Pink Progress Report: Roots

So, today (well, late last night!) I suddenly became sick of my roots. I had my hair bleached on June 27, so by yesterday, I had seven weeks worth of dark, dark roots showing. It was on the 16th of last month that I last put some color on, so a full month had passed of just letting it be in that regard, as well.

I was very intimidated to try to tackle them myself. I have a friend, L, who has been regularly bleaching her own hair for some time after going what I would call "Malfoy blonde" who told me exactly what she uses (Manic Panic Flashlighting), so several weeks ago I ordered a couple of boxes from Amazon.

I knew I would need help with applying it to the back of my head, since I can't see back there -- even holding up a mirror, I can't wear my glasses most of the time while coloring/bleaching, so I had my younger sister on standby. I decided to try and do as much as I could without her.

I did the top and both sides, and as much of the back as I could see in the mirror. Frankly, I looked a hot mess by the time I pathetically called for my sis. She fixed me up with dainty perfectionist touches, and by this time, the front of my hair was certainly turning yellow!

I had enough bleach left over from one kit to give my sister a blonde streak (which we dyed blue), and her hair is very long and dark, like mine.

I kept thinking of that episode of America's Next Top Model where that poor girl was getting her hair bleached and it was basically burning her scalp and she was sweating, crying, and shaking sitting in the chair letting it eat at her scalp for Tyra. Yo, I must admit, it does tingle. I never got real worried or severely pained, but it was uncomfortable and I was definitely anxious to wash it out as soon as I felt like I had a good shade.

Since I have very dark brown hair, I left it on for probably over an hour and got about the lightest blonde I can achieve, which is a lemon yellow, haha. My hair wasn't even this blonde when it was first bleached professionally!! (Of course, their bleach didn't feel burny on my scalp.)

While rinsing it out, I could feel how damaged it was. It felt like wet straw on my head. I quickly slathered on a good coating of diluted Atomic Pink. Previously I've also used Cupcake Pink in combination with Atomic Pink, but I'm out of Cupcake Pink and it's really popular, so it's currently nowhere I can find.

My roots reflect Atomic Pink's somewhat more blue base, even diluted with conditioner to where it looks about the shade of Cupcake Pink in the bowl. The hottest pink bits have only ever had Atomic Pink on them, so they lack the peachy undertone of the rest of my hair. I didn't only put the dye on my roots... I put it all over all my hair, massaged it in with my hands very well to get at every little bit of blonde I could see. I let it sit for ~four hours.

The result is exaggerated in pictures -- it's pretty harmoniously pink to my eyes, with variation that is very subtle, and sort of a warm-toned coral. The thing is, with every wash, the color changes slightly, and it looks different indoors and out. But my hair definitely keeps getting pinker. I really have no ideal look I'm trying to achieve... just pink! So I'm still quite happy with it. Maintaining it has been a learning experience, and a definite shift in my routine and practices, but I do feel like this is literally the happiest I've ever been with my hair.