Tips and Tricks To Maintain Bleached Hair

My hair is no stranger to bleach. It all started with me having long hair and wanting something different. I just moved to Perth and i wanted something different. After countless of hours of deciding what I wanted to do with my hair and even more countless hours of researching how I was going to do it. I decided i wanted to do the ombre/balayage look. Here's a little brief introduction of my ombre/balayage journey.

Lush H'suan Wen Hua

Back when I had long, bleached, blonde hair - LUSH H'Sua Wen Hua was my savior!!! First of all, let me tell you that this product does NOT smell nice. In fact, if it wasn't for its magic properties, I would've stayed away from it. It smells like eggs, cinnamon and rose. Such a weird combination, but it does wonderssss to your hair. My hair is healthier now (than when it was broomstick dry). This baby saved it. 

Review: Schwarzkopf Dry Oil Mist Smooth and Shine

Michel Mercier Detangler Brush Review

I dont know what took me so long to get myself a detangling brush, but i am so glad i did! I got the Michel Mercier Detangler Brush! They cater to different types of hair - Normal, Fine and Thick hair. I got the blue one for thick hair. Read more about my hair type here.

Especially now with my bleached blonde highlights, tangles are inevitable. I have to sleep in braids or braided pigtails so i would wake up with an organised tangle. There are more time than i would like to admit where i am near tears in trying to battle my knots and tangles with my paddle brush. So, I was pretty excited to try it and boy, it worked. Getting this brush is on my best investment list. This brush works well with both wet and dry hair! 

Its a plastic hollow brush with fine bristles. What I love most about it is the large handle, it makes it so easy to grip and brush through my tangles. It has to be one of the easiest hair tool i have, all you have to do its just brush! Whenever i brush through my hair, it doesn't feel like i am breaking my ends, like how it is with my paddle brush. It takes me less than 5 minutes to brush through. I would apply my Macadamia Healing Oil Treatment, after for some shine and moisture. You have no idea how i love running my fingers through my hair after! I am constantly touching it!

Bastiste Dry Shampoo (Review)

I take great pride in taking care of my hair. Its dark, thick, heavy, prone to spilt ends and pretty much high maintenance but i love pampering my hair with hair mask, hair oils and such. I try to go a few days in between washing my hair. Number 1: my hair is really long and its such a burden to wash. Number 2: it gives me time to let the natural oils in my hair build so my hair doesn't dry out.

KL where i live is hot, humid and everything tropical. The minute you step out of the house, you will sweat! Its crazy! Even after a shower, while putting clothes on, you will sweat! I have been a dry shampoo fan for years but it was during my summer break when I was back home, I realised that i needed dry shampoo in my life permanently (if i was going to live in KL). The story is...our water heater broke. My house is over 30 years old, so it was still using the old water system and needed to be re-wired <- i dont know what was the deal! its taking forever to fix and when i mean forever, it is still not fixed!!!!!!!!! im going back in a month, really not looking forward to it!!! This also happened simultaneously when KL was having water shortage, certain suburbs in KL didnt have water for days, including mine! (sorry, still very bitter about the no water, no hot water and uncomfortable hot weather i went through) /bitter rant ends.

I depended on dry shampoo to make my hair look presentable. This thing was a life saver. I finished two big cans within two months. It frustrates me that the Malaysian market does not sell dry shampoo. I particularly liked Bastiste Dry Shampoo because of the smell. My favourite is tropical - it smells heavenly of coconut and vanilla.

How I Use It:

1. After second day hair, i would shake the can vigorously and lightly spray on my hair. I say lightly because there will be white residue which is the powder and it can get every where on your hair if not careful.

2. After that I would gently go through my hair and dust off whatever white residue is left and brush my hair like normal to evenly distribute the powder.

3. Style my hair. Usually in a ponytail or side braid.

It delays shampooing hair but doesn't replace shampoo. Pretty much from this review you can tell, I love this product! It is convenience and easy to use. It doesn't enhance my greasiness, oily or weighted down. I have a small travel size can in my handbag at all time for emergencies. I have to admit that it does make my hair little dull but I dont mind because i know eventually my hair will get washed.

