7 Things I've Learned From Having Coloured Hair

Writer and expert8 years ago

It was around this time last year that it occurred to me; I can colour my hair any colour I want! I'm a grown woman, happily working in quite a creative industry, so why not experiment? Pastel hair, rainbow hair, silver hair have all been massive trends recently (check out our post on rainbow hair here) so I thought it was about time that I dipped my follicles into that magical unicorn water.

It turns out that having "fashion" coloured hair comes with a whole host of other side-effects that you might not have encountered if you've just swayed between blonde and brunette. Here I'm rounding up the top 7 things I've learned since having coloured hair.

Colour fades. Fast

You need a decent shampoo / conditioner! Bright rainbow hair colours seem to disappear faster than a slice of pizza in the HQhair office!. There are tonnes of options available for coloured hair but I recently discovered Pureology and this range is great because all the products come with colour-preserving ingredientsas standard, and you still get to choose whether you want extra volume or hydration etc. Over-washing is also notoriously bad for fading your hair colour so I’ve recently been finding all sorts of excuses to avoid washing my hair and stocking up on dry shampoo!

Compliments Galore

If you dye your hair an ‘unusual’ colour, people will comment. Most of the time they love it, occasionally someone will say ‘ooh it looks great – I could never pull that off though!’ and this probably means they don’t like it but IDC cos I love not being boring!

You have to rethink your wardrobe

Regular thoughts in the morning: “I can’t wear this purple top now, it clashes with my pink hair”, “I feel like this check shirt is distracting from my blue dip dye”, “Is grey hair and a grey jumper too much?” I’ve actually ended up buying a tonne of white tshirts since getting my hair coloured. Everything looks good against white!

No more swimming

Last year I stayed up very late topping up my lilac hair colour the night before my flight out to Mexico. On the first day of my holiday I was strutting around with my mystical hair feeling fabulous, but later on I jumped in the pool to cool off and when I climbed out 5 mins later all the purple had completely disappeared. Chlorine is not your friend guys. I ended up with a nice sunkissed blonde but it was an unfortunate waste of purple dye.

It’s expensive

Maintaining a bold hair colour is expensive; not only am I visiting the hairdresser more frequently than my previous quarterly blonde highlight top-up, but I’m spending more on products to look after the colour and condition of my hair. It’s all worth it though!

Spending a lot of time on Pinterest

It doesn’t matter how much you love your current hair colour, you just can’t help having a peek for some more #hairspo. Pinterest is always full of gorgeous hair pictures (even if some of them seem a little too good to be true!) and it’s the perfect tool for building up ideas for your next dye job. Check out our hair inspo board!

Nothing fazes you

Once you’ve dyed your hair every colour under the sun (and managed to rock all the varying tones inbetween that weren’t entirely intentional) you start to worry a bit less about it looking ‘perfect’. Coloured hair looks great messy, it looks great with roots, it looks great in a messy bun and it looks great straightened and super sleek. It looks great when it’s bright and freshly coloured and it looks great when it’s faded into a pretty pastel. In short, coloured hair is pretty damn great.

Do you dare to take a dip with a crazy coloured dye?

Amy

Writer and expert

I'm often referred to as 'the nail girl' because I love nail art - I have over 200 bottles of nail polish at home! But I love all things beauty; especially anything neon bright or packed with glitter. Growing up, I was a bit of a nerdy kid, so playing with colourful makeup or wacky hairstyles became my creative outlet - so it's great that this has become my job! You'll spot me at the bar, probably wearing sequins, drinking a Singapore Sling.