It All Began with Manic Panic

I am a very nice girl. I have a very nice apartment on the gulf and a very nice college degree and a very nice boyfriend who also has a very nice job and we go to church together every Sunday and go on nice dates to nice places and just met each other’s nice parents.

Reader: Why am I reading this blog? This girl sounds like a total stuck up bitch! But wait…

Wait… I had a very nice boyfriend. The trouble started with a jar of pink Manic Panic and some not-so-nice girl highlights. And the very nice boyfriend saw them and told me “only people who want attention dye their hair crazy colors” and three weeks and three thousand arguments later, I was getting dumped while we waited to be seated for another very nice dinner date because, as it turns out, I’m not such a very nice girl after all.

But now I’m a not so nice girl with no prospects, fading pink hair, and ten extra pounds from all those dinner dates. The thought of hacking the fat off with a dull knife holds more appeal than the idea of going to the gym, and my short attention span makes running in place for 30 minutes basically impossible. But if Heidi Montag taught me anything, it’s that cutting off the body parts you don’t like never helped anyone, so I guess I’ll have to find something else to do.

One of the ladies at work is a stone cold fox and also super friendly (traits that don’t often go together) so I ask her what she does to work out… pole dancing??? Ok, I’ll try anything once.

Love: Fabulous in February, Take Two

The wonderful Melissa of A Working Mom’s Closet has posted a challenge… to say three positive things about yourself every Monday in Feburary. The goal is to hold off winter blues and get a little positivity and self love happening around the blogosphere. At first this may not sound like a challenge at all, but most of us grew up in a culture where it’s not nice to say nice things about yourself. So, at the risk of sounding like an egomaniac, and defying culture norms, here are my next three things (I forgot last week like an idiot, but you can read week one here):

I love my style

I’ve had people call it different things from “retro chic” to “dirty librarian” but my style is all my own. I wear what makes me feel happy, confident, and sexy even when it breaks the traditional fashion “rules” (white after Labor Day, red lipstick for daytime).

I love that I’m blonde

It took a long time and a lot of bleach to get here, but I’m so happy with the dewy white-blonde color my hair has come out. It fits my personality, my coloring, my 1940s vibe and well, let’s face it, my blonde moments make a lot more sense now.

I love my resume

While my college buddies were out partying, I was working on homework, working multiple part-time jobs and building a future I could be proud of. I’m graduating with my master’s this spring, have a job I love, no debt and I’m truly proud of everything I’ve accomplished.

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That’s that, folks. Happy  Monday and be sure to post your own Fabulous in February!

Lose: Celebrity Blonde Gone Wrong

If you’ve been reading Lust, Love, Lose for awhile, you know a good blonde is hard to come by. Wither it’s roots, brassiness, or just a distinct lack of toner, there’s a thousand ways to gone wrong and so very few to get it right. So I can almost forgive these celebrities for their peroxide atrocities, until I realize they have well paid stylists who let them out of the house like this. Gathered just for you, a list of the top 7 celebrity blonde fails of all time.

Donatella Versace

 

Emma Stone

Drew Barrymore

Amy Winehouse

Kim Kardashian

Lindsay Lohan

Kimora Simmons

The moral of the story? All the money in the world can’t buy you the underlying skin tone, facial features, or secret something it takes to turn Norma Jeane into Marilyn.

What do you think? What are your rules for pushing the boundaries of your genetic makeup for the sake of fashion? And how do you know when (if?) you’ve gone too far?

Love: 100 Words on Life

I’ve lived a very, very long time. At least it feels like it, though those with more than a quarter century under their belts might not agree with me. Be that as it may, I still feel as though I have something to contribute to the greater knowledge of fashion, confidence and life lessons. Here, my manifesto in exactly 100 words. Feel inspired? Write your own 100 words and I’ll link it here!

When you feel like shit, put on mascara – at least it will look dramatic if you cry

Pencil skirts will forever be sexy…

…so will red lipstick

Men and women can’t ever be just friends, unless the man is gay

Garter belts are more comfortable than pantyhose, and a whole lot sexier

If you can laugh at yourself, no one can have power over you

Confidence is enticing, so are high heels

Blondes really do have more fun

It’s better to like who you are than to care if anyone else does

Cutting your hair will change your life

Want to read more? Check out these fabulous bloggers who have written their own 100 words on life:

• Dear Winnie
• I’m Freestyling
• The Vintalogist
• Emily’s Fashion Finds
• Blah Blah Becky
• Rosco Valentine
• Butterfly Dreamer
• WobiSobi
• Let Them Eat Kate
• So What if I Like Pretty Things
• Le Mahogany Fashionista
• Sugar and Spice

Lust: Bleach London

I have a penchant for crazy hair, probably because (due to my professional job) I can’t have it, so when I ran across Bleach Hair Salon at Wah Nails I spent hours combing through the pages, drooling over the dye candy. Dip dyes, bleach outs, every color of the rainbow: this salon has influences runways and fashion magazines around the world and made an underground phenomenon explode. Don’t believe me? Take a look…

 

Love: Products for Blonde Hair that Really Work

In case you can’t tell by now, one of my biggest fashion pet peeves is stringy, nasty, over-processed blonde hair – mostly because there’s just no need for it! A few amazing products will keep your blonde hair gorgeous and feeling great no matter how much 20 volume bleach your hairstylist says you need. Even better, not a single one of these products retails for over $10!

