more evenly. I wish I had heard about such a thing when I was a teenager.

I dyed and bleached my hair like nobody's business back then. My hair definitely could have benefited from using a protein filler every now and then.

Oh well. We get older and we learn new things...

Okay, so back to the process.

I waited till everyone was asleep. Kind of hard to dye your hair when you've got a wild 7 year old running around and an 8 month old baby wanting to nurse and feed. I love my kiddos, but I needed some definite ME time. And dying my hair falls into that category.

I completely forgot to take pictures, but I'll just explain. I poured the entire tiny bottle of protein filler into the green spray bottle and sprayed all over clean, shampooed, damp, micro fiber towel dried hair. 

I put on a plastic cap and let that sit for 20 minutes. 

(Yes, I ended up applying the dye to slightly damp hair, no biggie).

I clipped my hair up in sections (sorry I forgot to take that pic), and then 

I put a ton of garbage bags along the bathroom floor and covered my sink, just in case dye dripped or spilled anywhere. Keep in mind, I was doing this around 3 or 4 in the morning, so anything could have happened in my tired state. 

Got my gloves ready and opened up my first tube.

I squeezed in two tubes total, so that's 1.2 oz + 1.2 oz= 2.4 oz total of the color. I didn't open the third, since I figured I probably wouldn't need it.

According to the directions you use double the developer, which is what I did.

I used 4.8 oz of the 30 developer.

I saw a lot of these people on YouTube using a whisk because they say that it works better to break up all of the color molecules, and something about how red has bigger ones, blah blah blah. I had an extra whisk, not exactly like the ones I saw, but it was a whisk from a frother, so I used it anyway), and I stirred until everything was uniform in color, with no lumps.

I was stirring pretty quickly, in hopes that I could get this all taken care of before my baby would wake up wanting a night feeding.

Look at that gorgeous color! Beautiful.

Got the dye brush up in there. Normally I just use my gloved hands, but everyone kept saying to use a brush, so I did.

Got all my hair, minus the roots, and massaged it in a little. 

Yes, there were a couple of drops on my forehead, but I quickly wiped those off so they wouldn't stain.

I put on my pretty little plastic cap.

Ignore that bloody looking plastic wrap around my neck! Ha, believe it or not, but it was a good idea, because I didn't make a mess ANYWHERE else!! 

I left it on my hair and read a book for about fifteen minutes and then I applied the rest of the mixture onto my roots and covered up again. 

Did it itch or burn?

It itched a little, but nothing major. 

Also, the funniest thing happened. No, I did not think it was funny then, but looking back, it cracks me up. Again, remember it was really late, and I was exhausted by this point...

I thought that my hair had started to sizzle. 

Why? 

Because of my bare feet walking around on the garbage bags. They made a similar sound, I freaked out, almost lost my cool, held my breath to listen, heard nothing. Walked forward, heard it again, freaked out, and then looked down.

Priceless. I almost ripped that cap off my head, screaming.

What a nice scare! My hair was fine.

I rinsed my hair out with super cold water, bent over my tub. Then I used a color safe conditioner and rinsed again. Wrapped my hair in a micro fiber towel so it wouldn't get frizzy. 

End results:

I started off with medium brown hair, as shown on left, and then that is my freshly dyed hair on the right.

My hair looks pretty messy and frizzy on the left, doesn't it? Well, I think adding that protein filler was an excellent idea, don't you? Normally when I use any kind of harsh dyes on my hair, (and I honestly try to avoid doing that as much as possible), my hair comes out looking a million times worse. This time, although the developer is straight up peroxide, my hair received very little damage!!! OH MY GOSH. I know.

I like it a lot. My roots caught, everything caught. My hair is a deep red, especially in the sun and bright lighting.

This is bright lighting.

This is in front of a window on the left. On the right, with camera flash.

I do like it, but I wouldn't mind brighter though. My initial hair color was a bit darker than I thought? 

I always try again next month, I guess. 

I don't hate it. Outside, it's definitely turning quite a few heads. lol

My Final Thoughts on Everything That I Used

I would definitely use these products again. Everything- the Hicolor tubes, the sensitive developer, and most of all, the protein filler. 

I like that my hair color came out bright and not damaged. It looks shiny and healthy. The overall smell of the products wasn't super pleasant, but not as bad as say store bought box dye. I opened a window near me and left the fan on. The scent didn't linger for long after I rinsed out my hair. 

As for staining-- I really didn't make a mess! A few drops after I rinsed it, but they wiped away clean. Normally after I dye my hair, I stain clothes, towels, pillow cases, etc. but surprisingly, this hasn't happened. I always my hair is completely dry before I sit or lay against anything.

Ignore the little add ons. It was the only photo I had available. I will add in some more when I have better ones. :)

This was not a sponsored post. I paid for the products. I am not a licensed cosmetologist, so what worked for me, may not work for you. 

#lorealmagenta

#hicolorhilights

#redhair