Hair Trends

I dyed my hair for the first time when I was 12. It wasn't anything drastic. My mom just let my sister and I get some highlights. What my mom didn't know was that this was the start of a very serious obsession. When I was 13 I dyed my hair a strawberry blonde (my natural hair color is like a dark very ashy blonde). When I was 14, my best friend and I told my mom that we were going to dye my hair a light blonde. Well... we underestimated how well my hair was going to take the dye. Needless to say, I ended up with black hair and a very unhappy mother. After that I constantly went back and forth from light hair to dark hair. It was very damaging to my hair, especially because I always dyed my own hair. 

Prepare yourself for lots of pictures of my different hair throughout the years:

This was a picture from my senior pictures. This is how I started my senior year and it stayed like this for most of the year. I LOVED the dress I'm wearing in this picture. My aunt had given it to me. It was Juicy Couture. Best dress ever.

Right around Christmas time my senior year I dyed my hair brown and then around April-ish I cut my hair into a short a-line and dyed it a reddish brown. 

I, of course, had to go back to the blonde that I love so much for the end of my senior year. (Scarf and orange shirt pictured are both from Target) By the time I graduated high school I had my hair back to blonde, and it stayed that way through half of my first year of college. Whenever I start to feel like I'm losing control in my life... That's usually when I decide to change my hair. It makes me feel like I have a handle on at least one thing, even if it's something that doesn't matter.

After Christmas break, my freshman year of college, my life got a little messy. I didn't want to be in school, Mike and I weren't doing very good, and I was making some seriously poor life decisions. I started dyeing my hair A LOT. It all started with this black. I put some in my bangs and I did the entire underneath black. I actually really liked it for awhile, but then it started to feel like not enough change. (Black flannel is from Target)

So... I dyed my hair black. I knew pretty quick that this was a poor decision, but just go ahead and throw it in with all the other mistakes I was making. This one I thought that I could fix though... (Sweater is from I THINK Forever 21--I don't have it anymore)

This picture doesn't do justice to how bad my hair was. I had tried just straight up bleaching my hair. It didn't even touch the main length of my hair, but you can definitely bet that it turned my roots pee yellow. My hair was in as bad a place as my life was. I will always remember these months as the months that I made my biggest mistakes; in life and in hair. (Dress and all accessories were from Papaya)

I eventually got my hair back to a better place. This was probably four months later. It was pretty close to my natural hair color and my hair was finally growing again. Luckily, my life was in better shape and I was learning from my HAIR mistakes (not my life mistakes). (Green t-shirt was from Target)

This was how my hair stayed for quite some time. Mike and I got married in this time so I can, thankfully, say that I don't hate my hair in all our wedding pictures. I was smart in that choice. I'm still not sure if I still try to change my hair when I start to feel a loss of control. I think my hair choices have now become a product of me trying to follow trends, which is way more healthy then how it was before.

This was the very last time I tried straight-across bangs. I always thought they were a good idea until I would do it. For one, I have serious chipmunk cheeks and the bangs would just enhance that. And for two, bangs grow so fast so the upkeep is ridiculous but they're too short to just pin out of your face. I don't think I'll ever get straight across bangs again. (Black shirt is from Papaya and the necklace is from Forever 21)

I made this mistake one more time. I actually really like it this time. My hair was so long and the dark color had actually turned out really pretty. This style of curled hair has been very trendy for the past couple years. I recently read an article about it, I believe it was in Cosmo. It just talked about how girls right now love their hair big and curled because it makes us feel like Disney Princesses... There might be some truth to that, who knows. I just like how I look with my hair that way. (Shirt is from Papaya and the earrings are from Forever 21)

I dyed my hair just a touch darker. I was going for the extreme, I think. I do really like how it enhanced my blue eyes though. (Tank top pictured is from Forever 21).

 The picture to the right is the Before. My hair was really long and extremely unhealthy. This was the start of my journey to healthier hair and not making stupid hair choices. We cut off a freaking ton and the picture to the left is the final product. My hair color was still a little iffy (notice the yellow roots) but we were getting somewhere. 

I always had a weird thing about wanting to dye my own hair. I wanted to be a cosmetologist for a long time so I think I was always trying to prove to people that I would be good at it. I really wasn't bad, but I just wasn't smart about how I was doing things. I finally relinquished control of my hair to Whitney. My aunt owns a salon--its name is Tres Tres Chic. That's where I met Whitney. She had done a pedicure for me, probably, a year before. I decided to let her help me. Whitney & I still joke about how bad my hair was when I came to her. I was naive and wanted her to get me from brown to white blonde immediately. We ended up having to do a color remover TWICE and then a couple days after that, I went back and we did highlights. This was the final product:

Whitney is literally a hair ninja. The idea of letting someone else touch my hair honestly gives me anxiety. This was the start of a beautiful relationship with Whitney. I had wanted to get to white blonde because I wanted to try the ever trendy lavender hair. I've always loved crazy hair colors and that kinda became me and Whitney's thing. (Shirt pictured is from Buckle)

The biggest problem with crazy colors, especially pastels, they wash out really fast. It could just be my hair but we could never get the color to stay in my hair longer than a couple weeks. I absolutely loved the purple though. I thought it was beautiful. (Tank top and pants are from Forever 21)

Winter came and I was feeling a change. Luckily, Whitney didn't let me go too dark. After the purple color my hair had faded to a silver. I literally got at least two compliments a day about my silver hair. Because of that we tried to stick with the ashy tones. We pretty much just darkened up my roots a little bit and left the rest alone. We did a semi-permanent dye so that it would fade back to lighter for the summer time. That plan worked perfectly because we had plans for a new color... You've all already heard me talk about it, but I LOVED it... (Sweater is from H&M and I got it for only $15!)

If I had to pick one color to stay for the rest of my life... I would pick baby pink. I think it's so soft and feminine and I loved how it contrasted with my skin tone. Ahh! I loved it! I wish that it hadn't faded out so fast. (Earrings are from Forever 21, pineapple tank is from Hope Ave, and the cardigan is from H&M)

After the pink faded out, we decided to go back to the silver. We literally dyed my hair gray. I had a lot of people that when I told them about it, they told me I was stupid. Once I did it though... everyone loved it once again. I swear by my purple shampoo. It keeps my hair toned to the silver instead of becoming the brassy blonde. The picture to the left was on my anniversary this year. 

I love this top knot trend that's going on. When I first saw someone wear it, I was a little weary of it. I love it now though and it's so easy to do.

(Picture on the left: necklace is from Forever 21, tank top is from H&M, and pink kimono is from a little boutique in California. Picture on the right: earrings are from Charming Charlie and elephant t-shirt is from Pac Sun)

I've already shown you my hair now, but I thought I would again. I'm still loving the short hair life. It's so easy to do and to work with. I've toned it a lot more since this picture and it's getting back to the silver color. 

I hope you all enjoyed the procession through my hair life. It's been a long road to get to where I am. I am happy to say that just like my hair is in a good place, my life is in a good place too. There really might be some corellation to each other...

What are some of you guys favorite hair trends or favorite things that you've done with your own hair?

Happy Friday!! :)