Taking Matters Into My Own Hands

What Happened?

It's now been 7 weeks since The Haircut from Hell.   I went with the second of two options after the incident happened, letting it just grow out and dealing with it looking weird.  I could have cut it even shorter into a bob, but my hair doesn't like to be short-it's pretty wavy and thick so it just looks kind of like a mushroom and not like a cool French ingenue.  To re-cap, I basically went from having nice, long-ish, blonde hair past my shoulders, to a poorly highlighted Jennifer Aniston circa 1995 shag.  It was not my usual stylist, she was out on maternity leave, and I tried something new.  I paid the price!

As part of the growing out process I invested in an "herbal supplement" called Biotin (its just a vitamin from Rite Aid!), that is supposed to help hair grow (thanks Google).  I have never been too big on that kind of thing, but, hey, why not try it?  It cost $8 for a bottle of 60, and I say it was well worth it.  Measuring my hair from the line of demarkation (where the awful highlights begin), it appears that my hair has been growing an average of almost 1" per month.  That is about double the norm of 1/2".  I think my hair does grow pretty fast naturally, but I have to admit, I'm impressed. I feel like my hair is noticably longer than it was after "the incident".   

Since the way my hair was cut made it so that the top layer was blonde and the bottom layers a dark blonde/light brown (I shudder), I knew I would probably have to dye it before I was ready to cut again.
I have already scheduled my next hair appointment for a month from now with my regular awesome stylist, but since she might as well start her highlights from scratch, I figured I would dye it at home a color that closely approximates my natural shade.

I am really impressed with this stuff!

 Over the weekend I stopped at Ulta, where I had a coupon (of course!) for $3.50 off $10.  The exact shade and type of dye that I decided on is this L'Oreal Sublime Mousse, and it was on sale for $7.  I haven't dyed my own hair for awhile, not since all of the new mousse formulas have come out.  I found that it covered much better than I rememebered other types of dye, and, as you will see, I think the color was pretty true to shade, #70 Pure Dark Blonde.

NYX Concealer

 Since I had to get my total up to at least $10 for the coupon (I know, I know) I also got these (they were BYGO). So, my total was $12.  I tried this maximum coverage concealer, and although I like the shade, I don't know if it quite has the staying power advertised.  The other, the stick, is another concealer that I got in a luminesent lavender shade to put in the corners of the eyes.  So far, I like it!  I need to see how it holds up with different eye looks.

 

Before & After

Here is the before/after for my hair.  Not too shabby for $7!  It also looks (I think anyway) a lot better than that awful overgrown obvious highlights look.  I'll keep you posted as to how it holds up!

After!

Before...