How Not to Go Blonde

Probably one of the biggest hair mistakes I've made to date was this past summer when I went blonde.  It was fine initially:

But, then I got greedy with my blonde. There are few pictures from that period, because it was awful. Here's the deal: the girl who did the original color pissed me off, so I refused to go back to her. After 3 weeks of the above color, I had some roots coming in, and wanted to push it to the next level of platinum. So I went to a mall. Mistake number one. The girl was really nice, but here was the issue: she had no way of knowing what particular chemical compounds got me to where I was. So, when she started overlaying her formula on the hair, it didn't oxidize properly.

My roots, which were achieved from my original dark brown, turned white. The bottom, which had been bleached over previous dye (something which my initial hairdresser knew), turned a bit more orange. Some other parts turned lighter as well, and instead of being a pretty highlighted example of gorgeous Marilyn Monroe platinum, it was the most heinous patchwork piece I've ever seen. And, naturally, the amount of distress on the hair meant there was little i could do to help it without running the risk of it falling out. So I just had to live with it.

This doesn't do it justice, but here's what it looked like from a distance (even worse, because of the rootline):

What is my point?  I wanted to introduce the lessons that I learned from this.

1) Do not go for a drastic color change if you are trying to grow your hair out, and you have a particular deadline. My darling friend Becca is getting married in August of this year. I decided that I wanted long hair, so endeavored to start growing it out last summer. Thanks to my blonde disaster, I've had to go through two cuts where the main goal of the hair stylist was to remove "crisps." I could harp all I wanted to them about not taking off too much, but at the end of the day even if they didn't do it then, it needed to come off. My head looked dead until January.

2) Don't go to someone you don't trust for a major hair change. This is hard for me, because I'm very whimsical with my hair. I didn't entirely trust the first girl; she had trimmed my hair in the past, by hacking off several inches more than I asked. But, I wanted to be blonde NOW, and that's who was available.  She complained about my hair the whole time (note, I was paying her about $200), so afterward I refused to go back. Then, the mall incident. This is unusual for me; I'm whimsical with my hair choices, but almost always research a place before I will go. The problem here was that it was Sunday, and, again, I had to be platinum NOW. In addition to all of the color issues above, chica had no idea that I have a dreadfully sensitive scalp and it burned for the next 2 weeks. Don't. Do. It. Be patient. 

3) Become best friends with coconut oil. This really saved me; the oil is clear, so there weren't any issues with the the oil discoloring my already discolored color. I warmed it up and would go to sleep with my hair wrapped in this, and then shampoo it out in the morning. Flat-ironing after this would legitimately make my hair look healthy. If it can pull that off, I'd trust it with just about any lie I'd ever need to tell.

4) Be willing to pay. I payed around $400 for both treatments, and if I had wanted it done well, I would have paid more, at least here in Baltimore. My natural hair is almost black, and the blonding happened over other hair color. This is not a cheap process, and if I had sucked it up and been patient, I might have paid more initially but would not be having to pay for all of these haircuts to remove death. 

Now, I am back to brown, and watching my hair grow, hoping with every appendage crossed that it will be acceptable for le wedding de Becca. I take biotin every day, do a weekly hair mask (back to olive oil these days), and my CHI and I have taken an indefinite break while I'm off getting to know myself. These are all things that should be done anyway, but there's a difference between seeking benefit from tricks, and being dependent on them so that your hair doesn't fall out.