Oh, That Crazy Silver Hair Trend

So I've decided to try killing two birds with one stone- or I will at least try to drive a point across to them. This post could be titled 'Why You Won't Go From Black to Platinum Blonde in One Day' or 'No, I Will Not Color Your Hair Silver'. That's right- I'm not doing silver hair for anybody. Give me the entire color wheel. Tell me you want an undercut that looks like a slice of rainbow watermelon. But for the love of everything holy, DO NOT come to me wanting silver.

I will not do it. I refuse.

Do not mistake me- I love the silver hair trend. It's shiny, pure, beautiful, lovely. All of these Tumblr girls with tans and healthy silver beach waves past the middle of their backs- we've all seen it. I get it. Who wouldn't want that? But after my own experience, I can personally tell you that I'm 98% certain they all have extensions. Or they're wearing wigs. Or their hair was to the floor BEFORE deciding to go silver. Or, you know, it's photoshopped, because most of them are. I can't begin to count how many of these have been sent to my inbox or brought into the salon. I really wish I could do this for you guys and make you happy. I WISH I could. But alas... let me explain with my own hair journey.

Silver Hair Tumblr Babes

I myself had black hair and jumped on the Silver Hair Bandwagon. As a licensed cosmetologist I decided to try it the correct way- with each professional tool within reach- to see what all the hype was about.

My Healthy Black Hair

This is what to expect: from black, you will become a brassy brown. This is after a professional color remover, not lightener. I chose to avoid my ugly brown and colored over with a rich orange/red. This red has always been one of my favorites (Weasley Red, as I like to think of it). As I've had this color a few times before, I didn't mind this phase so much. I actually really enjoyed it, but I was on a mission.

Natural 'Weasley' Red

 Next was another color remover, which put me at a muddy red/gold. I HATED THIS. There was NO living with it. So my hair was lightened, and the result was an absolute, pure gold. I thought I would handle this phase well, but I was secretly suffering inside the entire time. Gold does NOT work on me. 

The Most Nasty Gold in the World

I finally threw my hands in the air in failure and colored my hair emerald green. Now this was pretty, and I almost stopped here. I even tossed some extensions in my hair, ready to call it a day and move on. I did an ombre on the ends from emerald into neon green. They were pretty rad. 

Emerald to Neon Green Extensions

But my own hard-headedness just wouldn't see this as the end. I eventually applied another color remover and toned and- amazingly- my hair was a sandy blonde. Finally! Something livable!!

Some Type of Normal

From this point my hair was lightened, toned, TRIMMED, and finally... the moment we'd all been waiting for... my hair was silver!! It was so pretty!! It was shiny!! Long? Absolutely not. Healthy? Admittedly, no. Not even close to as healthy as it was when it was black. But it was silver, and that's all that mattered, right? 

!!!SILVER!!!

Now, as someone who can go a while without having to wash my hair, it was silver for a few days. And when I finally did wash it I used freezing cold water and a sulphate free shampoo/conditioner combo, which was pretty much just conditioner. But after my hair was dry... it was only half as silver as it was before. Add straightening or curling to this and my hair lost all of the silver within two weeks. TWO WEEKS. Begrudgingly, I applied the silver again, tried to be even more careful (how is that even possible?) and it was gone again... in two weeks.

Now, as someone with a license who uses only professional products (even the beginning black was a professional color), I really thought I'd be able to manage it. I mean, I work in a salon. I'm around color and can make an appointment for my hair any time. But after spending 18 months transitioning (yes, 18 months. That's a nice way of saying a YEAR AND A HALF) I finally reached my goal and then it vanished in little over a week. No way was I going to keep coloring my hair silver every two weeks. No way. So we used another color remover, a toner, deep conditioning treatments, and here I am- blonde. And keeping it that way. I've come too far to color over it and, honestly, I'm tired of messing with it. Which (if you know me) is a huge deal.

Little Ole Kittybabe

The first moral of this story is that you will not go from black to blonde in one day. ESPECIALLY if it's box color. And if you do, it will not be 'Frozen blonde' and it will take nearly the entire day. You will be sitting for a long time, and you should expect to lose some inches during a process like this. Also expect to be taking home professional product for after care. Your hair will become wrecked after a process like this if you're using cheap products, and especially if you're using any kind of heat on your hair. Do not go into the salon expecting it to be cheap. We are humans behind the chair. Our feet will start to hurt. We will get hungry. And believe it or not, most of us actually pay for the products we use on your hair from our own pockets. If you didn't notice, a process like this takes A LOT of product. Please do not ask to go from black to blonde and expect us to only charge you $20. We love our jobs, but that's what they are- they are JOBS, not hobbies.

The second moral of this story is that, in my opinion, silver hair just isn't worth it. As someone who dedicated hours and hours toward the process- over the span of a year and a half- just to lose the ultimate goal color in less than two weeks... I'm not going to fake my clients out, put them through the entire process, only for them to find out silver isn't forever. My hair is only now regaining elasticity (when your hair strand will stretch without breaking) and actually growing again. As hair grows half an inch every month, my hair would be around nine inches longer by this point if I had just stuck with the black. NINE INCHES. That's a lot of hair to cut off just as it's growing.

