This post has been sat in draft for a little while, I initially started it after my home pedicure but I've been prompted to finish it after a bit of DIY hair disaster!
After my post about needing a pedicure, it got me thinking. How many of you DIY when it comes to beauty treatments or are there things which you consider a Salon job only? There are quite a few things that I do myself these days; hair removal, hair dye, manicure and the occasional facial. Until quite recently I always did my own brows but I've been very happy with the results I get from threading. Although I've tried threading my own brows I always turn chicken and find I can't shape them! I have resonable success whipping off the 'tash though. If you fancy trying DIY threading OxfordJasmine did an excellent Youtube tutorial which you can find here.
I've never really bothered doing much with my feet other than painting my toes. Though with all the walking I've been doing lately they were in need of some urgent TLC. I've had salon pedicures quite a few times and have always really enjoyed them (no foot heebee jeebees here). I really hoped to go and repeat the experience but with a shortage of time I thought what the heck, I'll give it a go myself. And I've been pleasantly surprised by the results. I have a Scholl Dual Action foot file which I used to remove hard skin. It's good but not excellent, I must look for some other recommendations in fact. I then used some Sanctuary samples I've had for a while, Foaming Pumice Foot Scrub and Soothing Foot Lotion. I really enjoyed using both of these, they smell beautiful and have lovely textures. The only hamper to it being a completely relaxing experience was not having a foot spa to soak my feet! Well, you can't have everything can you? Although I do hope to book a pedicure very soon, I'm happy to have added this to my repertoire of things to do at home.
My latest DIY experience has not been such a success. I have been dying my hair at home since my teens. I'm terrible at going to the hairdresser anyway, so this coupled with the cost of upkeep means I've very rarely bothered with professional colouring. In the last year or so I switched from semi-permanent to permanent. My greys are of the 'extremely stubborn' variety and even permanent colour can't cover them for more than a couple of weeks. I've been lucky with the dyes I had selected and never strayed into too dark territory that can be a problem with brown home colourant. Until last night that is! I picked up L'Oreal Excell 10 in the shade Natural Brown as it was on special offer. Believe me, there is nothing either Natural or Brown about this colour on me. It's very nearly black, the only saving grace is that the colour has left my hair very shiny and beautifully conditioned. Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. It's just my luck that it happened before I'm due to meet a bunch of beauty bloggers for the first time. Just remember girls, no pointing or laughing!
So, I'd love to know, are you a do it yourself kind of girl? Or is it salon all the way for you? Have you had any disasters that you'd like to share? I look forward to hearing your stories.
Jane x
You will probably find it fades fairly quickly to natural brown, I haven't dyed my hair myself for a few years now, but I always prepared for that!
ReplyDeleteBe careful of build up if you use permanent dyes at home. I was dying mine myself dark brown for years. I decided that with the greys looked far too obvious as they came through and decided that it would be far less maintenence to take it down to a mid brown... the expense and trauma to my hair was a nightmare... years of permanent dye build up made it a nightmare job for the hairdresser!
I DIY everything, including cutting my own hair until I met my boyfriend, who used to be a hairdresser.
ReplyDeleteThere is lots of advice out there of the "wash with dish detergent" kind when it comes to lightening dark hair, but it's not worth damaging your hair when it will fade in a week or two anyway. Enjoy the chance to experiment with make up that suits your new colouring!
Thanks Charlie. I've washed it through a couple of times with anti-dandruff shampoo as I believe that will strip it a bit. You're right it will fade I just have to be patient. That's part of the problem I have, I always end up a sort of copper colour as it fades out so I can never just do my roots.
ReplyDeleteI had to use the colourB4 stuff recently because of colour build up on the ends. I swore I was just going to do the roots after that! I think you're right about taking it down a few shades. I was going to do that but when I asked Mr MB's opinion he said it was too light. Erm, why I did I listen to a man with no experience of hair colouring?!
