2013: A Year Of Hair

Happy New Year peeps! I hope this one is a healthy and happy one for you all. I've seen loads of blog summary posts or a look back over the year, however, I'm not sure I have the patience (or time) to look through a year of outfits or hundreds of pairs of shoes! So instead, I've put together this little compilation of my hair colour throughout 2013. This was the year I bought very little dye and used up all the random bottles I'd been storing. I also (mainly) stuck to full head applications with the exception of contrasting tips once. I'm very much led by mood in terms of my style, from my hair colour to what I wear each day, even down to the colour of my nails. However I never felt pulled in any one direction during 2013. I had a passion for purple hair at one point, but that fizzled out and I just felt a bit unsure of what to do next or finding something I haven't already tried over the years.
So, I started the year with faded Atomic Turquoise (Manic Panic). I then went a dark and bold blue in mid January, mixing AT with Ultra Violet (MP). That faded to a teal colour (not unlike Atomic Turquoise), then lighter and lighter green (can I just add my hair was on fiyah the week of '2nd from right' pic). So then came the change to purple (2nd row). Oh how I love the beautiful purple colour, but wow, how quick it fades. You don't even need to wash your hair and it disappears! I really used up some randoms on this one, mixing half a bottle of Ultra Violet with Bubblegum Blue and Lilac (both Crazy Color) maybe a 1/3 of a bottle of each of those. It starts off vivid (and ridiculously pretty), then goes violet, then lilac, then almost grey. I just adore the colour on the second pic from left, second row.  My hair has natural golden/warm tones to it and I liked that this was completely cool.  Like I say, it faded quickly, although I actually resisted the urge to ditch this colour right away and let it go greyish, then re-did it. I think my mixture was slightly different the second time, but again the majority was UV. This was April/May.  As much as I love it, it feels too high maintenance for the lazy hair person I am!

Then came a full head bleach (3rd row) and I was really undecided with what to do. I ended up doing my one and only 'two-tone head' of the year using some Bubblegum Blue mixed with Atomic Turquoise for the majority and Ultra Violet on the ends. It was spectacular and reminded me of how I had it years before (although the application/products used were different). That damn purple though, just disappeared. First wash and it drastically faded, until I couldn't even remember I'd put purple on the tips. Come August, I was sent Schwarzkopf Live Color XXL Ultra Brights in Purple Punk 94 and Shocking Pink 93 to try, so once my colour had faded to pale green I applied the pink one. I only had enough bleach for my roots, so the ends were left a pale green and this created a pinky/purple mix. It actually turned out pretty cool as you can see the blue toned purple streaks (1st left, bottom row) against the purpley pink. Surprisingly this lasted quite some time and the fading tended to go more purple and actually darker (because it was more dull, rather than fading lighter like other colours).

I felt like something different again and thought the purple one would be too similar, so bought 95 Electric Blue. While it was extremely bold and bright after application and I loved it, I felt it faded quicker than the pink. It turned a lovely pale blue shade, but still I'd hoped it would last longer. So that brings me to the end of November at which point I used the Purple Punk. On me, it comes out very, very like the pink (when you compare the first and last photos on the bottom row).  A month on and it's fading slowly.  I have absolutely no idea what to do next or what I haven't already tried.  I don't much fancy yellow, orange, red (too staining) and am not sure I'd suit black although I've been surprised at how much I love the darker/bolder colours.  I'd quite like to try a dark purple, but I'm struggling to find something that doesn't lean too plum.  What did you like best this year? Any ideas for what I could do in 2014?