Lucky for me, I lived with my own personal hairdresser growing up: my mother. Throughout middle school and high school, my mother cut, styled, and highlighted my hair better than I could have ever imagined. However, when I entered college and coming home was not always an option, I began wondering if I somehow inherited the hairdressing gene. I could only find out one way: by highlighting my own hair.
My mission started in Walgreens, all alone. I scanned the shelves of different shades of blonde, witnessing the range of Nicole Kidman to Sabrina Spellman. Finally, I found a highlighting kit from L’Oréal Paris Féria with beautiful champagne tones and bravely swiped my card.
I raced home, ran into the bathroom, and spread out all of my supplies. After about five minutes, my bathroom looked like a hybrid of a mad scientist’s lab and a hair salon: covered in gloves, weird tubes, and the lingering scent of bleach. I followed the instructions on the package, mixed the materials, and followed this tutorial about how to section my hair for a balayage. Section by section, I methodically placed the dye. The hardest part was bleaching the back of my head, which I overcame by sectioning my hair into two sections (like pigtails). After I painted each strand, I waited about 45 minutes for the magic.
At last, I finally washed my hair. When my hair dried, I was surprised to see that my sectioning worked pretty well. However, the dye I bought was made for blondes and I have medium brown hair. Therefore, the color was less obvious than I would have liked but still looked nice and blended.
Upon reflection, I would definitely try dying my own hair again. While a salon offers the best quality, dying your own hair is exhilarating and fun. Honestly, the butterflies in my stomach about whether my hair would look like a Cheeto or Alessandra Ambrosio’s beautiful sunny locks was half the fun. Obviously if you want your hair to look picturesque, a salon is the way to go (and if you do, go to Dellaria in Kenmore). Yet, I know the struggle of paying for textbooks and still wanting to experiment with your hair. In fact, I believe I could be the CEO of hair phases.
If you embark on dying your own hair, make sure you research the right dye and technique for the look you want. I wish I had researched the dye I used before my spontaneous Walgreens adventure because my hair would have lifted the right amount. However, I benefited a huge amount from watching countless videos about how to balayage your own hair. Research will give you an outline of the right steps and materials to use when dying your hair.
While we all may not have the artistry of Brad Mondo, what’s stopping us from changing up our look?
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