Thanks Sarah! I have considered cutting my own hair before. I used to do my fringe years ago and regularly cut the boys hair when they were smaller. How handy that your boyfriend can do it!
ReplyDeleteI draw the line at washing up liquid. I considered getting some colorB4 to take the colour out but it's not worth it as you say it'll fade fast enough. It really is interesting the way it's changed how I look. It looks a lot better once I've got make up on that's for sure.
Jane x
I have baby blonde hair and - stupidly - decided that I would get my boyfriend to dye it brunette. 10 minutes later my hair had turned bright lilac due to a reaction with the chemicals.
ReplyDeleteMy hairdresser told me to use head and shoulders to strip the colour down. It worked a treat at muting the tone but I had purple hair for a full 10 days before it was light enough to dye in the salon. It was my first week working at the BBC and I was mortified. In fact I was even on The One Show with all it's lavender glory. Eventually I got it dyed dark brown and now - 3 years later - I'm finally back to blonde again. Never again!
xxx
I think I am definitely a DIY girl...but would love to go for a natural looking spray tan every week..but ofcourse it does mount up! So I don't and applying fake tan is annoying.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I go to a salon for is to have my eyelashes and eyebrow tinted and sometimes waxed.
I just don't trust myself to did any other them things...however I go apply abit of hair dye to my eyebrows when I am dying my hair sometimes! ha
I do try to give myself a pedicure when my feet at looking in need of it...but like you say it's not really a relaxing experience, in my case it's a lot of hard work, scrubbing and filing away!
As for your hair...I know the feeling. Washing out the dye to only see very black hair. I would say use a harsh shampoo to strip the colour away something like Herbal Essence (the red one or pink one) but to be honest using harsh chemicals is never a good idea..which I am sure you will know.
I guess lots of washing will maybe help.
Nice post as per usual :)
Fee x
Citrus shampoos will also help strip colour out, try Lush I Love Juicy. xx
ReplyDeleteThe Beauty Bite, you had me chuckling at that. Great story though I'm sure it wasn't funny at the time though, talk about bad timing!!
ReplyDeleteHi Fee, I love all the nail work you do, you certainly are very good at manicures. That feeling when you spy black after all the rinsing is awful. I knew it was going to happen eventually though!
I've wondered about brow and lash tinting before. Do you find your eyes water much as they're doing it? My eyes seem to water at the slightest thing.
Thanks Charlie, I didn't know that about citrus. The anti-dandruff shampoo that I have used is a citrus one so that is handy!
Jane x
I've had my eyelashes tinted a number of times and twice they have stung when you finally open your eyes and there shouldn't be any dye left.
ReplyDeleteBut the rest of the time it's been perfectly fine.
Even when they do water/sting it's not enough to leave them bloodshot at all.
If your thinking of getting it done I would mention it when you go and ask for a damp cotton pad for when you open your eyes so that you can wipe away any excess dye!
It is 100% worth it even if you have light brown eyelashes...the darkest dye really makes the lashes look longer.
Fee x
After a recent run in with a home pre-lightening kit (white roots, bright yellow 3 inches and then the rest marmalade orange!) I am being very careful what I whack on my hair, I bought the Perfect 10 medium ash blond to tone down the ginger tom look I had achieved with all that bleach and agree totally about the condition, made my hair feel fab and although would prefer to be slightly less strawberry blond it did save me from having to shave my head! will stick with this shade of perfect 10, but done through as highlights rather than an all over colour in future I think!
ReplyDeleteHi Debbie, I have wondered a couple of times about using a home highlighting kit. I think lighter pieces would be a better way for me to go to mask the greys. I'm wary of making a mess of it though, so I'm sorry to hear it didn't go well for you! It's an interesting idea about using the perfect 10 as a highlight, I'd never have thought of that! :)
ReplyDeleteJane x
Thanks Fee, that's really useful. I think both my lashes and brows would benefit from tinting as although they are brown they're lighter than my hair. My eyes tend to disappear behind my glasses unless I have make up on.
ReplyDelete