Hair post: Getting your hair grey/silver & maintenance

Here we go! The post I had been procrastinating on for months loooo I finally sat down long enough (on a friday night nonetheless) and wrote this up. Including ample amount of selfies coz why not.
This is your basic bitch guide on how to get dark grey hair and maintaining it. Welp. And nope, you don't need to be a level 10 blonde - pale afk blonde to those of you who dont know hair levels....to get the same gunmetal ashy grey charcoal shit my dead locks have been rocking. Lets get to it.

My Hair Care Routine & Color Maintenance

Wow, finally writing this entry after pushing it out for forever.
If you've been on my friendslist since forever or have known me for a long time - or simply be following me on any of my social media platforms you can see how much my hair has gone through so many changes! Click 'read more' at the bottom of this to get to the nitty gritty of things!

***beware image and very text base heavy***

220. Red Hair Adventures - Hit or Miss

Hair can be quite unpredictable - a lot of the time. There are several factors that can affect the outcome of your hair color. Hormones, virgin, color treated hair, pre lightened, darkened. Etc. All can play a major role in the outcome of your hair and like many things in life; its not always 100% certain.

In my previous post I talked about using Hi-lift color dye to retouch my roots to avoid having to use bleach and then having to go through the process of washing my hair, drying it, THEN reapplying the color. Honestly, sometimes thats THE only way to get your hair the color you want. But I decided to take a gamble and use hi-lift color. L'oriel Hi-lift color for dark hair, to be precise.

I got L'oriel Hi-Color in H11 - Intense Red

which upon further inspection, I should have gone for the brighter shade of red fire, which is more orange base than violet base. Which Intense Red, looks more violet base and even on inspection of my own roots - it is more violet base even with red protein fillers.

I actually took a video on this to try it out and honestly, I have more respect for V-loggers and youtube gurus. You definitely need a  whole set up to do this properly and it was a challenge and excuse me for the shaky camera and ungodly close ups )':

but like I explained in the video as well in my previous post. I mixed the dye using vol.40 developer. And let it process for about 20 mins. I should have let it sit longer honestly but I was afraid my roots would process too quickly and it would come out an intense bright color. This is probably one of the mistakes I did.

And then after letting that sit for a few mins, I went and applied Ion 7IR (Intense Red Blonde) over the rest of my hair shaft using vol. 10 developer (I had the bottle left over from previous retouches and figured - why not?) - again a possible mistake but it worked out alright in the end lol as if I had used the hi-lift on the rest of my hair shaft, even on a lower developer. I'm afraid it would have turned darker than I had wanted.

Also, one thing to note about these Hi-lift colors - they will NOT work if you have dyed your hair DARKER. It only works on virgin dark hair.  Meaning, NO color has ever touched that part of the hair.



In the end, the roots on my crown turned decently ok. The rest of my roots - in the back where theres probably a good 2-3" maybe even 4" of regrowth just didn't cut it. Even when I started on the back first to give it extra time to process.

Lesson learned:

• Go 2 shades lighter than your actual color. I was trying to color match it exactly as I thought it was. But gotta remember, I'm not pre lightening my hair and redepositing color. 
• Let it sit and process a little longer. 
• I'll probably use the same color for the rest of my hair shaft- just using a lower volume so it really helps make everything as even as possible.

Conclusion: I will give L'oriel Hi-lift ONE more shot before I absolutely call it quits and say we weren't meant to be LOL. I've had my hair a nice fire-engine red color before - which, to be honest IS MUCH easier to match since its just ONE solid bright red. Than when you have a specific shade of red on your hair. As a working class person - I can't walk around the office with my crazy intense fire engine hair like I use to when I was younger lol....(which you can see my hair color time line of red here)

I hope you guys find this informative, let my "mistakes" be your guide xD

219. Red hair adventures with hi-lift

Yeah why didn't download this app before ): lol in a sad attempt to use this more than tumblr o_oll and instagram. I usually prefer to do more cohesive posts versus posting random tidbit like these...

but I figured why not? At my lunch break I went to go pick up some *supplies* to fix my ugly roots D:
ugly. nasty and dirty roots. I've let them go crazy on their own long enough. The top isnt THAT bad but the back definitely looks like a hot mess. Thankfully being red, isnt nearly as disgustingly bad as when you have BLONDE hair. I remember having to redo my roots every 2 weeks...3 was pushing it for me. Sometimes I even went a month without having to do it. Thats dedication!

 

 And now red hair is another ball game, your biggest battle with red hair is color fading ): and then of course, like with any hair color....roots. And for a while I've always BLEACHED my roots, rinse, dry, then dye.
And on days when I am absolutely lazy, I just used vol. 40 with any red dye. I even went so far as to try Garnier red for Dark hair, yes, it worked but as you can tell, there is a slight color difference. Its definitely not as bright and vibrant as the other half of my hair. The middle shaft of my hair (2-3 inches from the roots) were done with Garnier, and inbetween that Garnier dye is Ion Dye with vol. 40.

And of course the rest - which are more vibrant were a result from when I would take the time to bleach my roots and go through the double process of doing it.

I was going to try and grow out my roots to get some sort of funky dirty gradient ombre black to red look. Lol. but no, my roots arent a jet black and therefore it just doesn't look good, especially if hair isnt a fire engine red as I use to have it back in college )': and just...no.

And after stumbling on this video:



I got a hard kick on the ass and decided, no the regrowths got to go! Not to mention Toshi also recently kill their hair lolol...so I guess its just that time of the month when you need to clean your look up.
lawl. Durp.

Watch that video, its very informative and quite similar to what I do - will be doing to my own head tonight. Just...a more visually appealing step-by-step way to do it for those who aren't interested in reading my ramblings. Yes.

