No, I’m not a natural ginger, some of you already know, but a lot of people still feel surprised when I say that my natural hair colour is dark brown, so in this post I will talk a little about the colour, the change and how I maintain my hair.
Some time ago, six years to be precise, after many different hair colour changes, eu decided that I would like to be redhead (I’ve been a redhead twice before), a copper red, which is the tone I like the most, but there are many other options.
I’ve always been very curious and liked to experiment with new colours, haircuts, and so I changed my hair many times. Until I was 18 years old I hadn’t changed the colour, only the haircut.
After trying the ginger colour for the third time, I realised that is the color I like the most. I believe that when we find a colour that we really like, it’s hard to want another, and that is what happened with me. When I finally got the colour that I have today, I found myself and I can’t – or rather, don’t want to – imagine changing to another colour.
I was very afraid of how hard it would be to maintain this colour, that it would discolour to much, that I would have to go to the hairdresser every month, but I started to learn the correct way to dye and take care of it, and to be honest it isn’t much work, just the basic care that any coloured hair needs.
My red hair has a technical name which is Medium Blond Golden Copper, but that is all codename for ginger, a term used by hairdressers, and this stuck in my head, and so it became an inspiration behind the blog’s name (my hair was the true responsible for the creation of The London Ginger)
About the colour:
The easiest way to change a hair colour is if your hair has no other chemicals in it, but in my case, it was already dyed, so I had to discolour it first (without damaging the hair), so then I could apply the new colour. But if your hair doesn’t have any other colour already, you can skip the discolouring.
The change must be done by a professional, since they know the correct measures for the application and the correct time that it takes to work. After all, they are the ones with the necessary knowledge on the subject.
I maintain my hair colour at home, I apply it once a month, although ideally I should be doing it every 20 days because my hair grows fairly fast, but I try to wait for the 30 days.
In São Paulo, Brazil, I used to dye it at home as well, but I would occasionally pay a visit to Liceu de Maquiagem where Talita Osiro, a lovely woman and amazing professional would take care of the colour for me, and she taught me how to properly measure the hair paint mix, and how to maintain an even and vibrant colour, and between these visits I would handle the maintenance on my own. To be honest, I like the option of doing it all by myself, because if there is ever an event or trip that was not planned, and there is no time or availability at any hairdresser, it it great to have this option. But it takes some practice to learn, attention and the right products for your hair.
Here in London I rely on two amazing professionals – Fer Nabuco and Marcio Soares, because even though I make little retouches at home, I always like to pay a visit to a good professional to learn new tips, and although I like to take care of my own hair, it doesn’t make the wish to go to a good professional go away.
After a few tries, I discovered that Keune has the most natural and beautiful ginger tones for my hair. I mix two different tones – the 8.4 and 8.34.
Not only Keune hair dye colours are wonderful, but it also treats the hair and covers any white hair, because it has a small amount of ammonia, and it is free of PPD Para-phenylenediamine (which causes allergies), and it has also Cocamid MEA, which is derivative of coconut oil, a great touch that not only hidrates the hair, but it also prevents the dye from leaving any stains on your skin. (This is not a publicity post, I am just sharing my experience with this hair dye that I have been using for over six years).
Every month I do a quick retouch on the roots and every two to three months, depending on when it’s necessary, I dye my whole hair to have a more uniform and glowing result.
If you’d like to change your hair colour, to whichever colour you like, look for a professional and talk to him about how this change can be done, how to maintain and be sure to always follow the correct instructions to avoid any unpleasant surprises. Only this way you will be able to maintain at home, especially because the formula always changes from person to person. You can’t simply copy someone else’s formula and be sure it’ll work.
There is a question that everyone asks me – what to do about your eyebrows?
Well, this is very personal, each one should decide what they’d like to do. I decided to dye my eyebrows every time I dye my hair, because I thought it would look more natural, but there are those who prefer to maintain the natural eyebrow colour, which also works.
Another tip for those who are thinking of changing their hair colour is to look at references, with pictures of different hair colours and styles. I did a vast research before deciding, and here are a few of my references for my colour.
(Photos: Florence Welch, Julia Petit, Emma Stone and Amy Adams.)
