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?