Beauty Tips - I'm A Hair Virgin!

Great Tips For Creating A Whole New Look for Yourself Just by Coloring Your Hair

Advice Seeker: Dear April,

I've never ever done anything to my hair at all and it's the same color that I was born with! I'm so fed up of having the same color and Iam considering getting some highlights or dyeing my hair (now that I have grey hairs too) but don't know the first thing about it! I've read so many articles and gotten so much conflicting advice about it and I need some serious advice and suggestions on what to do with my hair! Can you give me the basic tips so a hair virgin like me can understand it?

Sincerely,

Hairy Virgin Helen

April Masini's advice:

Dear Hairy Virgin Helen,

You are right in wanting to find out more information before deciding to make a change. One of the most important aspects of your hair is color. There are several colors on your body that affect your hair color and vice verse. Besides your eyes and the clothing colors, there’s your skin tone. Your skin has pink, green, blue or brown undertones which are important to consider when you determine what color hair is most flattering, as are your brow color, your freckles and any beauty marks. If you have green undertones, a brown hair color will be more flattering. Pink undertones are great for blonde hair.

If your skin is olive, you are best suited to dark hair. However, if you have dark skin tone, and are aching to try being a blonde, then opt for some highlights, which are specific sections of lightened hair, instead of going full on blonde. And don’t lighten them too much, at first, so you don’t loose touch with your organic look. If you like the look after your first salon appointment, make the next appointment with the goal being to have lighter highlights, and maybe more of them, too.

Gray hair is a sign of age. Not wisdom. -Greek Proverb

Highlights

One simple way to graduate color changes and give your hair a beautiful, healthy looking glow in one quick trip to the salon is with highlights. Highlights are applied by the colorist, who picks strands of hair, then separates them from the rest of your head, and brushes a lighter color dye on the separate strands. In order to make sure the dye doesn’t touch the rest of your head, the highlighted strands are wrapped in tin foil, which is allowed to rest on your head while the color “sets.” The result when the color sets is a more subtle color change. You can have your hair highlighted or you can have your hair colored, and also highlighted, so you’re actually applying two different colors to your hair at once – your “base” coat, and the lighter highlight colors.

Lowlights

Lowlights are another creative choice to give your hair flair. If you’re blonde and you want to see how you’ll look a little darker, lowlights are dark colored highlights that can graduate your blonde to a dirtier blonde. You can do lowlights for one month, and then the next month, you can do a little more, and then gradually go for a browner look, or keep a dirty blonde look. This is a great way to go from a platinum, or very, very blonde, to an earthier blonde look.

How often should you color your hair?

Roots are ugly and sloppy. Don’t let them show. The normal amount of time between coloring appointments is four to eight weeks. If you color your own hair, go to a beauty supply store, and ask for help choosing the correct products and color. The sales clerks are often very knowledgeable, and can help you choose the correct color and make sure you have rubber gloves, skin color remover and any other necessary gear. Some colors “set” darker than the sample in the store and a knowledgeable salesperson will steer you towards what is right for you.

Don’t get brow beaten

If you color your hair, make sure your brows are the same color, or close to it. If your brows are a noticeably different color than your new hair color, you can opt to color your brows, too. Or lighten them!

You can even have your eyelashes tinted — but keep in mind that the FDA has longstanding warnings against any use of permanent eyelash dyes and tints. It is not illegal, but be aware that if you do opt for this procedure, be extremely careful in choosing your licensed, professional aesthetician.

Farewell funky colors

Before you try a pink streak or blue tips just for fun, remember — Kelly Osborne gets away with pink hair because she’s British, she’s rich, she’s 21 (if that) and her father is a recovering heroin addict. Leave the crazy colors for Halloween or Hollywood rock royalty. Just because you broke up with your boyfriend or are newly divorced does not mean you should “live a little” by coloring your hair green. Not even for fun. Express yourself in your journal. Not your strands.