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If you’re a blonde like me, no doubt you’ve experienced the strange phenomenon that plagues the unnatural blonde. A week or so after having your hair coloured…the shade you left the salon with is no more, and now your hair has taken on an undesirable yellow, orange or even reddish tone. That’s right, you’ve got brassy hair.

Brassiness, or unwanted warm tones, typically happens in dark hair that is coloured platinum or blonde, but it can also strike hair that has been highlighted or hair that has been lightened to brown.

Not to get too technical here, but to understand why this keeps happening, you’ll need to understand a bit about the hair lightening process. Brassy tones become a problem when bleaching or lifting doesn’t get rid of all the underlying pigment in your hair, giving the warm tones an opportunity to reveal themselves. For lightened blonde hair, the underlying pigment is yellow, and for lightened brown to black hair, the underlying pigments are orange to red. When the brassiness starts to rear its head, just think of it as your natural hair saying, “Hi, remember me?”.

Don’t stress though. There are many options when it comes to dealing with brassy tones, both preventing it and fixing it after it happens.

The first step towards avoiding brassy tones is to ensure your hair is in tip top condition. Since healthy hair is less likely to turn brassy, add in a bond-protecting service, like L’Oreal Professional’s Smartbond, during the bleaching or colouring process, to protect your hair from damage while colouring and strengthen your strands. Follow this up with nourishing treatments at home, such as Redken All Soft Megamask 200ml. Use this once a week, leaving it on for at least 10 minutes to give your hair a treat and restore hair health.

Need an at-home quick fix? If you’re a blonde, you’ll need to go for a purple shampoo like such as L’Oreal Professional Silver Shampoo 300ml. Replace your usual shampoo once or twice a week with this baby. Once you’ve lathered up and distributed through your hair, leave for two minutes and then rinse thoroughly. If you’ve had your hair lightened to brown, try a blue-tinted shampoo or conditioner such as L’Oreal Professional Serie Expert Color Corrector 150ml.

You need to avoid overuse with these products though, so make sure you only use these products once or twice a week. The rest of the time use a colour protecting shampoo, such as Redken Colour Extend Magnetics to help reduce colour fade.

With Summer holiday season fast approaching, you’ll need to be wary of the sun and chilling by the pool. Chlorine from swimming pools can strip your hair dry, leaving your hair dull and damage-prone. And when hair becomes damaged, your colour will have a harder time staying in place, meaning more opportunities for brassy tones to appear. Make sure you protect your hair before you hit the pool by wetting it down first. Your hair is like a sponge, once it’s saturated with water it will be unable to absorb too much of the chlorinated water once you dive in. Sun exposure can also affect your colour by causing it to fade faster and making brassiness more visible. Keep your hair protected by spraying in L’Oreal Professional Solar Sublime Conditioning Spray 125ml. This light, leave-in mist provides instant conditioning protection for hair during sun exposure, shielding it from drying effects, while leaving it super shiny.

There’s a reason why blonde is deemed the most ‘high maintenance’ of all hair colours…

How do you control your hair’s brassy tones?

xoxo

Curly hair…everyone wants it, unless they already have it. If you have curls naturally you know…curly hair comes with issues. Sure, it can hold style like nobody's business, but it's fragile in its own way. There's the obvious problems, such as curls tend to be on the dryer side and are prone to breakage. But some problems you wouldn’t know unless you were born with curls, like the fact that brushes are the enemy. Brushes will only ruin your bounce. 

So let me fill you in on the secrets behind styling your curls and help put those issues to bed. The basics of styling curly hair with minimal heat damage, involves three main styles: wet, natural and dry and roughly pulled back. Allow me to guide you through each style

Style 1: Wet

Not really a style, mainly just a starting point. This is when product plays a key role to give you the foundation you need. For finer curls opt for a product that will give you some grip and hold, such as a mousse. I always recommend Kérastase Resistance Volumifique Mousse 150ml. If you find your curls are a little more coarse, you’ll need to layer a mousse over a moisturising cream when your hair is still holding water. Try Moroccanoil Intense Curl Cream 300ml. It will control your curl and stop any frizz in one step.

Style 2: Diffused

To dry your curls naturally, without too much styling, you need a low-heat, low-fan setting along with a diffuser attachment for your hairdryer. As you dry your curls with the diffuser twist your hair between your forefinger and thumb. By using this action on your hair cuticle you ensure your hair is fully dry. If your curls aren’t completely dry, they will change shape and change style throughout the day.

Style 3: Roughly Pulled Back

The other great thing about curly hair is that buns are easy and all you really need a hairband. Something about roughly pulled back curls makes it look like you’ve made an effort. Winner. Just make sure that when you pull your hair back, to keep it from feeling too ‘ready for the gym’, pull some strands out in the front for some curls to frame your face. In many cases, the best way to show off the amazing texture of curly hair is a simple ponytail with lots of volume in the back. Don’t be too precious about it though. Curly hair rarely stays where you put it for long. Sometimes it's best to just let it do it’s own thing. Afterall…you have the hair everyone wants.

xoxo

Bad hair days. We all have them. For some reason you wake up and your hair just isn’t playing the game. It’s frizzy, won’t hold a curl, limp, lifeless and seems determined to look anything but how you want it to. Before you resign yourself to a day looking less than your best, try these 5 simple tricks to help fix your bad hair day. You’ve got this.

Tip 1: Change Your Parting 

Changing where your parting sits is a quick and easy solution. Take it further to the side, the middle, go messy or even the opposite side, just change it from your usual. Once you have the parting in mind you want to create, dry shampoo is your saviour. I usually go for OSiS+ Refresh Dust Bodyfying Dry Shampoo 100ml. Spray close to the root through your new parting and grab your hairdryer. Using a gentle airflow setting, direct your hair in the new direction. Finishing with an extra hold hairspray such as Redken Quick Dry will make sure your new parting stays in place.

Tip 2: Embrace the Mess

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em! The obvious thing about a bad hair day is that your hair is already a mess, so let’s embrace it and go for a messy updo. That way, it looks like the messiness was by design. You could go for anything from a messy top knot to a pulled apart fishtail braid (take a look at my tutorial here). Again, make sure to use your dry shampoo by simply spraying a light amount throughout the hair for added volume and texture. While getting rid of the oils, this will create a hold for any messy style you would like. For even more texture, try Moroccanoil Dry Texture Spray 200ml.

Tip 3: Ponytails Fix Everything

If in doubt, go for a ponytail. The great thing about a ponytail is that it is so versatile and looks great for any occasion. You can go for a slick and classy ponytail for work and a high and messy ponytail in your downtime; make it your go to bad hair day style.

Tip 4: Accessorise

Sometimes, you might not have the time or patience left to try some of the above. In that case, accessories are your best friend. The variety of hairstyles you can create with one simple headband is endless, from accessorising a ponytail and top knot, it makes people think you’ve spent hours perfecting your hair.

Tip 5: Wash Sections

I’m sure you’ll have noticed that the biggest cause of a bad hair day is unwashed hair. This comes from excess oils weighing down the hair. If you’ve got long hair though, you and I both know you don’t have time to wash, dry and style your hair every day. If you have a fringe, try sectioning off just your fringe, securing the rest of the hair away from the face and washing the fringe section. This only takes seconds and it gives you a fresh canvas to work with. If you don’t have a fringe, section off the front section of the hair, from the top of the ear over to the other ear. Wash out that section then grab a large round brush and blow dry. This will add volume and gives you a fresh style to work with.