You can get your Bastiste Dry Shampoo 400ml at Priceline for AUD15.95

Nobody dyes their hair blonde during winter

After complaining tirelessly to Don (LOL, HAHA!) about how badly i needed a trim and fix my brassy ombre hair. i got my hair done! It was supposed to be just a trim but i thought, you know what, just go crazy and i added highlights to them! I am still getting used to seeing myself...blonde. i have had black/brown hair for 25 years and every time i look at myself in a passing mirror, i cringe. i feel like an asian trying to be white and Don teases me all the time about it :(

Here are three selfies for you to enjoy with my beautiful map and laundry in the background.

Ombre Hair with Loreal Wild Ombre kit

It all started with wanting to look different but still maintain my long hair. It took me almost 3 years to grow my hair to the length it is now, which is almost passing my chest level. I decided to get bangs! Straight blunt bangs. The minute I stepped out from the salon, I regretted them. I realised I didn't know how to manage and maintain my bangs! The pictures below were one of the few times I actually wore them, if not I would pin them aside or part my hair in a way that it blends with my other layers.

Wearing my bangs

Blending my bangs with my layers

As my hair grew longer, I decided that it was time to cut it! I wanted shoulder length hair and bangs again and decided to think it through. I played with the idea in my head for a good month deciding that before I cut my hair, I want to do ombre. I have always liked the low maintenance and stylish bit of the ombre style and thought why not? If I didn't like it, I can always cut it off. Just my luck, I was googling how to do ombre at home. I found the Loreal Wild Ombre kit on youtube!!! It's a hair dye kit specifically for people who want to do ombre by themselves. The next day, I went to Priceline to get it, but sadly the Priceline near my house did not stock the Loreal Wild Ombre kit and I was quite taken back by the price of it, it was selling for AUD18 a box, (when converted to ringgit, it is about rm60 a box) it was a little pricey. 

I don't know what came across me, I decided to see if Coles or IGA has it. Coles had it and it was even better, it was on discount! it was around AUD13 if I was not mistaken, I picked up two boxes. I bought two boxes because my hair is very thick and I know I won't achieve the shade with one session.

I did not try it until a few weeks after it, mostly because I was anxious, nervous and scared that I might ruin my hair due to the bleaching (which I did *sad face*)

First attempt - A very light gradient.

Second attempt - this time you can definitely see the ombre effect. Because I bleached my hair from black, my hair turned brownish/orangey/brassy. It was so ugly... I had to tone it to make it look less brassy. I borrowed my housemate's purple conditioner to help tone my hair and *thank god* it did "tone" my hair a little. it was less brassy and orange. Blue shampoo to tone orange hair and purple shampoo to tone blonde hair. yeah, blue shampoo is so hard to find in Perth.

Third attempt - i wasn't 100% happy with the colour the 2nd time. I decided to redye is again, this time I was happy with the ombre effect, but I wasn't happy with my dry ends. I take good care of my hair where I deep mask my hair religiously, getting dry ends was a bit of a shocker for me. That's when I decided to stop dying my hair for at least 6 months. My poor hair! By this time, I was packing up to go back to Malaysia for my summer break and the first thing I did when I got back was get my long needed haircut! my beloved hairstylist chopped off the dry ends and gave my hair a better style to show off my ombre. 

My current hair as of January 2014

L: Straight hair  R: Curled hair

Now, I don't think I am going to cut my hair anytime soon with all the effort that went through to get to current state! I am going to let my hair breathe before I do another hair dye job. ''

BEE HIVES

One of my biggest achievements in life is my hair. How i managed to let it grow to my current length without the urge to cut it. I used to get different hair cuts/styles every three months. 

Last Thursday i went for a very needed trim and decided that i wanted something different. I have had long straight hair for 2 years, i wanted something different! i decided to get bangs. 

I am having a love-hate relationship with it. I think it was a mistake to let my hair stylist "do whatever you want, i trust you" NEVER SAY THAT TO YOUR HAIR STYLIST. I am trying my best to make do with whatever i can and trying not to regret, because the decision was made by me. 

This whole...layers and bangs is really not working out for me. :( Its okay, hair can grow.