Fairytale Balayage Hair 1.0

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Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Sunset 1.0 - 2.0 -- to refresh your memory if you, too, thought it was hardly different, LOL!
Sunset 1.0 - 2.0 -- to refresh your memory if you, too, thought it was hardly different, LOL!
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 1
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Fairytale Balayage Hair - Day 2
Sunset 1.0 - 2.0 -- to refresh your memory if you, too, thought it was hardly different, LOL!

Last November, I shared the process of getting my “Sunset” hair done, which I had touched up in late December and then left alone until this past week.  As we head into spring/summer, I wanted to go a bit lighter (but still saturated, not pastel) and more purple (less red/copper).  What I’m dubbing my Fairytale balayage still has similar colors that I had in my previous sunset-inspired balayages, but the core shades are lightened, there’s a ton more purple (and cooler purple) without a lot of magenta-red vibes. 

I was really happy with how long-lasting the dyes have been so far; I still had multi-colored strands after three months (and I’ve moved to washing every five days) but definitely looked a bit redder as the magenta dye took over with purple peek-a-boos. I’m curious to see how this fades over time, and if it has as much dye transfer as my last ‘dos.

I decided to split my appointment across two days, which ended up being a really good decision because all told, it was just over nine and a half hours.  My hair is definitely longer this time around than it was in November, and I have a lot of hair to begin with! On Thursday, my stylist Lauren Krech (at The Waverly Salon) removed all of the previous colors, raised my balayage up (about 5-6″ of growth since November!), and trimmed a couple of inches off my hair, put in some more layers, and thinned it out a little; all this took just over four hours.  On Friday, it took about five and a half hours to color and process–it was three hours just to put all of my hair into foils, and then she opened up all of the multi-colored sections to re-saturate (if necessary) and brush through.

For the purple, she used Joico Color Intensity dyes in Amethyst Purple with Orchid; Pink with a drop of Magenta for the darker pink, and Soft Pink and Peach for the rose gold.

P.S. This isn’t a sponsored post; I found the salon through Yelp and have paid for all of my services.  I share because Lauren does great work and deserves the credit for all of her hard work!

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Pami Avatar

Simply stunning, though there is nothing simple about it!? Quiet a long process, but ultimately worth it for those gorgeous results. I love the look of the high side ponytail where you’re holding it up. Enjoy ?

Nancy T Avatar

Dang! Lauren Krech is an incredibly talented colorist! I love the extra bits of cooler purple, but we all know I’m a sucker for purple everything. So many times I have been tempted to go over to Waverly if even just for a consult on the “how” of transitioning from my own dark brown root t/ups every 4-5 weeks into letting my white and gray hair run free. Basically, to get a plan of action in mind for when I’m finally ready. Like I said, she is super talented, so I think she could give me ideas!

Mary Avatar

Wow! That is stunning on you ! Love the depth and shine , so dimensional.
Plus the color is so flattering on you! Kudos to your Hair Stylist that was a big job and she nailed it !

Brenda C Avatar

She does do a terrific job, I would kill to have my hair like that but I am too chicken. My hair would probably break off and I would end up bald. Keeping my hair thanks! So I will live vicariously through you Christine.

Christine Avatar

It is a process!! So far, my hair has been holding up fine, but it is a concern and Lauren’s the kind of stylist who will cut you off before letting your hair go to pieces on you! The hardest part is not getting the urge to change color too often, LOL.

Andrea Avatar

All I can say is OMG, Well, I can also say that it is fabulous and looks amazing on you! We have the same type of hair colorwise, thickness and growth, but I can barely sit long enough for a trim lol! Absolutly gorgeous!

ShariP Avatar

Its gorgeous Christine. Since you first shared I’ve been thinking of trying this color process. My only concern is my hair grows fast….as in I cut 8 inches off every 6 months. I wear it long and straight, no layers, so I don’t need to have visits to the salon every 6 weeks. I also need to cover my gray up about every 4 weeks as the new roots show. Do you think the gray could be covered without ruining the bayalage coloring?