So at my lunch break I took a trip down to Sallys beauty supply (I wish they had coupons out this week D8 but nooooo urgh) and dropped $26 of my hard earned cash on my hairrrr. Yes. red hair is a bitch to maintain, its also quite expensive to maintain. $26 ISNT that much to drop on your hair - I know a lot of people have spent more. )': but stilllllllll ( this is probably why my hair is shit hahahaha - actually I do like to splurge on my hair when I can coz,I need to baby this bitch. Now if only weaves werent an arm and a leg and I've probably been spoiled when I could buy stuff from the supply warehouses for super cheap when I was a student in cosmo school. I could get Biolage shit for $6 or 8. Was such a steal)

But yes, moving on to my haul from Sallys. Picked up another mini bottle of the red protein filler, which for some reason is always sold out when I'm there or they just dont  have enough of it in stock as I picked up the LAST bottle. AGAIN. WHY?! I still have half a bottle left at home but I don't want to be caught without one and have to go through the agony or ordering online lol....

More shampoo - which I'll still add the protein red filler in because I am meticulous about maintaining my reds, I should have picked up more conditioner but  I still have a bottle at home  which I am hoping would last me another 2 weeks before I am forced to get another bottle...(of course if I'm in a pinch I can just throw red manic panic + red filler into any conditioner and make my own)

And of course, dun dun dun, HI-LIFT RED COLOR. I avoided using high lift red color before because I just dont think its going to show up the same shade as the rest of my hair, or its going to just  be RED RED.
And the last time I used high lift red it turned my hair gummy. Disgustingly gummy and over processed...
 

But, I'm lazy and dont want to bleach and dye my roots. So, why not give Hilift color another shot. I picked up Red Hot and we shall experiment tonight and I will edit this post with the results :o

The box calls for vol. 30 developer, but I picked up vol.40 just because. And also vol. 10 for the rest of my hair to refresh the color (but I'll be using my usual shade from Ion 7RR for that)




Procedure: Section your hair into 4 different parts like in this video above demonstrated by David Mayeda. I personally do my own hair and it never comes this clean, but w/e its coz I'm ghetto and refuse to go to a hair dresser lol when I can do it myself.


Start with the back sections of your hair and work to the front, taking small sections in between. Also because as you can tell, my roots are the longest in the back than the front / top since I have better control to see the crown of my hair and the front sections. I'll only be using half of the tube to do my roots, or even just a quarter of it.


Let it sit and process for about 15-20 minutes - watch your head! Since the heat from your scalp will process it faster. And then quickly mix vol. 10 with your other hair dye (I'll be using my Ion 7RR dye for this one) and vol. 10 because I don't need to lift my color at all so I will not be using vol. 20. Its just to refresh the color and make it blend with my roots. Sit for 20 mins. And then rinse! Photos maybe tomorrrroowwww when I have my face on.

I'll leave you with a shameless photo of myself a few weeks ago with my mermaid weavess (no, their not long enough to be mermaid weaves coz these bitches are only 18" someday this hoes gotta get herself some 18" and 24" ones ):< want but urgh. So expensiiiivveeeee and I'm not made of money. And I honestly only wear these on the weekends coz no. Not about to do this shit everyday for work.

P.S: WHY ISNT THERE A LEGIT EYELINER DESIGNED FOR THE WATERLINE?! D8 /majorpetpeeeeve/ I'm going to hopefully check out Inglot tomorrow with mooother and pick up Inglot gel liner since I'm hearing decent reviews from them :o and see how well it lasts on my water line ):<

214. Red Hair 2 - Maintenance and Products

o__o I've had more people ask me on tumblr on how to keep and maintain my red hair~ and I always refer them back to my previous post on how I got red hair and how to maintain it, but looking back on it, I guess I never really went into FULL details on products I've used - still use and will never use again?...

First of all; HOW to get red hair:  if your hair is a dark ass black Asian like my hair; good luck getting it this bright in one sitting LOL.

Theres options like using High-Lift colors, but my personal favorite is prelightening aka Bleaching it to insure I get the color I want...

now Maintenance is another story....

Above is pretty much the diagram of what I use to maintain my vibrant red locks ;D

in my previous post I mentioned that I only wash my hair 2-3 times a week and in between that, I use dry shampoo. And when I DO wash my hair - cold water only....

now onto the products:

Shampoo: I previously mentioned I use John Freida glazing red shampoo, but its becoming harder and harder to find it in store tbh, I think John Freida might be discontinuing this line?! I'm not sure...

but if you can't find it in stores, theres still the option of purchasing it online. OR you can do what I do when i can't find this shampoo and cannot be arsed to order one online!

Get a bottle of your choice, preferably a plastic one you wouldn't care about since its going to be stained forever...

Take your favorite CLEAR shampoo (preferably clear so the pigments grab better - also preferably if its COLOR safe or Sulfate free, since Sulfates are what strips your color too) and in your plastic bottle, drop a helping of RED PROTEIN FILLER (their normally $3-4 at your local Sallys Beauty Supply Shop) And your favorite deposit only red dye (RAW, MANIC PANIC, SPLAT...etc) shake till its all mixed together.

Tip: If you insist on getting a red red shampoo and can't find John Freida, Sally's carries Quantum Riverting Reds Color Replenishing Shampoo and Conditioner which actually comes in a very vibrant red shade when dispersed from the bottle, but as a red nazi I still prefer to mix a bit of red filler and manic panic just to really keep it RED *u*

Conditioner: I currently am using the Quantum Riverting Reds Conditioner from Sallys (feel free to do the same; add filler red and red deposit color) I leave it on my hair for a few mins before rinsing it off with Cold Water.

Product I've Used: (loved or hated, I'll list them down here for recommendations if you're interested in the items I've used before) I'll keep updating this list as I find more product and see how they work...but so far, heres what I've stumbled on and have personally used on my head...

