Of all the things I get asked about, questions revolving around my hair occur most frequently. I used to be questioned at school a lot of the time, by random people on the street, and in the workplace.
So I thought the best thing to do, would be to make two blog posts explaining anything that anyone could possibly ask me, and to make it easier for you if you’d like product or styling information.
This part is all about my hair history, my cut and colour- which is one of the most frequently asked questions.
I’m going to do my best to give you as much information as I possibly can, but if you need any further information, feel free to contact me on Twitter or Instagram (always linked above), or send me an email- altvogue@outlook.com
As you can see above, my natural hair colour sits squarely in the middle of blonde and brown, but once the sun starts hitting it, the ginger undertone tends to come out.
I was born with dark brown/black hair which quickly faded to blonde.
As a toddler, my hair was pin straight, super soft and super silky. It was also quite thick and grew super fast. The older I got, the thicker it became.
My parents also blessed me with this gorgeous fringe and angular bob- the classic child haircut really!
From the age of about four till eight, my hair was kept super long, and I slowly grew out my fringe. It was still super fine but there was A LOT of it.
My mum used to do quite cool hairstyles on me back in the day, and everyone I met used to beg me to let them style it. I wasn’t complaining though- I LOVED being pampered and having my hair done- still do really!
This was around the time that I started dancing, so it was frequently curled with those bendy, foam curlers and DROWNED in intense hairspray, with shimmery glitter sprayed everywhere. So 90s!
And here we are at the most embarrassingly dreadful part: my awkward stage.
I’d say it began in late year six (age 10) and lasted until mid year 10 (age 15). The worst part was that I had no idea how bad I looked. I’m not kidding when I tell you the above photos were literally the best ones I could find. When I turned 10, I had my hair cut into a short, layered bob and the dreaded awkward side fringe. I did quite enjoy it back then and it somehow started a trend at my school, but looking back it was a big mistake.
I started growing it out again at 13-14 which wasn’t really a problem considering how fast my hair grows. The problem was that I used to wear it in a slicked back ponytail every single day, which if you stood at the right angle, made me look bald. That and my forehead is the size of Guam.
I’m sure some certain friends will be reading this right now and laughing at the memory. I know I am!
As you can see in the previous photo and the one above, when I was 14, I decided to dye my hair for the first time.
Note: I have NEVER coloured my hair myself, so when I say ‘I’, I mean my hairdresser.
I chose an extremely dark, neutral brown and we coloured it with demi permanent. If you are going to be colouring your hair for the first time and are going darker, I definitely recommend demi permanent over a semi or a permanent colour. This one is somewhere between semi permanent and permanent- it fades away very slowly but never fully washes out. That way, if you’ve gone too dark, it will lighten up over time.
When I first did it, I fell in love with the colour as it was a nice change and everyone at school was complimenting me on it and started noticing me a little more.
But looking back on it, I definitely picked the wrong shade and went far too dark. My skin tone was quite pink and I suffered with terrible acne so it really brought out the redness in my skin. And the most terrible part of all- my eyebrows disappeared and I had no idea!
It was at the end of year 10 that I decided I needed a dramatic change. So that’s when I decided to join the blonde hair club.
My haircut remained the same for quite some time, I just went a little bit shorter to keep it fresh. Sometimes I experimented with different types of layers, but for the most part nothing really changed.
As for the colour, I used to take in pictures of celebrities like Blake Lively and Perrie Edwards for inspiration. I knew I wanted to go quite light and bright, but I wanted something multi-tonal and not so stark.
We started out with a full head of foils. We made the highlights quite small, but had LOADS of them, and always opted for a golden tone. To get to the famous “Claire blonde”, I basically just kept going back and adding more and more foils each time, and it gradually built to that bright, white blonde I was after.
The picture on the left was at my year 10 formal which was about a week after I first went blonde, and the picture on the right was mid year 11 when the colour had REALLY built up.
You can see the variation in my hair over time on my Instagram if that floats your boat.
My hair was pretty much the same up until mid year 12 when I decided to make a bit of a change and go down the ombre route.
This was the point at which I experimented quite a bit with my hair. I kept the ombre for quite a while as the base colour was pretty similar to my natural roots, which meant I had no visible regrowth. The only thing I really had to take care of were the blonde ends which I just toned with Fudge Clean Blonde Violet Toning Shampoo. I SWEAR by this stuff!
I kept up with this for a few months before my year 12 formal, when I decided to full blonde again, as you can see below on the left.
About 4 months ago, I went to my hairdresser to get my roots touched up again and the blonde intensified a little more. But we got to talking and ended up doing a glaze of pink on top which I LOVE!
This was coloured with the Pravana Chromasilk Pastels in pretty in pink which was absolutely stunning (if I do say so myself). It lasted about two weeks before it was totally gone, but my hair holds onto colour quite well so it may not last as long on others.
As it was almost gone, I uploaded my first YouTube video on my everyday hairstyles, in which you can still kind of see it.
Once it faded, I went back to my classic blonde again, but was never pedantic about getting my roots done, as I love that rooty, imperfect, undone look.
One month ago, was when everything changed. I’d had enough of the blonde and just needed a change.
I think my urge to do this came from watching too much TVD and admiring Nina Dobrev’s hair, but I decided to go dark once again.
I will admit, I was terrified. I knew how hard it was and how long it took to get to the blonde colour I wanted and I didn’t want to have to go through it again. But in my heart, I knew it was the right thing to do.
I took in a photo of Nina Dobrev from season 5 of The Vampire Diaries as inspiration, as I knew I wanted something quite warm, and very multi-tonal so it wouldn’t look flat and boring like it did in my awkward stage.
It isn’t really noticeable in the pictures, but I opted for a super dark, but super warm base as it brought out my skin tone better. Again, this can’t be captured in any photos, but in person, the contrast makes my blue eyes SUPER intense as well which I appreciate.
Overall, I’m in LOVE with the colour. Do I miss being blonde? I’d be lying if I said no. Would I ever go blonde again? Definitely in the future. But right now, I’m super happy and can’t imagine changing the colour any time soon.
As for the cut I get now, I basically just ask for an inch off the ends each time I go, and some subtle, long layers.
Over the last few years, my hair type has changed quite a lot. I’ve never experienced any kind of colour damage, simply because my hair can take it and I take care of it quite well. It’s gotten slightly thicker in texture and I have a lot more of it, but it’s also become a little wavy- especially at the roots.
I’ve chosen not to include my hairdresser’s details in this post. She’s AMAZING at what she does, but I’m keeping details on the down low for safety reasons. If you are someone who knows me personally and would like details, swing me a message on Instagram or Twitter and I’d be more than happy to help you out.
So there we have my hair history!
Part two of this post will be a list of all the products and hair tools that I use, and step by step instructions on how I do the hairstyles that I get asked about most often.
For now, keep up to date with me by following me on social media- all of the links are at the top of the page, and down below as always.
Business enquires: altvogue@outlook.com