CatG Avatar

I think it looks absolutely beautiful as I have the previous hair posts as well! I just can’t imagine investing that much time into my hair -I’m going for some color on Monday and I’m already dreading if it’s just like 2-3 hours haha!!

Mariah Avatar

I went full purple roots/hot pink January 2018, (my first time even having my hair bleached/dyed so I went whole hog) and I’ve kept it up with just the BEST fairytale/unicorn/vibrant stylist in Portland. I’ve progressively gotten more purple/deep rose and it seems like I suddenly see it on a LOT of people. I’m not saying “I was first”, lol, no, I doubt many have seen me. (I have 303 instagram followers and most are family and gaming nerds I play with) But I feel like purple/hot pink/hot rose seems like a color people who want to get into vibrant hair wade into the pool with. Me, you, Leesha from XSparkage, all about the same color now. It’s gorgeous! I love it, and when I think of maybe trying another color (I’m tempted by teals) I still look in the mirror and go, no…. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!

Also, I don’t know what your personal stylist is telling you, but I get mine redone like, as soon as the roots aren’t too long (my stylist has a certain length that we like so I can do it in a reasonable time, bleaching and recoloring all in one 3-5 hour visit) but even that’s like a week or two shy of 3 months (I know because it sorta lines up with my botox at my neurologist) And unless you’re worried about roots, which I don’t think you are, you really don’t need to go too often. I mean, it’s whatever you want, if it’s your pampering time, than treat yo’self! But when you said you redyed after 1 month to show your parents at Christmas I was like, “She needs to know about Overtone!!!” or any of those other conditioners that dye in the shower. (I think Prism or Gem is one, and then there’s another new one. But I use Overtone.) I mix their Bright Purple and Vibrant Pink and my hair NEVER looks stale! I swear!
You should try those!!

Also, my stylist usually puts whatever is left in her bowls of colors (she actually does something like 4 different purples to rose to hot pink on me) and she puts them in cups for me to take home and I use those on myself about halfway through the time between visits!

You have beautiful hair, my purpley-pink sister!

Christine Avatar

The issue with Overtone was because of the differences in depth and undertone there was concern about whether it would cause issues with some of the other shades especially as I had lighter pieces like rose gold/copper and deeper pink dyes may cause that to go away even faster! Overtone did not reply back to me when I inquired last year asking for a recommendation based on the colors I had at the time, especially since I have balayage and the colors are blended and woven together in a lot of places, there’s no way I’d be able to do this color here and that color there and was hopeful they’d have insight!

Originally, I had my magenta color mixed in with my conditioner but never used it because the staining was already so bad in my shower just from washing – like being on hands and knees and scrubbing with a toothbrush to lift color out of the grout was not worth it at all! I don’t even do the first 3-4 washes at home, and I still had to put a layer of bleach over my shower floor every time I washed (through 3 months!).

The reason I went back to touch-up was specifically because my mom was coming and I really wanted her to see it fresh as I only see her every six months or so, and she was coming in about seven weeks after I got it so touching up at the six-week mark made sense. This was the first time I ever did something like that… it was just extremely important to me that she see it at its peak glory! I definitely didn’t need to do so at all but wanted it perfect for her – that was a personal choice that had absolutely nothing to do with how long it was lasting – and I had to make sure to book time well in advance since it was right around Christmas 🙂 I didn’t feel like it looked stale then, didn’t feel that way at two months, or even after three months!

Thank you for the advice – I am going to go back to my post about the touch-ups just to make sure I’m clearer that it wasn’t needed, it was my personal choice because of how important it was to me that my mom see it at its absolute highest/best point, exactly as intended. I could have sworn I mentioned that it wasn’t absolutely necessary at all at the time.

Mariah Avatar

OMG I totally relate about the staining! Like, I haven’t had mine stain anything but the shower but OMG it’s a pain! TRUE! Yeah, I worry about my baylage getting less “mixed” while using Overtone, but I mostly just want that vibrancy, and since I am mixing two conditioners and running my fingers through it, I still get some layering. But I totally understand your issue, you had a lot of colors and they looked so pretty!