• John Freida Radient Red - Averagely $6.46 (each) Shampoo & Conditioner  
• Quantum Riveting Reds - Averagely $7.39, $5.50 with a Sallys Card (sign up for newsletter from Sally's to get 25-50% coupons as well!) 
• Beyond the Zone Street Glaze - product advertises as a glaze shiner to help make your hair shiny and etc and also redeposit color. Don't waste your money /: this doesnt help add softness or anything at all, since I used it thinking it would substitute for conditioner, or something since I don't want to drown my hair in products and I don't want to do a conditioner THEN a glaze shine over it. Yeah, don't bother, your better off doing what I was doing above lol. And if your hair is dead from bleaching prior or just everyday wear and tear on your hair....refer to product below
• Tresemme Nourishing Rituals Cashmere Touch Serum - Just for the ends if your hair is dry from having to retouch with dye and heat styling, its pretty lightweight and I haven't had any problems with it fading my color at all! This might be a dupe for Ion's Cashmere Touch serum as well.
• Suave Dry Shampoo - I've tried the Tresemme one and the Got2be dry shampoo and nothing works as well as this baby. I would avoid the FOAM versions of 'dry' shampoos even if they say 'no water' its still pretty well )': and doesn't work that well. If your ends or the shaft of your hair is oily as fuck, you CAN use it, but I wouldn't recommend the foam versions on your roots, the dry spray version is also amazing at giving you volume lol
• SPLAT LUSCIOUS RASPBERRY - retails about $10 at most local drug stores in the US...stains EVERYTHING terribly =A=ll and it gives your hair a more PINK shade than a true red. 
• Feria - MY HOLY GRAIL OF ALL RED HAIR DYES LOL. FOREVER DEDICATED TO THE "POWER REDS" LINE *u* I always always always get the box version, I've tried using the one you get at beauty supply shops and I dont know, it just doesnt give me the same result, it could be the serum that comes with the box. And my go to shade in the Feria line is always RUBY RUSH.
• Ion Color - I use the 7RR from the Ion Hair Color Line when I cannot find Feria anywhere 
• ShimmerLights Red - Wouldn't recommend it, its meant for brunettes with red undertones. Not true red head.

Any questions or comments, leave them on the comment box below and I'll try to keep this post updated as well.

Long over due haul post

Way long over due haul post but I was holding out because I'm still waiting for 2 more packages to arrive but you know what? I dont wanna wait anymore lmao I might as well make a haul post now *u* because next posts should be about PMX! hAHAHA

So heres a photo journal of what I've been up to so far :o

lawlz....and yes I was clearly abusing the Instagram app on my phone HAHAHAHA.

Fruity Cheerios~ their alot smaller than the photo on the box Q_Q slightly disappointing but hey its ok~ their smaller than regular fruit loops HAHAHA. I feel like I'm eating bb food whenever I munch on it without milk o___O

Ramen from my friends birthday that we celebrated at Tajimas~

Rohto Lycee Eye Drops~ I did a small review for these over at my Tumblr page but I guess I'll talk about them a bit more here. They come in 2 different types.

1. For regular wear

2. For contacts.

I originally purchased the ones the contacts from a store in Irvine Mall. They retail for about $9-15. 15 being the most (and it includes tax, granted Tax in CA is pretty high orz)

Comes in a super nifty bottle, sparkly top~ and is super refreshing and minty.

Some people who first use it might be shock that they are MINTY AND ALMOST FEELS STINGY

when you first try it but you will gradually get used to it and it does have a fresh lycee feel /smell to it after you drop it HAHA.

Bottle is pretty tiny in comparison to how big the box it comes in. Theres a selca photo of myself with the Tsubasa Bambi Grey lenses and the rohto drops for size comparison. Since some people might think they are pretty big LOL.

But I DO know that they come in BIGGER containers, but in a more bottled form.... not in the cute diamond shape.

Really refreshing and I like to use it before I wear my contacts in the morning if I'm not 'awake' enough to stab my eyes with em and after if I feel my eyes need that extra ump for hydration. Or just if I want to wake up LOLz....

My first try at SONIC! I went to the one in Santa Ana after my Dentist appointment. I know in San Diego we have but its in Santee which is a bit of a drive from where I'm located /:

S'mores marshmallow cupcakes with marshmallow goop ontop for icing. Graham cracker and chocolate shavings ontop. On some of them, I actually baked a piece of Chocolate inside. It didnt melt as well as I wanted.

I think I want to try using Nutella inside next time and probably bake crumbs of Graham Cracker in it for crunch. Or simply use toffee chips?? LOL but I dont think that might consider it S'more cupcakes anymore hahaha. Made these for my friends birthday party too.

I'm not a big s'more fan to be honest, so I ate mine plain. I also got good feedback from my friends that the marshmallow ontop was just a bit too much. Maybe I should have used regular icing or just go without since the cupcake base is already marshmallow???.....

We'll see! 8D I gotta keep experimenting~someday I can open my own shop. Among other things orz

new ring!!! I've been eyeing a skull hand type ring for so long and I finally caved in and ordered one from ebay~ this one is from Korea and I'm so suprised at how well the quality is. I believe I paid about $8-13???....it wasnt that much tbh. And thats with shipping already!

Normally I keep thinking cheapy rings like these are, well, the super cheap ones that turn brassy as soon as it hits water! and I have sweaty palms normally )8 and I've had this for over a week and wore it everyday. And so far so good! :o

uwaaaahhh my new rosary necklace and new leopard scarf. I had a leopardpajmina before but lost it! D8< I really dont know what happened to it and with winter coming up, I dont wanna go on another winter without my signature leopard item. So I got this off ebay for $8. The original one I had before I believe I paid just about $10 or so too from Tuesday Morning. Total random find at that shop too LOLz

preeeeeppppp toppp from Forever 21. Shopping at F21 has always always always been such a hit or miss with me )8< and I had to walk back and forth from this top several times before caving in to getting it lol. I havent gone 'shopping' for a article of clothing in so long. I went to the mall last week and came out super disappointed since I just dont like alot of items. I'm still waiting for most brands to come out with their winter line (as if I even have the money to drop on SPR right now LOL but still)

but in the end I ended up picking this one up, It was just about $23 after taxes. NOT BAD. And its NOT BLACK its actually navy blue lawlz. I need something other than black in my wardrobe I guess LAWLZ and might inspire me to dry and be more dressy vs tank top and jeans orz

/sigh/

I havent even opened those tights I bought from LA Fashion District yet haha but its finally getting colder now, So yaaaayy.

Selca :o oh gosh, Haha. red red red red haiirrrr <3

Alright, I got a few more stuff to work on for Trinity Blood orz I just went to Joanns today to pick up more stuff and left my Michael's coupon in my other bag D8< fml. So I need to come back tomorrow and grab more stuff lolz so I can keep working on stuff for PMX! WOOOOO

and I hope I can get a new Gundam at PMX :o

I'm still waiting on 2 more packages...an ear cuff and a watch I ordered for my friends Bday)8<

come on post man!!!!!! where art thou?!!!! D8 arggghhh loooolz

I also did a small order from SASA with my friend. I'll probably get that at PMX since she'll be going. LOLz.

