Sunday 3 February 2013

Free as My Hair: My 2012 Hair Journey

"I've had enough, this is my prayer
That i'll die livin' just as free as my hair."

2012 had been a really good year to me. This was when I graduated from High school and started to take the first steps towards achieving my dreams. This year also taught me a lot of life lessons, like how to be confident, independent, and to choose people to hang out with. But aside from all these inward transformations, the year 2012 also transformed me physically through my hair.

January 2012

The year 2012 started with me looking like this. There was only a few months left in High school and I am literally the stereotypical fresh-faced shy guy from a Christian school. I was contented with having just a  small circle of friends back then, because I was too afraid to approach other people and give them a piece of my mind.

February 2012
 

But despite of being shy, I also have the urge to express myself; just not in words.

During my birthday month last year, I decided to dye my hair brown to separate myself from all the blackheads in school. And it totes worked, however; school officials are enforcing me to dye my hair black again because colored hair is prohibited there.... but I didn't. ;D and I was able to graduate without doing what they asked me too :P I felt so bad ass... haha

March - July 2012 (Graduation - 1st term of college)
And speaking of being bad ass, by the time of my graduation; I decided to be platinum blonde and keep it as long as I can since i'm going to go to an art school where every hair color/style is allowed (sounds like heaven, huh?)

I did major research and learned that I could only lighten my hair color to a nice shade of  blonde (I originally wanted Christina Aguilera's haha) by using hair bleach a.k.a. the most damaging hair chemical everrrr. But since I really wanted to be bold and extremely unique, I took the chance and bleached my own hair. 

I FAILED :'(

(Okay, I understand you if you're laughing right now. :-/)
After bleaching my hair for the 1st time, it turned dark orange. I hated it, it looks cheap. :(
I then researched more and found out that attaining orange hair is normal for people who are trying to go blonde, and it is advisable for me to re-bleach again and again, until I reach my desired blonde.

And that's exactly what I did, I bleached my hair for over 4 damn times!
AND IT WORKED!

(Hello College :) Me & my blockmates)
I was a blondie!
For the first time in my life, I felt so confident. I was able to approach others and make new friends :D
I also became extremely memorable to my new professors because of my hair :D LOL

While I was loving my hair, the natural processes in life doesn't seem to feel the same way. I noticed that my hair seems to rapidly growing resulting in dark unsightly roots, aside from this my blonde hair also gets yellowish because of the chlorine from my bathing water.

Despite of all these hair problems, I still maintained my hair; by getting my roots bleached out every month. It was a pain in the (you know where)!!
I also found a solution to cancel out the yellowish tones: Purple Shampoo!

And I was able to maintain it :D

The bleaching and the purple shampoo that I've been using back then, really did helped my hair. I was able to achieve the platinum shade that i've been craving for...
But i'm the kind of guy who doesn't settle for anything. Even though I attract a lot of people and get many compliments from them, I still changed my look out of boredom.
I dyed my hair GREY:

(yeah, I often photograph myself in the car. Kinda like a hobby)

The grey hair, I think is one of my best looks: hair-wise. I'm convinced that it is cool, bold, unique and it suits me very well. The downside for the grey hair though, is that it fades easily if you wash it often. And if you live here in the Philippines, you will understand why I cannot not wash my hair. It is just so hot in here.

And because of my constant hair-washing, my grey hair faded into blonde again:

I then stayed with this hair until the end of 1st term. (I don't know what to do by then)

August - December (2nd term - Christmas Break)
The end of 1st term left me with blonde hair, and I already mentioned how hard it is to keep this kind of color: so I decided to once again get a new look for the new term. :)



yeah, I shaved my head Miley-style, and dyed it brown as well:





I looked less quirky and more gwapo na! :D hehe
For this term, I finally gave my hair a break and focused on studies instead. I have to make thy momma proud! :D

As the months went by, my hair grew longer and longer:
(Kawaii Wannabe)

(Modeled for my group's very own accessory line)

(I rocked Christmas eve!)

January - Present 2013 (3rd term)
As my brown hair grew longer, I noticed that it gives an illusion of me having fat cheeks (like extremely fat cheeks.)
And I also hated the fact that my hair takes more or less half an hour to be fixed, and with all of the processes my hair went through: it is understandable that it is a li'l bit damaged.

To finally end this post, I ended up going back to the beginning. I chopped all the un-virgin hair off and kept all the black roots.



Tadaaa!

That's it, the story of my hair for the year of 2012 :)
So to conclude, I've learned that I like to take pictures of myself a lot. I really am vain :(
haha,
I also knew that I am a big fan of change. 
We only have 1 life here on earth so we should live to the fullest. Try every single hairstyle! It's just hair :) It'll also grow. God gave it to you, for you to play with it :D

Thanks for reading :)































4 comments:

  1. Hi there! I've been searching high and low about bleaching and stuff and it led me to this post. I'm loving it by the way. I just have some questions for you. You bleached your hair 4 times right? :) how often did you do that? I did mine twice already and it's not blonde yet. It's very frustrating. Haha! I'm scared to do it again since i saw a lot of posts saying don't do it for the third time. :( And what's the purple shampoo btw? I hope you can help me. Thank you! Great post by the way!

    -Cams ♡

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    Replies
    1. Hey Camille :)
      Thanks for reading my post. Well based on my experience, I bleached my hair for a total of 4 times with a minimum of 2 rest days in between bleachings. During those rest days, I don't use shampoo for my hair; only conditioners and DIY hair treatments to bring back the moisture.

      I don't really know what your hair's current condition is right now, that's why I can't give any suggestion if you should bleach it for the third time. If you have thin hair and is already really really dry, then I won't suggest it. But if you have thick hair like me, I say moisturize it first with conditioner and/or moisturizing treatments for a couple of days before bleaching it again. :)

      Oh purple shampoo is basically a shampoo with a purple tint. The color purple tends to enter the hair shaft and neutralize/cancel out the orange/yellow/brassy tones, making your hair look blonder. :) In my case, I can't find any purple shampoo available in the market, thus making me formulate my own. I used grape kool aid (grape Tang juice also works) mixed with my favorite dove conditioner (I used conditioner instead of shampoo for more moisture) and used it everyday. While in the shower, I set this in my hair for at least 3 mins. It really helped the color of my hair and left a really fruity scent that isn't bad at all :)

      Hope I helped you with this :) and Good Luck :D
      -Raf

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  2. Hey Raf! I appreciate the long informative reply! Oh gosh. Well here's the thing, I've bleached twice already, and it was ayt. I'm having this ombre hair right now. But I want it whiter, blonder :( I'll try your tips by tonight.It's been a week actually since my last bleach. It's now safe right?

    My hair's thick but since I bleached the ends of my hair, it became thinner and I actually liked it. It just scares me because it feels like it's getting thinner and feels like a bubble gum type of thing. So yeah, I guess I'll give it another try. My hair is still strong pa naman. Haha!

    Sooooooooooo, thanks again. I owe you big time if this works :)

    Cheers!

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  3. hey that description of your hair feeling like bubble gum kinda bothers me. I read on an online article before that you should stop bleaching once your hair turns gummy... That never happened to me though, that' why I pushed through it.... Just please be careful. Oh and you're welcome :)

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