No, you did totally say it wasn’t necessary at the time to get it redone at Christmas, and I understand getting it redone for family to see! I did that last summer so I could have mine ready for a vacation! And hey, like I said, it could be your pamper time too! (I just don’t want them upselling you!)

I just loooove the way yours looks and the evolution it’s taken over the months! I love that we can color our hair like this now and it’s bright and not unhealthy, it’s just lustrous and lovely! People think this frys your hair and it doesn’t at all anymore, with stuff like Olaplex! Awesome!

Sarah Avatar

I loveeeee this!! I used to color my hair the exact way! Would always get a ton of compliments. Eventually it was too much upkeep and I went back to brown. But this masterpiece will always be my favorite!! Keep rocking it!!❤️❤️

amy Avatar

This looks so magical–it’s perfect for you, Christine. But are you seriously not going to give us the makeup breakdown lol–that blush and shimmer on your cheeks is so pretty! 🙂 Anyway, the whole look is so beautiful.

Helena Avatar

Hey, Christine! I really love this fairytale hair, it suits you really well. 🙂 I was wondering, what lip color(s) are you wearing? I love your whole looks today but the lips are an absolutely gorgeous color.

BlackOrchid Avatar

Absolutely amazing! You look astonishing! Love the colors on you <3 Tomorrow I have an appoinment with my very first hair-stylist, 'coz I want to go rose gold and I'm petrified how it'll go… We will see 😉
What do you do to have such vibrant colors after so long? Any special treatment? I'd love to know *.*

Deborah S. Avatar

This is so gorgeous. You have beautiful hair to begin with, Christine but this colour combination just takes it to the next level. Congratulations to your colour artist as she did an amazing job and it isn’t easy to get right. It flatters your skin tone so much. My hair is pretty much all grey in the front and then more salt and pepper in the back. I was thinking about getting it done with a light wash of purple but that was what all the “older” ladies did back in the day so not sure I am ready to look like an old lady yet. It is happening quickly enough on its own! Thank you so much for sharing the process and beautiful finished look.

Anne Avatar

I liked yours so much that I used semi permanent bought at Ulta magenta color on just my grown out highlights. I don’t think it’s going to wash out in 15 washes! ? I’m glad I like it but when I can afford to get my highlights redone I might have to get the rest removed chemically. I have a lot of hair too, but I think short hair may be in my future due to damage from all the bleach. I got an undercut last year and kept it because it keeps the frizz manageable. I just had 3 inches cut off just to remove damage. I usually wash my hair once a weekn and never use heat on it.

GUSnail Avatar

So gorgeous! I love it! I read you found your stylist through Yelp. How did you do the search? Not all stylists know how to work with these bright colors. I would love to find someone in my area that could do something like this. Right now I have balayage with a bright purplish red but even that was a stretch with my current colorist. I would love to do something more complex like this.

Christine Avatar

Finding Lauren specifically was total luck – I desperately needed my hair cut, so I took the first opening that worked with my schedule, which happened to be Lauren! This was sort of strategic – so a lot of salon reviews you’ll see one or two stylists mentioned, which is great for them, but then what about everyone else? Is EVERYONE good or is just those couple of people? The Waverly Salon had a fair amount of reviews but the love was spread out across the people they had there. I also checked out their Instagram, and they have all of the stylists’ Instagrams linked out from their website, to get a good feel for what they did – and Waverly stylists do a ton of balayage (what I first went in for – just a regular balayage, no fashion color).

But your best bet is to read a salon’s reviews in general, identify a few stylists you’re interested in, and then check their Instagram and see what they post. Lauren definitely had fashion color photos on her Instagram along with lots and lots of more traditional hair color, but as far back as 2016, she had pictures that I felt looked good (in line with what I wanted).

Another thing you can do – depending on whether you’re at all close to a decent-sized city – is follow fashion color Instagram accounts like Pulpriot and Pravana or salon accounts like Modern Salon in case they showcase someone who is in your area.

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