SO YOU WANT RED HAIR?!!!!

Red hair of any shade is definitely always a show stopper. It beckons for attention and definitely captures a room when you enter it. When you see someone walking by with red hair you simply cant stop but look and pay attention to them! Even for a split second!
Red hair is definitely a fun fun color! And personally I believe its a very complimentary color on any skin tone! :o And it comes in so many different shades so you're guaranteed to find a GOOD RED on you!

BUT! BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO RUN OUT TO THE NEAREST DRUG STORE AND PICK YOURSELF UP A BOTTLE OF RED HAIR DYE. THERE ARE A FEW THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW!!
1. RED HAIR FADES THE FASTEST!!! AND IT DEF. TAKES TIME AND DEDICATION TO KEEP YOUR VIBRANT LOCKS AS FIREY AS POSSIBLE.
2. It will NOT show up on black hair unless you use a highlift color and even still, sometimes you're not garaunteed a very vibrant color. Alot of different things can go into this...hormones. hair structure. virgin vs dyed hair...etc etc etc..

I've been dying my hair red on and off for almost 10 yrs? or so?...my first ever dye job was a burgundy red my mom tried on me when I was on 2nd grade XD...needless to say it didnt fly very well since I went to an All Girls Catholic school then. Hurpderp! but it was only the back bottom side of my hair but still! LOL! I've been burgundy to the brightest fire engine red to even shades of pinkish red.

Heres a few rundown of red hair colors I've had in the pass that I am still able to dig up photos of O_O....if I find anymore, I'll definetly try and post them up?...hahaha....And all of these dye jobs were achieved many different ways and using different products. I'll try and briefly talk about each one to kind of give you an idea of the shades or how I achieve them?




the first 2 photos: this was over bleached hair. I have naturally
BLACK hair and I bleached it using vol.40 + bleach
(you can refer to my 'bleaching hair FAQs for Q&A)
and I used SLAT hair dye on the very top one
and on the 2nd photo I used MANIC PANIC Pill Box Red.

WARNING: VEGGIE BASED DYES CAN AND WILL STAIN
YOUR BATHROOM, PILLOW CASES AND ETC IF NOT WASHED OUT PROPERLY
And even when you DID wash it properly
theres still chances that it will stain some items :B...
I think this all depends on how bleached out your hair is and how much
of the dye will hold on your hair.

Always handle with gloves! And keep bleach or bathroom spray handy to spray your bath tub down!



Used L'oriel Feria in Ruby Rush + a hint of SPLAT Cherry Dye mixed
in to add the extra umf of red. Over BLEACHED hair.


This one is my most recent adventures with red.
This is with L'oriel Feria Rush Rush once again over
Blonde x Brown hair.
Only my front bangs were bleached blonde while the rest of my hair was a
medium to light brown....

I do want to stress that you cannot achieve this vibrant red color OVER BLACK HAIR without having to prelighten it to atleast a brownish shade or use a high lift color. I dont like to use high lift colors exactly over black hair (unless its virgin hair) simply because I feel that the colors arent as exact or accurate. Its better to be safe than sorry? by pre-bleaching. Haha I know hu? Double process, whats safer about that?! Well, atleast you know you're getting exactly what you're looking for! especially if you're doing this at home and are unfamiliar with High Lift colors too!

To achieve my latest hair color I used this box dye:

I wont go into detail about how the process work. LOL. its pretty simple~ that and while I was typing all that up earlier firefox decided to die on me and I don't think its really worth writing it up again when its pretty straight forward :o

Now lets talk about products and maintenance! (or mostly products and ways you can do to help maintain your vibrant fierce red hair!!!)

So its basically a no brainer that Red hair fades the fastest! But, like I said, there are ways you can do to help maintain you're red hair longer!

heres my routine for keeping my red hair 8D!

I only wash my hair (as in wet it + shampoo & condition) about only 2-3 times a week. EEK! Yes! Sometimes when I DO have to wet my hair, I use a red hair safe shampoo or color friendly shampoo.

The shampoo and conditioner I use is the John Freida Red one 8B and every so often I have a small bottle of white conditioner where in I put a spoon or two of RED dye in it to kinda just help redeposit color in as I condition my hair.

In between days when I'm not shampooing my hair, I use DRY SHAMPOO. I've heard of this before but it was only recently that I've decided to pick myself a bottle! Tresamme, Suave Professional AND Got2Be now makes Dry Shampoos and are easily accessible to the general public - your local drug store carries them in their hair care line.
How it works? You spray it in your hair in sections as close to the roots as possible and just let it sit for a few mins - see directions per bottle. And brush it away~

For brushing it away I like to use a tight bristled brush like a GROOMING BRUSH (which looks awefully close to a teasing brush! but the teasing brush is thinner. See images below) And if you do not have a tight brittle brush, you can go ahead and use a rat tail comb since its pretty tight together that it helps brush out all that oil from your hair.

grooming brush

teasing brush

which looks almost like a rat tail comb but with

bristles perfect for teasing or back comnbing your hair into

a volumized mess! HAHAHA

And the good thing about DRY SHAMPOO is, it adds volume to your hair! :D win-win situation! The one I'm currently using is the Suave Professional one. I got it since it was on sale at my CVS I was originally going to try out the Tresamme one or the Got2Be brand (since I swear by their hair spray!!!) So far so good its working out just fine for me.

Secondly, you know your hair WILL fade! I usually like to retouch my color every 2 weeks using
a deposit only VEGGIE based dye like Manic Panic or Special Effects. My go to is manic panic VAMPIRE RED. I leave it on for a few mins and rinse out - and tada! Red hair again, now this is only a deposit only color so it just refreshes your shade. Once every 2-3 months or so I like to use a box dye with peroxide to retouch my color and roots.

Roots: since my roots are BLACK, I like to do 2 mixtures. One with vol. 40 to help lift and deposit the color to my roots without having to pre-bleach my roots. If you're not too familiar with the different levels of peroxide just refer to my post on bleaching hair and peroxide levels~
And I use vol. 10-20 for the rest of my hair with the red dye of my choice.
But of course you dont NEED to use box dye or dye + developer, you can just simply keep using the veggie dyes - but keep in mind you WILL need to prelighten your hair and expect your color to fade faster when using deposit only veggie dye.

