Caring for blonde hair


I'm a natural blonde but after years of dying my hair all colours under the sun, brown, red, purple, ginger (yup.. I voluntarily dyed my hair ginger and you know what? I LOVED IT!), I decided a few years ago to go back to my roots and stick with blonde again. I knew it would suit me because well, it's my natural colour! As a kid I used to practically have white hair it was so pale blonde but as I grew older, as a teenager it turned into an ash type blonde and I hated it. It looked really dull and mousey. For the past 4 years I've been having foil highlights, ranging in blonde shades from more cool toned ash blondes, 2 bleach to 1 darker natural almost pale brown, 2 bleach to one honey blonde to straight up golden blonde. I'm not going to lie, I lose track of what I have done but as far as I can remember, last time I went to the hairdressers I got 2 bleach to one honey blonde and I already know that next time I go I'm going to change it up to a cooler toned blonde! I'm incredibly indecisive!

So, all this dying and bleaching does wonders for your hair! NOT!
I love having fresh highlights and no roots but 1.) you've got to maintain it, which I'm notoriously poor at! and 2.) you've got to look after it.  Nevertheless, having said that because I'm rubbish at keeping up with getting my roots done/having it re-highlighted to different shades, my hair stays in better condition as it has longer to recover in between sessions! As I'm a student, I tend to top up either with box dyes or simply not at all...

So there's a few things I do to look after my fragile blonde hair (I've got to say, it's currently in the best condition it's ever been in!) and when I say look after, I mean both keeping the hair healthy but also looking after the colour to stop brassiness/fading. 
  • Regular Trims
This is a given as your hair will be more prone to breakage so visit your hairdressers every 6 weeks to get rid of the split ends on your lengths and layers to help it grow long and strong.
  • Hair Masks
I cannot recommend these enough for soft, shiny, healthy looking hair! Some favourites of mine are the Aussie Three Minute Miracle range and the Charles Worthington pots. Obviously a regular conditioner works fine but I tend to just use these intense conditioners after shampooing for a better result.
  • Purple Shampoo
I first discovered this years ago, when a friend recommended it. My favourite brand is the Provoke range and while I started by using the daily shampoo and conditioner, I ditched them for the Twice Weekly Shampoo. I get much better results using this product a few times a week on the roots to mid-lengths. I tend to leave it in for about 10 minutes if I have the time as you get a much better, longer lasting result. All yellow, brassy tones are replaced by shiny, silver tones. I've recently tried out the Priming Spray from the same range but didn't get on with that at all! Whilst I love the Provoke range I do prefer the Lee Stafford Blonde Hotshots. They are a more intense purple shampoo with a kind of self-heating effect which feels like a professional treatment and leaves your hair soft, unlike the Provoke range which can feel quite drying.
  • Professional salon bleaching
Whilst I do think home box dye kits are good for the price and for touch ups at the roots when you’re a little worse off for money, I do recommend you get your hair dyed professionally at a reputable salon. As I said, I go for a full head of highlights so that’s 3 different dyes being applied to very fine strands of hair, whilst also leaving sections of my natural colour. I wouldn't even know where to start doing that at home without it going stripy and well, horrible!
  • No swimming for a while!
So, when I was writing this blog a few weeks ago (sorry, it’s late!), I wrote this section about making sure you stay away from swimming pools for a month or so until your hair settles down so you don’t end up with green hair, as we've all heard the horrid stories. I’ve never known this happen to anyone I know and it’s never happened to myself. HOWEVER!...a week or so ago, I had a panicked message from my best friend, who was on holiday at the time in Cyprus, saying that the ends of her gorgeous hair (it’s bleached at the ends in a ombre effect) had turned bright green! She hadn’t dyed her hair for months so god knows how strong the chemicals in the pool were! Obviously you don’t want to avoid swimming pools for the rest of your life just because of your hair colour, but maybe try tying your hair up in a high bun or something to stop the water reaching it as easy. You can check out my friend’s blog about fixing it here.
  • Protein treatments
If you talk to my mum about products like this then you’ll get a rant about how it’s impossible for things like this to physically penetrate the hair shaft, etc. etc. However even if that’s true, protein treatments have definitely made a difference to my hair, even if it is just an outer coating. I watched a beauty video on YouTube about repairing damaged blonde hair and discovered the Joico K-Pak range. They are pretty pricey but compared to some similar products, they’re pretty good! At first I just used the reconstructing mask which worked wonders but when I had the money, I frequently purchased the set of shampoo, reconstructing mask, the intense hydrator mask and the styling oil. Oh.My.God. I fell in love. My hair seemed longer, stronger and shinier and smelt gorgeous! As soon as I’m no longer a poor student and on a regular income I’ll definitely be treating myself to the K-Pak range again and using it consistently.


Basically, if you are just looking to take better care of your blonde hair or are thinking of going blonde, just follow these simple steps and your hair will look amazing! Do you have any more tips? Have you ever had any blonde hair disasters? Let me know in the comments below!

The Flawed Blonde. xoxo
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