Going blonde will change your life in a few ways, and you need to be prepared for this before taking this step. There’s no doubt that choosing this color can boost your self-esteem and make you feel extra beautiful. However, there are also your schedule, budget, lifestyle, and personality to consider.
5 Things You Need to Know Before Going Blonde
1. You’ll need to learn how to deal with attention
Blondes attract more attention than others. That’s a simple fact proven by research. This means that bleaching your hair will raise your ‘visibility’ level instantly, which can be an issue for an introvert.
You also need to understand that not all of that attention will necessarily be positive or push you toward positive things. For example, The Daily Mail reports that many blonde women admit to being more aggressive because of the increased levels of attention from men.
On the other hand, going blonde might be a significant boost to some therapies. This is a guaranteed way to raise your profile in the world, which can be a useful tool for gaining more confidence.
2. You’ll have to make time for regular salon visits
Is your schedule busy or unpredictable? Do you need to go for extended trips often? Are you living a ‘nomad’ lifestyle? If your answer to any of these questions is ‘yes,’ going blonde might not be the best choice for you.
To keep your bleached hair looking perfect, you’ll need to get a ‘touch up’ on the roots every 6-8 weeks. However, if you have platinum blonde locks, you might need it more often. The problem is that bleach-treated hair goes yellow. It’s a natural chemical reaction. However, you can slow down this process by washing your locks with the shampoo that contains a violet pigment, like the one you can find here. The pigment will neutralize the yellowing and help you extend the period between treatments to that of a natural blonde.
However, regularity of these ‘touch ups’ is essential, and you also should do your best to get your locks treated by the same professional. The skill and experience matter greatly when it comes to bleaching hair. And over time, your coloring specialist will know all ‘personal quirks’ of your locks. This means they’ll be able to maximize the efficiency of the procedure and minimize the damage to your hair.
3. You’ll need more time on hair care
Regular visits to the salon aren’t the only change you’ll have to make in your schedule after going blonde. You’ll also need to spend more time caring for your hair. Bleaching dries your locks to the extreme. This means that using a conditioner every time you take a shower and a deep-conditioning treatment once a week aren’t optional steps. These are the things you have to do to keep bleached hair healthy.
This routine might take only 15 extra minutes, but if you lead a busy life, even this little is a concern. Modern haircare products designed for colored locks are very efficient and can help you minimize the time spent on hair care.
4. Get used to not washing and styling your hair every day
One thing that can help you save extra time on hair care is that bleached locks shouldn’t be washed more often than once every 3 days. You can go with 2 if it’s absolutely necessary, but even that might be too much.
The reasons are the drying and damage dealt by bleaching. Washing your hair every day will exacerbate both and can cause your locks to become dull and brittle.
5. Get prepared to splurge
The most important change to your lifestyle associated with going blonde is budget restructuring. Maintaining the color requires considerable investment and quality products for bleached hair aren’t cheap. However, the results are definitely worth a bit of extra cash.
It may (or may not) make you more visible for a few seconds – and it depends a lot on how common fair hair is in your environment (expect to be far more “visible” in Africa than in Scandinavia, for example), but it won’t necessarily bring you more attention, and it certainly isn’t guaranteed to make you more beautiful or sexier – it won’t even make you look younger, if that’s what you’re after (often quite the opposite, in fact).
It all depends on many factors – complexion, eye colour, even personality – but few women in fact look better with blond hair. If your hair is ‘mousy’, try going dark brunette (or flame red, if your complexion is right). You might be surprised. But look at all the (admittedly silly) lists of “most beautiful women”: most are dark-haired.
N. B. I’ve been both. Born light blonde, dark blonde growing up, then dyed it to VERY dark brown – and BAM! That instantly ramped up my “visibility” in terms of looks and sex appeal (I have very fair skin and green-hazel eyes).
I’ve also been a flaming redhead (gorgeous, but didn’t feel quite myself).
Finally, as my hair turned prematurely gray/white, I went back to a beautiful ash blonde. The hair colour in itself is very beautiful, but I would still look and feel far more edgy and sexy and beautiful with dark brown hair. But I simply cannot be bothered with retouching my roots every five days, so blond it is.