And please! Remember! Anytime you apply heat or go out in the sun you're hair is susceptible to heat damage and everytime heat is applied to your hair it opens up the hair shaft allowing color pigments to fade and go bye bye~ so please remember to use thermal spray to protect your locks. I use to go to the extreme and even go as far as using color friendly hair spray XD! But that was when I had blues and reds in my hair and was using the deposit only dyes and I was THAT paranoid in keeping my hair as fire engine red as possible. LOL

Sad to say but having high maintenance hair definitely can be costly with all the products you'll be using/needing...but all this is optional! You dont HAVE to do all this or use all this. Sometimes its just fun to throw a bit of color in your hair.

And normally when you let your red hair fade, it can go one or two ways~
it'll fade to a brown shade (if your in the ruby shades) or more of a pinkish-orange tone - strawberry blondeish if your hair is prelightened and you used a lighter shade of red~

I personally have always preferred to be in the more dynamic ranges of red from vibrant ruby reds to something as insane as traffic light red/stop sign red! HAHAHAHA

Good luck~

massive black out! impuslive Sea World trip! :O

lol, so pretty much if you did not live south of Orange County So-Cal to the Border you wouldn't have known about the massive black out us So-Cal folks experienced Thursday afternoon till early Friday morning! AHAHAHA.
I was driving back to the office during my lunch break after dropping off my roomie/co-worker back at the condo and noticed that alot of the streets lights were out and the power went out at Target while I was shopping for lunch too! LOL. I honestly didnt think much of it since our block gets black outs quite often. But as I was driving back to work I went, WTF a lot of the lights are off?!....
I tried to call my co-workers to ask if power went out completely in our area. And I got several texts from people asking if power was out in our area as well! So I guess that pretty much hit it that power was indeed out in more areas in San Diego than just one! lol.

I walked back into our office - after walking through a super dark hallway and stumbling around to find the door to our office suite. Most of my co-workers were pretty much freaking out coz of the black out. my dumbass on the other hand was used to massive black outs coming from a 3rd world country XD where this shit happens quite often. Its just really annoying /:
Walked out and walked to the other office building to wait it out hoping that the power would come back on. Derped around for about an hour trying to figure out what to do about all the calls and work that needed to be done...then we kept getting random updates from people that the black out was spreading everywhere! Ooooh boy. I eventually left work at 5:40 and made the glorious drive home through traffic and mass hysteria. lol. Yes. No lie. everyone was rushing to get home despite the fact that the lights wasnt on. Some people seriously are not made to drive /:
People were all over Vons - since Vons had a power generator that could run atleast 3 registers at the most. People were buying ice and supplies as if this was a zombie apocalypse or something hahaha! Oh man. So many people were buying cases and cases of water and bread and canned goods. I honestly doubted that the power could go out for days! but these people were stoking up like it was.... /:

When night fell people started coming over to our condo since we busted out the grill and just started grilling meat LOL so it wouldnt go bad. And pretty much had a mini picnic outside our condo LOL...And played Monopoly in the dark but thankfully the power came back on at 2 am that night. Joy. Part of me was hoping it wouldnt so we didnt have to go to work and deal with the madness but part of me did want the power back LOL since 3G was down and my phhone needed to be charged. Soon. HAHA.
I will definitely be investing in a solar charger from strapya after this and a car charger for my phone lol!!!

Wish could have taken pictures but alas everything would have been too dark to do anything! LMAO!

Today was my companys picnic as well. But no one wants to really hear about that O_O....
stayed there for about 2 and half hours or so before running away to SEA WORLD LMAO!!! I've lived in SD for almost 10 yrs but I wont lie when I say the last time I went to Sea World was before I even moved to the US....lawl..how sad.
So a trip to sea world was indeed needed today :o

hello crappy cellphone pics~First ride we went on was Journey to Atlantis. I wont lie lmao Roller Coasters or anything with drops are definitely my weakness - in a bad way LMAO. I cant deal with big drops but I decided 'you need to try everything once atleast right?' and I was looking at the ride the drop didnt seem THAT huge. Of course thats what it ALWAYS looks like before you board it and when you're finally on it you start freaking out LMAO. but of course that didnt happen. I prefer to internalize my agony lmao. the chicks behind us was a funny group of black girls who made the funniest commentaries. EVER. LMAO!!!

But so yeah heres the crazy weird thing about this ride, you see that water splash in the photo?...well. THATS THE FIRST THING THAT HAPPENS ON THE FUCKING RIDE. WHUT?! yes. Normally you expect that to come at the END of the ride right?! no!
thats the first thing you experience fresh from taking your seat!!!! And from there it rotates you around this water raft into a small cave thingie that plays a really......cheesy animation of Shamu?..../: wtf. lol. yes. And it turns out its actually an ELEVATOR lmao. That takes you back up and you up to circle around the building and comes down to a drop that curves in and there. End of ride. /: lol. super fast and quick. Kinda reminds of the Matahorn ride in Disneyland in Anaheim but....less epic?...lmao....

hey, me and the penguin plush both have the same circle lenses LMAO!!!!

Apparently he was king of the rock /:

Another one to add to my collection. I <3 skull candy headphones and these type are my favorite >3

so much more comfortable than the DJ style ones - especially if you wear glasses D: they kinda push the frames in the side of your head after a while...that or its just me?...

not to mention they bother my earrings too lmao!

These sit comfortable without any fuss and you can interchange the designs on them. Lmao. shweet.

Hello dirty desk is dirty. lol.

Short update is short. Kinda tired from lack of sleep the last few days and I was pushing to level up a bit more on Dungeon Fighters tonight. I was hoping to go to the bakery tomorrow to pick up Lavender and Rose extracts to make lavender cupcakes/cookies. But apparently the store is closed on Sundays )8 boo....so I guess I'll have to wait next weekend when I have time to run over there Q_Q....next week should also be the street fair ): dammit. LMAO....meaning its harder to get in and out of my street lmao since their closing down the main road hahaha hopefully it works out still XD! I should wake up early next weekend and run to the store and make it back in time to enjoy the rest of the street fair now that I live across the effing street from it now LMAO!!!

