There is nothing wrong with being bleach blonde in the dead of winter (especially if you live somewhere warm all year round…bitch). But lots of ladies who lighten their locks in the summer want to go a tad darker when football season (A.K.A. fall) starts rolling in.
I recently saw my hair whisperer Mandy Gispert at the Maria Heckscher salon in Atlanta. We had done two rounds of highlights in the spring/summer, and what began as bronde was slowly moving into “Wait, am I a blonde now?” territory. I wanted to keep a similar color, just slightly darker/more natural, and get rid of the roots, but not process the already-processed hair anymore. Being the mane magician she is, she whipped out her magic wand coloring tools and granted my wishes beyond my tress-pectations.
But a lot of colorists get this wrong (I had a blonde friend recently experience this nightmare). So Mandy gave me some tips for what to ask for when you’re looking to fall-ify your light lady locks. And feel free to ask your hairdresser what he/she is doing back there/give ’em a side-eye, especially if it’s someone new you don’t trust just yet. And of course, a picture is worth a thousand words (and hopefully a not-botched hairstyle).
Fall Tress Tips from Mandy:
1. Fall hair eliminates further processing since you’re going light to dark. If you’re blonde/bronde, you would still highlight throughout the hair, but use highlight color instead of bleach, then go between the foils with light to medium browns and top it off with a glaze to blend, which adds shine, tones down serious blonde, and brings it all together.
2. You want to see honey caramel tones (key words) instead of bleached summer blonde.
3. When you want to go darker for fall but not full brunette, make sure you let your hairdresser know you DON’T want to eliminate ALL the blonde—you just want a little less. It’s better to darken slowly. You can always add more dark instead of damaging the hair by reversing it.
4. Ombre is on the way out (most hairdressers consider it long gone). Sombre is the new technique that uses the ombre flavor, but without the stark contrasts.
5. Always discuss a glaze to tone you down in general. And be honest with yourself. Some girls only want to be a little darker. They show you a picture of dark brown, but don’t really mean it. They mean Jennifer Aniston. Bitches.
So tone down for what? Fall.
LYLAS,
Ashley
(All photos courtesy of Pinterest)