Dear Diary

Time For a Change

by Retro Chick
May 28, 2012
16 Comments
128 Views

I’ve had red hair now for 5 years.

That’s probably the longest I’ve kept my hair the same colour for most of my adult life. I was getting bored of it, and needed a change, so last week I impulsively ran out and bought a box of Colour B4 Extra strength colour remover and, with some trepidation stripped as much of the red from my hair as I could.

I was rather surprised that it worked at all, to be honest, and I’m also not a tabby patchy shade either. The ends have been stained slightly by years of red dye, so they’re a different colour than the roots, but the overall effect is of a strawberry blonde, which I don’t mind at all.

I’ve got a box of blonde dye, which when I’m brave enough I’ll see if it can remove the staining, though I’m a bit worried about just increasing the colour difference between the roots and the ends!

It feels lighter and more summery this colour. Which is appropriate considering the weather seems to have finally run out of rain and this last week has been rather glorious! It made for a beautiful evening on Sunday for our second Flicks and Lips Tutorial, followed by the Sip and Shop.

Our next Sip and Shop will be on the 24th June, if you fancy popping along for some ice cold cocktails, vintage shopping and some lovely company. Here’s a few photos from this one (P.S. Please excuse the amount of midriff I’m showing in the last photo, the top isn’t actually that short, but when I put my hands on my hips for the photo it pulled the skirt down and it looks like I’ve gone out in a cropped top!)

16 Comments

Lena May 28, 2012

Strawberry blonde really suits you!x
Helen May 28, 2012

Are you naturally a light brown/blonde then?

I used the dye-stripper when I decided to stop being jet black. It made my roots blonde and everything else sort of slightly less black! Not an unbridled success in my case, sadly. Ah well!
- Gemma May 28, 2012
  
  Yes, I have a sort of mousey blonde hair naturally. The ends are still slightly red!
- Faith May 28, 2012
  
  Your best bet is probably getting it stripped at a salon, I am currently the same colour at Gemma used to be (btw Love the blog) and I have nauturally mousy brown hair with a reddish tinge, Id dyed my hair black 18 months then when I thought I got my original colour back
  - Faith May 28, 2012
    
    turns out it wasnt and when the hair dresser had stripped it the difference was amazing deffiently worth getting it done professionall (sorry the comment came in two parts.)
Gill Crawshaw May 28, 2012

The new colour looks lovely – it really suits you!
Anne Scott May 28, 2012

The strawberry blonde is nice for a change, but personally love the red!
Franca May 28, 2012

ooh, I like it! It actually looks intentionally ombre with the tips!
Paperdoll May 28, 2012

Love the ‘new’colour!, I have box of this sat upstairs waiting for me to ‘go back to my roots’, Lol. X
jennine May 28, 2012

You look amazing strawberry blonde! I recently went from my natural brunette to a dark blonde and I love it. Never going back… for now anyway.

Having a change is always fun!
Penny Dreadful Vintage May 28, 2012

It looks fab on you, can;t wait to see the new blonde!

Penny Dreadful Vintage
simone May 28, 2012

I’ve been reading your blog for a while now.love it! Totally makes my day when you post new stuff. I used b4 about a month ago it turned me in to mick hucknell and the little mermaid’s love child and smelt like rotten eggs for about a week! I’m pleased your hair turned out pretty! Keep being fab x
LandGirl1980 May 29, 2012

I adore the new colour – it reaaaaaally suits you. Like. A whole lot.
MissMagpie May 29, 2012

I had my hair a dark red for a couple of years and have gone back to blonde now. (I was blonde as a child and as I got older it went boring old mousey brown.)
My hair came out a very similar shade to your new colour when I first had it done, which looks FAB by the way! I left it a little while to recover and then had it coloured again and it is now a golden blonde which I love. I actually prefer it to the ash blonde which is what I had been thinking about.
Suzy June 1, 2012

I like it. It sets you apart from all the other red-haired vintage ladies on the scene. The colour suits you.
Lady Cherry June 10, 2012

I rather like it on you. When I used this at Christmas, mine went fraggle orange :/ I was hoping to strip out and go candy floss pink, but my hairdresser said it would cause too much damage to my hair. So I have gone back to red again. I wanted to try Christina Hendricks copper, but I couldn’t find a non permanent shade that I liked so I chickened out. I think I might give it a go later in the year though. When I am on maternity leave, so if it all goes horribly wrong I won’t have to go out!!