Also, I went back to RED HAIR! :o my next entry will be talking about mainting your colored hair! especially for red heads! )8 since everyone and their mom knows how much of a b!tch red hair is! I've gone back and forth from being a red hair for years and years and with each year I find another way to help maintain that rich ruby color :3 since I hate the subtle red color. I like firey red red red!! If it was up to me I'd have my hair that fire engine red hair I had 4-5 yrs back LMAO!....

.....I really shouldnt be posting such an unflattering photo of me ROFLMAO and yes thats how RED it was, it looks more orange due to the purikura machine but trust me. it was a ruby fire engine red!! 8D....

When it comes to BOXED RED HAIR DYE. Feria POWER REDs is always my go to color! :3!!! Especially in the shade Ruby Rush.
I'll post the entry tomorrow or something since I need to properly cam whore or something lmao since I didnt take such good photos last time I had red hair?...o_O or did I?! I just need to go and dig them up lmao!!!

What is Hydrogen Peroxide?

What is 'Hydrogen Peroxide'?:

Hydrogen peroxide, developer or activator is the 'white' stuff you use to mix and activate your hair dye to turn it into hair dye prior to slapping it on your hair :D

It is H202, and it is a oxidizing agent that you use to mix with an oxidative agent such as Hair Dye. It supplies the needed oxygen the dye needs to pretty much 'activate' it. PH levels usually range between 2.5 to 4.5 When mixed together with the dye and applied to the hair, the activator reacts and 'opens' up the hair cuticles to allow the hair dye to penetrate the hair shaft. The higher the level of the developer, the higher the your color will 'lift'
You mentioned different names and forms?

Most places/people call Hydrogen Peroxide 'developer' or 'activator' as described above.
It comes in different forms, such as your regular basic liquid cream form (white liquid), gel (clear liquid. I personally dont like using gel as it tends to be runny) and sometimes even a heavier cream version which is best used for when bleaching your brows :D as its a thicker consistency allowing no drips or drops at all!

Levels and their usages:
H202 comes in different levels, the most basic levels you'll be able to access through your local beauty supply sheps are vol. 10-40. and Yes, they DO make developers as high as vol. 50 and 60 BUT are never advisable to be used at all! :O so dont worry about those, unless you are a licensed cosmetologist, you wouldnt be able to access anything higher than 40. And most places wont even sell you vol. 40)

Vol. 10 - Used to enhance ones own natural hair color, it doesnt 'lift' your hair color at all but it definitely works for depositing color and using it to enhance your natural shade. This developer gives the least amount of damage or NO damage at all considering its not even strong enough to open up the hair shaft.
I always suggest this to anyone who has pre-lightened hair and wants to go darker.
ie: When a friend went from black to blonde (and we all know when asians bleach their hair, is usually pretty yellow), she wanted to go 3-4 shades darker but still remain in the blonde range. So we used vol. 10 + the dye. Mixed them accordingly and reapplied to her hair.

Vol. 20 - most standard of the developers, this is the one most commonly used in boxed dyes (usually the ones that comes in the boxes are alittle bit more dilluted), this is also the developer used for full gray coverage. This would lift your hair 2 shades.
its strong enough to open up the hair cuticles and deposit the dye just enough but not too strong that it'd completely open up the hair shaft.

Vol. 30 - Use this for alittle bit more of a KICK to your hair lifting, this would lift you up atleast 3 volumes and is most commonly used with 'Hi Lift Colors' Most commonly adviced when using L'oriel high lift colors, per box instruction

Vol. 40 - Highest max lift in 1 step. This would lift you a nice 4-5 shades in one step.
I highly advice this for anyone going Blonde :B since it def helps lift you up a good 4-5 shades.
I wont go into detail in regard to 'how do I lift my hair to blonde blablabla, atleast not on this post. :D I'll go into it much more detailed in a different post. This is just a basic break down on Developers and what they do and whatnot.

What are the 'hair levels' you're talking about?
Your hair comes in 10 different 'shade levels'. Most Asians are either a level 1 or 2. Which is Black or Dark Brown. When 'lifting' your hair, you can use this chart as a guide to see how 'high' you wanna go:

Photo provided from Clairolpro.com


Will using a higher level above 10 be damaging to my hair?
Yes. The higher the level you're using, the stronger the chemical is, harsher it is on your hair, seeing as the higher the level the more it opens up your hair shaft.

As seen in the photo below, provided by hairfinder.com (found via google images)



the higher the developer, the more it 'raises' or opens up the hair to allow maximum porosity. The stronger the developer, the more it blasts or raises the hair cuticle which in turn, does damage your hair more and more making your hair feel more dry and course since you're taking out all that moisture and nourishment. So I always suggest babying your hair with masks and deep conditioners to try and close the cuticle and restore moisture.
When looking for a conditioner or hair masks, try to find ones that has 'Keratin Protein' in it.
keratin protein is basically the compound your hair is made out of and is very healthy for your hair to try and get as much of that keratin protein back into your hair.

Hair Lifting @ home & the "right" light tone for you

Hair Lifting @ home & the "right" light tone for you

So many people have asked me how do I lift my hair? How do I get my DARK ASIAN Hair to be a pretty light blonde? Do I even look GOOD with light hair? Are asians suppose to HAVE light hair? Why cant we just stick to having DARK hair?

this is is an on going debate that will probably never change. So many people are for it while some are against it.

Personally, I've been both dark and light :P

which do I prefer? Honestly, it just depends on my mood. Thankfully I own plenty enough wigs to play with and whatnot but there's just SOMETHING about having light hair thats definitely a show stopper >:D

First of all, there are DIFFERENT shades and tones of LIGHT hair - Blonde hair.

From golden tones to more ashy tones. I've been both! 8D but don't use me as reference.

Some people look better with a more warm tone (warmer-gold tones) while others looks better with a more lighter cool ash tones.

It all depends on your skin tone.

So before you pick up a packet of bleach and peroxide and start bleaching the crap out of your hair, stop and check your skin tone and what are your skins undertones.

