I'm a Virgin......

A colour virgin that is....

For my whole life, I have been a brunette.....a solid mahogony shade of brown....slightly lighter in the summer...but largely just brown....

My poor tortured hairdresser.

I say tortured because this colour debate has been ongoing for at least 3 years.... I've been patch tested....and then patch tested again....and the colour books have been put out and then put out....the magazines have been strategically laid out and styles and designs picked and then shied away from.....need I go on.....my poor hairdresser (the best I've ever had by the way....pardon the pun).

At the grand old age of 26, I finally made the leap of faith and granted my beloved tortured hairdresser the permission to add a splash of colour to my locks.

The confidence had been building in the lead up...some of you may have seen that about a month ago I had opted for my first ever full fringe. That settled well with me, and the compliments from friends and workmates had boosted my confidence. And lets face it flattery does wonder for a girl's ego....

I always knew I never wanted to go lighter. Ofen the times passed when some poor naieve hairdresser would dare suggest blonde highlights only to get the head bitten off her.

I wanted red. Always knew that was what I wanted eventually. But as the decision came closer, I was wary of the Rihanna red.....due to the nature of my job. I wasn't too sure what my employer might make of it either. Then I saw THIS in the window of Peter Marks. It was love at first sight....

This was my ambition.....

Who knew that my hair wasn't to be so compliant!!! 

I was a reluctant first-timer so the colourist suggested not going for a permanent colour, rather to opt for a quazi...which apparently is a strong version of a semi. But what do I know. 

When I emerged from under my towel, I was a radiant shade of foxy copper....

4 days later.....I was pretty much a brunette again....

This pic shows evidence of my fading foxiness.....

I was so disappointed....

In a random turn of events, less than a week after "my first time", I was back in the hot seat again!!!

I had gone from colour virgin to colour expert.

Apparently as a first timer the colour hadn't really taken.....understandable...so I got a second FREE dye job!!! And by god was I red....

I'm in love but I've no pictures to prove my ...ahem..."beauty"....

Imagine my face when I realised while watching Eastenders last night....I had the same colour hair as Mercy!!!!hahahahaha. Ok so you've got to picture my Caucasian little face under Mercy's hair and minus the under layer of black in hers. Photos of yours truly will  follow.

But save to say, I am addicted to hair colouring!!!!!! And totally in love my new look if it's not too egotistical to say!!!!!

Lesson No.9: Getting my curl on

I have THE straightest hair in the world (a bit of creative license there but you get the picture).

Now bizzarely I also straighten my hair every day with my beloved hair straightener. Life without my GHD is a scary one. It is undoubtedly an obsession but I suffer from the odd kink, and these simply cannot be ignored!!! A bit of O.C.D. going on I'd say!! In fact just see the picture below to see the long-suffering GHD in question. My poor Dad has had to save it's life more than once!!!

Note: the large crack where it's snapped in half TWICE due to me standing on it (as you do).

Anyway back to the curls.... I have tried everything: mousse, velcro rollers, rags, plaits, curling tongs, my straightener, I could go on. I have never ever been able to achieve the curl. Furthermore, when on the odd occasion something does emerge from my efforts, it rarely lasts longer than a half hour.

So last Sunday evening, with a random night out planned, I put myself  in the hands of one of best friends, THE makeup queen but has also been known to do a mean hairstyle. She has 'the touch', you know what I'm talking about laydees.

Equipped with her GHD, what is produced below took 15 mins at the most, and lasted ...let me emphasise this TWO WHOLE DAYS. Ok copious amounts of hair spray helped it along its way but this is nothing short of a miracle.

All I can say is by way of observation:

Hold at the root, pull and turn , pull and turn....

See even my directions are rubbish, not to mind actually trying to recreate this!!!!

Here are the results:

I was in love instantly.

Now to start practising myself....