I’m not even kidding. I have been to Walmart everyday this week except for Monday. I always forget something. Or perhaps it would be more fair to say that no matter what I just bought, tomorrow I will need something else, and unfortunately, Walmart has pretty much everything and the lowest prices, so back I go.
So, the most exciting thing I did this week is color my hair. I’ve never done it before. (Well, there was that one time in high school when I let my friend try to color my hair with one of those temporary party colors--true red!--but it didn’t work.) However, in the last year, I’ve been getting more and more grays, and it was becoming increasingly more difficult to hide them.
I’ve actually had the box of Natural Instincts for almost a year, and it’s taken me this long to get up the nerve to use it. Since I’m a complete novice, I was a little afraid that it would turn out badly. Last time I got my hair cut, I asked my stylist for tips. She said use semi-permanent, so it uniformly washes out and doesn’t leave roots, and don’t pay attention to what the color is called, go by the pictures.
And now for the reveal.
From this (random photo taken in Dec ‘09):
To this (photo taken yesterday to try to recreate above photo):
Who needs Everest when they've got this kind of excitement?
25 comments:
wow! that looks great! The thing about hair color is how it seems to smooth the hair and make it silky!
That's what I need, something to cover the gray. I have NEVER done it myself. I have only had my hair highlighted at the salon, (but not for years) I have never considered doing an all over hair color. And you used a color application brush? so you only did bits and pieces? or all over? I'm so going to try this... well at least I might! I'm a big chicken when it comes to my hair. I'm hoping the sun will lighten this summer, but that does nothing to cover up the gray!
I'm rambling now... thanks for the inspiration to "think" about doing this!
gail
I have to laugh, because Friday we drove over three hundred miles. When we arrived at our destination early we couldn't think of anything tourist-y to do, so we went to Walmart and spent hundreds (okay, maybe thousands) of imaginary dollars. We are so lame!
Wow, great color match! I used to highlight my hair, but I've never tried to cover the gray. On me, the grays stand out because the rest of my hair is dark brown. As long as I have them, though, I can tease my son that he's responsible for most of them. :)
Love it Holly!!
Love it!!! You did great! I'm with you... it took me SO long to get up the nerve... but then I went crazy! Now I color my own hair - AND I CUT IT, TOO! (You'd be surprised at the tutorials you can find on youtube... plus it doesn't hurt that my sister is a professional!) I'm now my husband's official hairstylist... I cut his hair every 6 weeks, right in master bathroom. We've got so much other "stuff" we'd rather spend our money on! :)
It looks so nice Holly, good job! I'm a red-head too, no grays yet (thank God!), but I know when thy start appearing I'll be heading out to buy some home color too. Great tip to buy based off the box vs the name. Nice to "hear" from you :)
~Charlene @ LHM
Looks natural to me!! You did a good job. :) I have very dark hair, so I feel extra blessed to not have had to color my hair yet. Sort of dreading that....
i colored my hair for over 10 years until it was just about impossible to get the grays to take the color and stay colored. But, I applaud you for learning to do something that will make you feel prettified! I now let Mother Nature frost my mostly ash brown hair - and it's in great shape and I love the real-ness of it! (:
Hi Holly. Your hair looks fantastic, and I'm with Gail. The smooth and silky is the best!
Happy, super fun, eventful weekend! ;)
XO*T
I have used Natural Instincts for years. I got tired of paying to have my hair done at the salon. It took a few times to get my perfect color number, but I have the perfect color that I use now and I am very pleased with the results. I just colored today. I do mine every month and it washes out so naturally. I tried the permanent hair color and I did not like it, because my hair grows too fast and the roots showed right away. The Natural Instincts is the perfect choice and is so easy to use. Your hair looks great!!! Love & blessings from NC!
Your hair looks great:)
That tip about rinse-out is priceless thanks for sharing it!!
And you hair looks great btw...
Oh so pretty!
Marilyn
The color is great! And for the record, you don't have any fat on your arms and I may very well hate you. Kidding! The hair looks great! ~Mindy
Great color..looks natural..covers the gray thats great..keep a watch to see if they stay covered..mine are tough little buggers.
The color looks great, but best of all, you feel good about yourself!
How exciting! I also make multiple trips to Walmart a week. It is both a blessing and a curse to have a Walmart 2 minutes from my house.
The color looks great! I have super dark hair, and I have had it professionally done a few times...but 2009 was not a great year, so I decided that was a luxery I couldn't afford. I did some color from the bottle, and the color was too light! So it made my bangs way lighter than I'm used to, but at least it covered the grays!
I've been coloring my hair since 6th grade so I'm so happy you braved it! It looks great and isn't is so nice to cover up those grays! I just did it the other day too!
I like it... and I'm ALL FOR covering the random, stray greys! I've started to find a few too. My dad was getting lots just in his 20's (he's like completely white now) but I didn't follow in his footsteps (THANK YOU JESUS!) But, I, too, am really terrified of screwing up my hair too. I don't know why I don't just do a semi-permanent like you did... looks great!
lovely, and it's shinier than before! See, we are scared of change for no reason!! Way to push yourself out of your box! I am always medium blonde and get highlights, but I decided last week to go the color of my roots, maybe a little darker, and I like it! I still wonder who that person is in the mirror looking back since I've been blonde so long, but it looks healthy and strong. Glad I went for something different this time!!
It looks great! I use the same brand, although mine is Amber Shimmer or something Sunset. I am so gray around the temples, that I look 10 year older than I am - we are - everytime I put my hair in a ponytail (which unfortunately, is almmost daily).
I go to Wal-Mart daily too. You know it's bad when they know you by name.
Looks awesome! Be careful, though, holding on to boxed color for that long before you use it. Any hairdresser will tell you that the chemicals, after a while, change and can become ineffective and not work at all. (yeah, even unopened.) I've been coloring my hair since 9th grade and I won't even begin to tell you how many years that's been! LOL Let's just say a long, long time. I started to cover what I'd call "mousey brown" dull hair. Now it's totally to cover gray. My daughter became a hairdresser after high school. You'd think she'd find time to do Mom's hair and make me fabulous! Ha! Nope. Too busy with payin' customers! So, I still do the boxed color and do just fine!
You've inspired me! I'm getting very, very tired of all the gray in my hair. . . but I don't want to pay the big bucks for having it colored. I've never done any hair color before--I'll confess, I'm skeered as a rabbit in a forest full of foxes. But if you can get that kind of result with light red hair, maybe I can do something with my dark red hair!
Wow!! The pictures looks great, Holly! Perfect, natural-looking color! I'm glad you finally got brave and tried it, although I sure never noticed any grays last time I saw you. I'm going to use your tip and shop by picture, not color name and also try the non-permanent like you suggested...I've learned something new from my little sister (not the first time, though!) BTW, did you use the brush to apply it all over or so that you could just color where you wanted? Miss you...sister #2
Yahoo! It looks so subtle and nice. Girl, I'm 28 and have been dying my hair for years bc of grays. Isn't that sad?? In fact, no word of a lie, I'm hoping to go to Walmart tonight to get a box of highlights. I love going to Walmart. It is THE thing to do in this tiny town. If we didn't have Walmart, I'm not sure what we'd do!
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