Those with pink or blue skin undertones fall into the cool category. This means that hair colors that have a cool overtone will generally look much more natural on you. When I say 'cool tones' that usually falls in the category of anything with the name 'Ash' on it.

While obviously those with darker tones in their skin are best to stick with a more warm tone. This rule isnt always 100% full proof on anyone and everyone. I'd suggest using swatches and placing it against your face to try and test out what color would be best on you. Since sometimes, someone who is pasty white like white rice wouldnt look good with anything ashy as it would simply wash them out even more! Golden tones help bring warmth to the skin and gives it a more natural glow.

I personally have red undertones in my face - so something warmer works for me, but! I've been bleach blonde and SILVER before 8D

how did I get away with it? Simply my dears - Makeup. Proper makeup application. I used the proper primer and base to cancel out all my nasty red tones in my face to give my skin a more 'cool' tone to it. You wouldnt catch me walking outside without so much as a base foundation on my face when I had blonde hair ahahaha.

So just keep that in mind when picking the level and tones of 'blonde' you want to be 8D

anyways, lets move on before I continue to blab some more! I'm going to go ahead and throw myself out there and use myself as an example. I am 100% Asian born with 100% DARK black hair 8D

Examples of how much I've killed my hair, probably not THE best examples :D but its better than slapping this post with photos of ageha models who are clearly not human and photoshopped to prettyness >D (no, I'm not bashing on those models, they are gorgeous, too gorgeous that its harder for us everyday folks to try and see ourselves are.../: )

so onto how to get your hair that light 8D

first of all, bleach can and WILL damage your hair, lightening your hair to this extreme levels will result in alot of breakage, throughout the whole process I think I lost a good 4" in lenght /:

(only because I went SILVER, I'm sure I could have save myself some breakage had I not pushed to bleach it silver :D kekeke) but again, the breakage differs from each and everyones hair and how much you're hair can personall take.

what you will be needing:

1. Gloves
2. Plastic Bowl & Applicator Brush
3. Plastic Processing Cap (or a shower cap but I prefer the plastic ones you can get locally at your beauty supply store)
4. Bleach
5. Vol. 30-40 developer (refer to my previous post on developers for info on the difference and what do they do exactly)
6. Foil (optional)
7. Plastic Cape & Towels
8. Hair Mask/Deep Conditioners (my personal favorite and go to is Ion Keratin Reconstructive Mask)
9. Vol. 20 + Toner OR the hair dye of your choice (depending on how lighter/darker of a tone it is, you'd want to get a vol. 10 or 20, again refer to my previous post on developers)
10. Plastic Clips

How to get started:

Mixing the product: Mix your Bleach and Developer in a clean plastic bowl. Follow the instruction on your bleach packet, but more often than not, they will be asking for 1:1 ratio. That means, 1 part bleach to 1 part Developer. For those of us who aren’t too keen on math, that usually means, for 1 cup of powder bleach, you drop 1 cup of developer in. Easy enough? Mix! :D It shouldn’t feel too watery or runny, if its TOO watered down, its going to be a hot mess! You want a nice good consistency- like cake batter :D ahaha. A good way to test how ‘thick’ your mix is, if you dip your brush into it, and lift it up, if the product is thick enough, it wont simply FALL off the brush. So you know you have a good consistency and it wont just drop everywhere!

Drape a towel around your neck and another one behind you, (so you will need 2 towels)

The 2^nd towel should be tucked into the back of your shirt, the first one should be wraped around your neck. Drape your plastic cape on, you usually wanna wear 2 towels incase the first one doesn’t catch any bleach residue falling into your shirt! :o which would definitely suck. The cape is optional but I always suggest picking one up since their super cheap anyway at your local beauty supply store. Or just get a big towel. But plastic capes are definitely the best since their easier to clean!

Onto the hair!

First, you wanna section your hair off in 4 different sections or regions, it just simply makes it easier to do it and allows you to do cleaner and easier partings to properly distribute the product onto your hair. If you have sensitive scalp, I suggest definitely using Ion Sensitive Scalp Developer and to wash your hair previously with COLD water, thus closing the hair cuticles and minimizing the ‘burning’ sensation in your hair.

Starting in your back section, you wanna try and do nice clean partings, small partings layer by layer and apply the product half an inch away from the scalp to the end.

Why away from the scalp? As explained before in my previous post, you wanna start away from the scalp first since Hydrogen Peroxide, or developer reacts to heat, and well, clearly your scalp produces heat :D!

So if you ever noticed, if you do your roots-end application, your roots tend to always be a lot lighter then the rest of your hair? Well, that’s why! :D

So go ahead and go all around your hair, and in the last 20 mins of processing, you wanna apply some bleach to the roots where you left off, again starting at the back to the front sections again .

Once you’re done with that, you wanna cover your hair with a processing cap, to help keep the heat in and keep the bleach from drying out, once it dries out, then you’re pretty much done processing /:

Bleach/Dye usually is done processing at 40 mins to 60 mins. So no point in trying to leave bleach on your head for an hour and half, since most likely the bleach has dried out already.

Another option, since I mentioned foil in the above materials is, well, as you apply the bleach half an inch away to the ends, you can wrap hair in foil to help keep it moist and this also helps process the bleach faster, keep it moist and not dry out so much faster and also helps differentiate layer by layer – making root application a lot easier. Since you just need to lift one foil, after the other and sneak your brush through to the roots and apply the bleach there :D

After processing, you want to go ahead and rinse off your hair, shampoo and condition as always. Then dry.

Most Asians will most likely end up with either brassy orange hair to yellow.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v93/cruelangel45/?action=view&current=zomfgblonde.jpg

This photo above is my hair going from Brown to Blonde, this was done with I believe 1-2 bleachings, with vol. 40 and purple shampoo, I haven’t toned my hair yet at this point.

Again, how much your hair will lift can definitely vary, please refer to my previous post on Hydrogen Peroxide levels, I have a level chart there that talks about the different levels of hair and color and whatnot.

I got this light personally because my hair as already a BROWN shade and not VIRGIN BLACK. So it only took me 2 bleachings at the most using vol. 40 developer to achieve this color.

