As we get older our hair loses it sheen, can get wirey, thin, and the color can get dull. My hair is dark blonde and it seems that blonde hair gets a mousy color – think the squeaky kind that runs around looking for cheese. Great color for a mouse, not so much for a women over 50. If I don’t put some kind of highlighting in it I look half dead. My skin is pale so the light shade of blond brighten up my face.
As we age it is an uphill battle to look good or even just be presentable at times. We just don’t have the fresh appearance we used to and while we don’t want to look 20, or at least I don’t – 35 would be fine with me, we also don’t want to look like an old hag straight out of a children’s book. So you have to do a little extra to stay fresh looking. Of course, even teenagers get their hair colored these days so doing it at age 50 is nothing special.
My hair has some gray in it now. I don’t mind the gray. I just want it to blend well. I might feel differently if the gray was all over but at this point it isn’t so I am not worrying about it. I think when you highlight your hair you can keep the gray because it can just be another dimension of your hair color and highlighting makes all of the colors work together nicely.
Last time I got my hair highlighted I was less than thrilled. My hair stylist put too many low lights in and it was too dark and a bit orange and brassy in places. Communication on hair color and hairstyle is one of the worst problems we women face I think when it comes to beauty. We have an idea of what we want to look like but we don’t want to offend the stylist. The stylist is only as good as our communication skills.
I found that I “assumed” she knew what I wanted last time when I said, sure low lights are fine. This goes for a hair cut too.
This time I spent about 15 minutes with my stylist going over the color chart and showing her several variations of hair shades on models in their hair style books. It made all the difference. I just needed to get her to understand what my ultimate goal was so she could picture what the final result needed to be. Once we got on the same wave length she was able to get the right color combination and it came out like I wanted it to.
Okay, are you ready? Yes, I look like I should be space alien on Star Trek but you know you love it. This is what we women go through to be beautiful – or some semblance of beauty. There is a price we pay for beauty. In this case it was $85 and having to watch as men walked in a gave me “that” look as the barber shop was attached to the salon.
Okay, you can laugh but you know you have been there too. Look at the yellow highlights I had before. Way too much.
Highlighting foil. I am still trying to figure out if this is just aluminum foil or some special foil made just for giving highlights.
I am very pleased with how my highlights came out and next time I will just have to make sure the stylist checks my card to find out what I want. Now, can somebody go in my place next time? I hate sitting in the chair for 2 hours.
Great blonde highlights and low lights.
Now I just need my own personal stylist so I don’t have to leave my house to get this color. When I become famous – yeh right!
Bonnie says
HA! I LOVE sitting in the chair for two hours! Gets me caught up on all the People Magazines! LOVE IT!
I just can’t find the two hours that it takes to go!
Wendy says
I am looking for a new salon. At my old one no one talked to me. You know me and not talking for 2 to 3 hours kills me 🙂
Bonnie says
…Anna at Captiva in Wallingford and Milford/Orange, and Lindsay at Christopher’s in Guilford.
My two favorite people at my two favorite salons! You’ll love them! Yak, Yak, Yak in the best way!
Tooth Fairy says
Using ” Purple Shampoo ” occasionally can help with streaks and highlights! ☺ ( London Drugs carries it )
Wendy says
What is Purple Shampoo?
Tooth Fairy says
“:Purple Shampoo” is the actual name of the Shampoo I buy to use sometimes. My hairdresser made me aware and our local drug store carries one brand. “The opposite of yellow is purple/violet and using a purple shampoo/conditioner will effectively neutralise all the yellow ‘tones’ in the hair.”
Maybe you can just Google it to learn more, brand names and where to buy it.
Holly C. says
Your highlights look terrific! I am not 50 yet. I have a few more years to go. I have had natural white highlights for a few years now. I try to cover those up. I have dark hair and they don’t blend well. I do think I will probably get more highlights added to my hair and I may have to try a lighter overall color to work with the white hair that is taking over.