Without a doubt, the GOD of bleach blonde products is Clairol Shimmer Lights ($7). It’s not expensive, smells amazing, and works wonders at keeping brassy orange tones at bay. Use it once a week in place of regular shampoo (rinse, lather, repeat and let the second wash sit 3-5 minutes) and you’ll see the difference as soon as you step out of the shower. Fair warning though: it does create a purple murder scene in your bathtub.

Garnier Fructis 3-Minute Undo ($6) is a miracle for dry hair – I use it once a week when I do my Shimmer Lights and let it sit 3-5 minutes (can you tell it’s my longest shower of the week?). If you’ve got a serious case of the dries, you can wet your head, slather it on, wrap your head in saran wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes before rinsing. You can also snag those great little bottles of conditioner that come with box dye from your friends, because you would never box dye blonde, right? Right??

When it comes to an everyday purple shampoo, I’m not entirely convinced that all products aren’t created equal, but I’ve had good luck with John Frieda Sheer Blonde Color Renew Tone-Restoring Shampoo and Conditioner ($8/each). I pick it up whenever Ulta has a sale and use it between Shimmer Lights and Garnier treatments. If you’re using Shimmer Lights once a week, you can probably get away with about any shampoo in between as long as it doesn’t have a red or yellow dye in it (some do to make the shampoo pretty, ex: Bath and Body Works in Sweet Pea).

That’s really about it, everything I use to keep my blonde hair in shape between bleaches. Inexpensive, easy to use, and leaving no excuse for nasty burn-out blonde ever again.

Looking at going blonde? Check out this post for details!

How To: Go Blonde

Ever since I changed my hair, I run into someone at least once a week who looks in astonishment, reaches over to feel my hair that still feels like hair and asks “how did you do that??” Here’s the thing: there is no magical answer to blonde except to find an expert stylist who knows what he or she is doing and can work with you to get the color you want with a routine that fits your life and budget.

This is the color I was when I sat in Jayme’s hair and decided I wanted to be Marilyn Monroe blonde, a natural medium brown with some red undertones that I had put in with box dye:

When I went in to the salon that day, I thought it would be a one and done, I fully expected to walk out a blonde bombshell. Little did I know that going blonde (and still having hair at the end of it) is a time consuming process.

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One: find an expert stylist and ask to see pictures of their work, ask if they have experience lightening people to blonde, bring in pictures of what you want, and work together to come up with steps and a timeline you can both agree on.

Two: start with highlights, increasing the amount of hair you highlight each time. With Jayme, I started at about 20% highlights, then around 40%, then 60%, then 80%: you can see my process in these pictures:

Three: time for a full bleach blonde! The best color comes from a two-step process: first bleaching and then toning. Until the toner goes on, your hair will be a strange orange-yellow color, take the Hitchhiker’s Guide approach and don’t panic! Plan to make this appointment an all-day event: my process took about four hours to go from ultra-highlighted brunette to full-on blonde.

Four: take better care of your hair than you ever have. I use Garnier Fructis Three-Minute Undo once a week and a hot oil treatment once a month. I also limit the amount of heat tools I use on my hair and go for trims once a month to keep the ends healthy.

With some careful planning and a great stylist, even the darkest brunettes can find a blonde that works for them. Here’s my end result, a level 9 blonde:

Have any questions about going blonde? Want to share your experiences? Post in the comments below!

Lose: Dark Roots

Lose: Roots by jennaw featuring acrylic jewelry

I’m posting this fully aware that I’ll probably get some slack from the fashion gods but the dark roots trend is something I just can’t get behind. No matter who it’s on or how gorgeous the celeb, it just looks sloppy, lazy, and a little hooker-esque.

Being a bleach blonde myself (with a dark natural color), I know how time-consuming and expensive the upkeep can be, but if you’re going to make the commitment, go all the way! Between purple shampoos, volumizing mousse, round brushes and even hair mascara, there’s more than enough techniques available to keep your roots hidden in between colorings and you can work with your stylist to figure out a price package (stylists love blondes since we have to come in so often!). When my roots get bad again, maybe I’ll post a how-to blog on how to hide ’em.

Until then, check out more blondes behaving badly after the break.