Now usually at this point I can choose to pick a blonde dye to throw over my hair, which would also help tone out the yellowness, or I can continue to bleach it one more time and then apply purple-blue toner to achieve and platinum or white blonde color.

What are toners and how do I use them?

Toners comes in different shades, ranging from blue, purple, green and etc. what they basically do is, when applied with developer and applied to hair, basically cancels out the contributing pigments.

At the above photo, you can clearly tell I had Orange and Yellow underlining pigments.

To get a ‘pure’ color, you definitely want to cancel those out, so if I wanted to continue going blonde (depending on how much orange/yellow I have in my hair, it would also depend on the toner I need)

I would go ahead and use a purple-blue toner, my personal favorite is Wella White Lady, since it has both purple and blue in it to help cancel out all the yucky yellow and orange tones in my hair.

I personally don’t tone my hair tillI get it to this level of lightness. Since after 1 bleaching, and my hair is at that loooovely orange stage, the toner wouldn’t do anything or even budge it.

Toners have instructions in them so I wont bore you guys with any more info on them.

For my next post, I will go over some products for us wannabe blondors :B and the difference in different ‘bleach products’ and etc. Since this post has definitely gone pretty long already

Q!

Hi, Super back logged whut. Yeah, I've been updating my LJ more often than I do this one.
Not like I have gone out and done something fun in a long time anyway lawls. So, Sorry~ hahahaha. and I've super back logged as well on the other blog - in regard to reviews and etc. :B
the idea is there, just havent quite gotten off my butt to do anything more productive on it D': and here I sit and bitch about being so bored....lawls. well, not really bored.

My life has revolved around......working. working out. bitching at the couch that I dont want to get up and go to the gym. dieting/destroying my diet lawwwwls. staying up to play COD or MVC3. Rinse & Repeat.
clearly unhappy with the fact that the car is dead and I'm bumming rides off people :D duurrrhuuurrhuur and still working just 1 job. D': need to get a 2nd job soon so I can afford to finance another car and not be so broke after rent is paid ;;
SD, why you so expensive XD;; lawls.... doubt LA is any better :'D

ehehehehe. my friends are all planing costumes for the up coming cons and here I am completely messing up my dates for what con is coming up and whatnot, as many of you have noticed i've taken a step back from competing and making costumes in general, yay hobo living, lawls. Well, hopefully by next month once I've moved into an actual place, I'll have room to work @__@ now its just a matter of finding the $$$ to make costumes again lawls. Cosplay is an expensive hobby. LAWLS. So plans for Anime Conji next month: Bridget from Guilty Gear (the blue ver) hahaha I'll work on it perhaps the weekend before the con after all the bills have been paid. LOL. Oooh my. Borrowing wigs from friends and probably need to find my blue contacts or I'll just wear the black circle lenses I have ;;
 
lol, also, another update. Changed my hair color again ;;


the red was amazingly fun but not fun when you're trying to match extensions to it and it fades insanely quickly and your hair extensions dont exactly match LAWWWWWWLS! So I went with a chocolate brown but I kept a streak of red in there :'D just to keep things interesting. Lawls. I need to eventually bleach out streaks into it so I can match it with the Ruki Filth in the Beauty dreads too. mhmm.

I keep telling myself, SOMEDAY when my hair is LONGER (duuuurr whenthe hell that will ever be.....;__; duuuurr) I'll go red again coz we all know my dream is to get LONG RED HAIR LIKE PARK BOM >DDDDD from 2ne1 lawwwls
grow hair grow....

anyways, on to the back logged event that I- by some form of miracle made it to the Q store opening and also to the Huntington Library with Ash :D

I jumped on the train to Fullerton that morning of and met up with Ash, it was still pretty early on, in the day so we decided to head to the Huntington library. supppppper breath taking amazing place btw! :O i'd love to go there again!!!
(minus the damn $20 admission fee xDDD)

the library is famous for their art gallery, the gardens! (japanese & chinese tranquility gardens) and the tea room and whatnot~ I didnt get a chance to check out the museum since Ash got lost trying to pick me up lawwwl so we got there alittle late. NOT to mention we also kinda got lost trying to find the place LOOOOL! we're amazing. i think we need to invest in a GPS. I keep telling myself that whenever I go to LA >D






it was a good walk just trying to walk around the place and even still, we didnt even get to go to ALL the places. Def need to go there earlier next time. LAWLS >D and perhaps bring a smaller camera instead of lugging my DSLR next time lawls. I brought it with me initially for the store opening ;;
loool

when we got there, I didnt realize Ash had reserved a spot in the tea room as well @___@; dang.


the tea room~

it was suppose to be surrounded by gardens hahahaaha but clearly, it was winter
so, um. hahahaha. the place was dead...xd;; well, garden wise. AHAHA
I didnt realize how many people had reserve spots in the tea room since we had to wait for almost 20-30 mins to get our seat D':







looool, first time having scones and first time seeing REAL SUGAR CUBBBESS ROFLMAO
omfg, dont judge. I was amused >D



walking to the Japanese garden entrance, you are greeted with THIS as a view! :O
I probably went ape shit when I saw this XD;















then we took the 'back rode' to the Chinese garden which is BIGGER than the Japanese garden
I was totally expecting Da Qiao or something to be sitting on one of the pagodas XD
or even Zhuge Liang writing on a new manual script. LAWLS.
dddooooooooork allertttt...





















the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom! damn their blooming early!
I need to catch them at bloom at Lake balboa in van Nuys before they die again ;;
gaaaah!!!!!!! planning a picnic soon plz~
 then we had to start leaving at 4 coz the place was closing ahahaa and had to back track to pick up Ash's friend then back track again to Lil Tokyo for the Q opening :


the place was pack! D:
it was so hard to try and walk in there and move or even BROWSE




















 

Afterwards we tried to head to K-town for Rozen's karaoke but when we got there we forgot one of our friends was under 21and we got there after 10:30, which meant, everyone had to be over 18+?....lawls. Fail.
So we trecked back to Lil Tokyo for Max Karaoke but the waiting time was another 40 mins! So we didnt really start Karoke till almost midnight! lawwwls.

We got out of Karaoke by 2amish then had to rush back to Sd since Cathy starts work at the bakery by 5am! ahahaha.
fun night fun night....