My first rule of thumb as a stylist is to be 100% honest with my clients, and this is me being honest. I vote that we all just wait fifty years, grow out our natural silver hair, and compliment each other. Who says old women can't be trendy?

What is Hair Made of?

I'll be honest: I never questioned hair until I went to beauty school. It never crossed my mind that hair could be made of something, that it had its own building blocks and structure that came with its own limits. Before beauty school I never knew hair was basically something that needed its own instruction manual, nor did I really care at the time. I did what I wanted when I wanted, and my hair seemingly did what it wanted in return. I was clueless when it came to actually taking control over that mop on my head.

I was one of those girls who used box color for a bit of a change, which meant I was not only changing my locks but also the bathroom sink, bathmat, bath towels, and shower curtain. I always got lucky with my hair (somehow) but I can honestly say it never came out as the true color I was going for. I was also using regular store bought shampoos, like Prell and Herbal Essences. Breck was my number one favorite to keep my hair from being oily, but come to think of it, nothing ever really helped in that area. I also cringe now thinking back to how I would style my hair then- sopping wet hair that I would dry with a straightening iron, watching it steam and hearing it crackle as I ran my hot tool over the strands. My hair was completely fried, and I thought it looked good.

Don't judge me- this is to prove that I've been there. I damaged my hair. The last time I colored at home I used box lightener three times in a row- and as a result had all of my hair hacked off within my third week of beauty school. Sure, the (extremely) short hair was cute- but I had no idea what I had been doing to my hair to reach that point, nor why it felt coarse like 'horse hair'. I was quick to learn, however, and was shocked to find that beauty school was much more complicated than I expected it to be. So, if you're as lost as I was and cant grasp the reality of what that Walgreen's lightener did to your tresses, delve into the (somewhat boring) structure of hair with me:

The Hair Bulb (or 'root')

Hair is basically a combination of nutrients mixed up in the bulb of your hair. The bulb (or root) is hidden within the skin of your scalp and cannot be seen. These nutrients turn to protein and grow out from this bulb as an individual strand made of keratinized (basically hardened) protein. Each individual strand is made up of three sections: the cuticle, the cortex, and the medulla.

The cuticle is the outermost layer of the hair. It is transparent and resembles shingles on a roof. The cuticle really matters when it comes to styling, washing, and coloring. When coloring hair, the cuticle opens so new pigments can reach the inside of the hair strand and change the color. Thinking back to shingles on a roof- imagine if every time the roof of a house got hot, the shingles lifted outward, or opened up. Then imagine if every time it got cold those same shingles laid flat and smooth, shut up tight. This is how the cuticle works. Heat and humidity can make the cuticle open, tangle your hair, and make it frizzy. Using the cool setting on your hair dryer, however, can make the cuticle shut and take the poof out of your 'do. Nice to finally know, right? Also, using store bought shampoos that are full of waxy chemicals can seal the cuticle off, making hair appear shiny and healthy. The reality is that your hair is full of build up and being weighed down. If it seems absolutely impossible to curl your hair, its not your hair- its your hair care.

Healthy Cuticle 

Damaged Cuticle

The cortex of hair is just under the cuticle, and makes up the majority of the hair strand. If the cuticle is your roof, the cortex is the inside of your house. Example: if you have a bad roof and it rains, where does the water go? Straight into your living room. This is the concept of how humidity can effect hair- the cuticle lets it in and the cortex soaks it up. Now imagine me drying my wet hair with a straightener- I was literally burning my own roof off and setting fire to my living room (This is why I don't recommend wet to dry hot tools!). The cortex is also where your hair pigment is held. This pigment is called melanin and this is what is effected when coloring your hair. The original color is removed and the new color is put into place. This would be like buying a new rug for said 'living room', basically swapping one rug for the other. Granted, if you hair has been previously colored, this process can turn more into the tedious job of sanding and re-staining your hardwood floors (more on that later).

Visible Cortex Through Damaged Cuticle 

Finally, medullas are strange little cores that typically reside within the center of the cortex. Some people have this core in their hair and some people do not. In a hair where the medulla is present, it spans from the bulb all the way to the end of the hair shaft.  Its been proven that people with thinner hair do not typically have medullas, while thicker strands normally do. From most standpoints, there is really no known reason to have one, although some science suggests that this is where DNA is stored. All I can say about the medulla is that some people have basements while others don't.

And Here is Your Lovely Medulla (if you have one)

After structure, the rest is chemistry. Each strand of hair (keratinized protein) is made up of amino acids that are held together by polypeptide chains.

Polypeptides in Hair

Polypeptide chains are held together by side bonds. Bonds are important to you because their integrity determines the integrity of your hair. Key bonds are altered when it comes to washing, drying, styling, and chemical processes. Chemicals effect the hair because most fall into harsher ends on the pH scale. Changing the pH of these bonds can make them break down significantly, thus explaining the 'horse hair' effect I received from box lightener. 

Common Examples on pH Scale

Where Hair Lives on pH Scale

As you can see, hair is much more complex than most of us give it credit for. It has its own structure, reactions, and chemical make up. For a nonliving organism, its pretty impressive. I haven't used a box color or dried my hair with a straightening iron (cringe) since I started beauty school- after learning the overall build of hair, I feel it deserves more respect than that.