When some folks look at their hair and decide its time for a change, they take a deep breath head for the hairdressers, and get 2cm taken off their fringe. Then there are the others out there who will wake up one day and decide it's time to go electric blue. As you may have guessed, if your idea if really interesting hair colour is magenta, peach-pink, apple green, or even all three at once, then you've probably guessed this final blog in our 'how to successfully transform your hair colour 'series is for you.
Those ready to 'taste the rainbow' will always have our unreserved admiration and respect - nothing shouts confidence and fun louder cascading curls in candyfloss pink! But trust us, to pull off crazy colours with real panache you need to get your sensible head on first, and heed some advice from our salon specialists.
For starters, having healthy hair is essential for long-lasting colour, so going for a daring shade is never going to be the technicolour quick-fix for hair in poor condition. Secondly, unless you were born with the very whitest of blond hair (i.e. you're an elf), you'll need to strip back your colour natural colour with bleach beforehand. Without this light canvas no colour will gain true saturation, leaving a tone so muddy you'll actually be glad it also washes out twice as fast.
Now for our most important recommendation of all; get bleached by a professional! And if the colourist tells you that your dark chestnut mane will need whitening over more than one session, do bear in mind they're not trying to ruin your day - they just don't want to commit an act of chemical warfare on your scalp!
Once your colour is in you need to avoid heat as much as possible to preserve it, so try and let your hair dry naturally and avoid tongs, straighteners, and even strong summer sunlight. Dare we say it, it's even best to wash it as infrequently as you can tolerate, and rinse with water as cold as you can bear. Strong colour needs tender loving care.
I have great love for extreme, outstanding, statement colours. Whether it be to clash and stand out or to bring life to your natural hair beauty." Enthuses Jodie Daniels, our Sevenoaks salon colour guru. "I'm a fan of the semi permanent ranges, they have a good lifespan but still mean you're able to change things up and keep your look fresh. Colour conditioners are great to keep the look fresh, or do what I do and add a touch of crazy colour to your conditioner to maintain the vibrancy."
For those of you who fancy experimenting, but don't quite feel ready for cobalt blue or full-on magenta, "remember you don't have go full-on punk to enjoy a bit of crazy colour," explains Symon May, our Tunbridge Wells colour specialist "in fact, soft pinks, peaches and delicate violets subtly applied to blonde hair can create a real pretty effect that will enhance your natural girlishness."
"Whether is a vibrant pillar-box red to soft festival hues of pink anything can be achieved," agrees Rebecca Adams, "but all these shades are high maintenance - you may need to top up your colour once a week to keep that vibrancy, and that can mean gloves, special towels, and watch that white pillow case! Having said that many of the guests I colour dramatically view this upkeep just like putting their lipstick on. My final word of advice would be a small warning to anyone thinking of putting petrol green tones in blonde ends for summer, because that's the shade that really doesn't wash out - no never!"
What every crazy shade you may be tempted by, the only thing to remember is that strong colour needs tender loving care.
