One Saturday afternoon, I decided to use the new deep conditioning hair mask I had gotten on the clearance rack from TJ Maxx.  As a platinum  blonde, I am always on the lookout for purple and blue shampoos or hair masks to brighten my hair.  I was so pleased to find what I thought was a blue mask.  These shampoos and masks are colored purple or blue and reduce unwanted yellow and orange tones, also called brassiness.

              As I was squeezing out the mask, the deep blue color of the mask did not phase me.  These shampoos and masks are always a very deep color.  But, as I was putting the mask on my hair I noticed that my hands were starting to turn blue.  And I am talking Smurf blue.  My first thought was, there is something wrong with this mask!  I was thinking that the dye must have separated from the deep conditioning ingredients.  I then looked at my wet hair and thought “Oh no, my hair is absorbing the dye!”

               I immediately jumped back in the shower and washed my hair four times.  Each time I looked in the mirror and noticed no difference.  I had deep blue hair!  I called my hairdresser and left a frantic message.  It was almost 4 pm and I know they tend to close early on Saturdays.  Now keep in mind that my hairdresser is only open Wednesday through Saturday.  My boyfriend had a romantic getaway planned for us starting on Tuesday and there was no way I wanted to show up with deep blue hair that had some patches of platinum blonde showing.  What was a girl to do?!  I decided to make a mad dash for Sally’s Beauty.

               As I was pulling out of the garage the phone rang and it was the beauty salon.  The receptionist was just about to leave and saw my message.  Unfortunately, my hairdresser had left but she called her to get some advice.  I sat in my driveway waiting for her to call me back and hoping that she would tell me to come into the salon on her day off so she could fix it.  Well, the offer to come into the salon did not materialize, but she did tell me about a bleach bath.  So off to Sally’s I go with my wet, blue hair. 

               The salesgirl asked me if I needed any help, and I explained my dilemma.  She told me that I did not need bleach, rather clarifying crystals and if that did not work then a color stripper.  She assured me that the clarifying crystals should remove the color.  I texted my family to warn them about my hair, as they were coming for dinner.  When I got home my daughter started laughing hard.  In contrast, my ten-year-old granddaughter thought that it was “cool”. My daughter looked at the mask packaging and told me I had bought a deep blue color depositing mask, not a blue conditioning mask.  Yikes!!

 I immediately activated the clarifying crystals, put them in my hair with a cap and waited thirty minutes, shampooed twice and nothing! Hmm, maybe the Sally’s Beauty salesgirl wasn’t as knowledgeable as my hairdresser.  I decided not to pursue the color stripper and try the bleach bath. So, I sent my daughter back to Sally’s to get the bleach and lower volume peroxide to go with it. 

               As I was getting dinner ready, I had the bleach mixture on my hair.  It was a combination of one packet of bleach and equal amounts of peroxide and shampoo.  By adding the shampoo, it makes the process less damaging.  Bleach can be extremely damaging and I already had processed hair so I was a bit nervous, even though I was using a milder version of bleach.  While I am a platinum blonde, I was not familiar with using bleach.  My hair responds very well to a high-lift peroxide product.  My hairdresser warned me not to overprocess my hair.  Overprocessed hair can break off and my hair is long.  The last thing I wanted was a three-inch punk rock hair style.  It looked like it was doing something under the shower cap and after thirty minutes (maximum time recommended to have bleach on your hair), I washed it out and had teal hair.  An improvement, but still on the blue spectrum.

               I was fearful of doing another bleach bath, so I Googled and watched You Tube videos.  One site recommended sitting in the sun to lighten your hair. I live in Florida, so I put on my sunscreen and sat in the sun for hours with minimal to no lightening.  The Sally’s Beauty salesgirl said it was semi-permanent and would eventually wash out.  I must have washed my hair forty times, including using clarifying shampoo.  No luck.  One You Tuber swore by an equal mixture of baking soda and Dawn dish soap.  I smeared it on my hair, waited and washed it out.  Dawn is not easy to get out, so that was a good ten shampoos to get it out and yet the stubborn teal color persisted. I knew I had no choice but to try the bleach bath again with a slightly higher (and more damaging) peroxide level. 

               I ordered a professional bleach packet from Amazon with the higher volume peroxide and prayed my hair would not break off.  On Monday morning, I put it on my hair and risked leaving it on for 35 minutes.  I could see it working and was hoping an extra five minutes would get it out without ruining my hair.  I washed it out and was grateful that clumps of hair were not coming out as I was shampooing. 

By now, my hair was almost white where it had been blonde and thank goodness the blue areas were an extremely pale baby blue.  Obviously, I noticed it but it was not immediately noticeable to other people.  And my hair was not breaking off!  I kept deep conditioning my hair and putting Argan and Moroccan oil on it during the day and a heavy dose at night.  My beau didn’t really notice anything different, but what guy would unless it was truly blue?!  My friends told me that if they looked closely, it looked like I had baby blue highlights put in my hair.

               After our romantic getaway, I had a regular hair cutting appointment with my hairdresser.  I thought she would probably have to cut 3-4 inches off my hair.  It seemed a bit dry at the ends.  She looked at my hair and said I had done a good job and looked like a cool blonde.  She also said I only needed half an inch taken off and recommended a “detox” treatment to remove metals and strengthen my hair bonds.  Of course, I said yes!  I walked out looking fantastic!  My hair was renewed, and my color was very even with my little blue highlights barely there.

               The only downfall was my hair was very light, too light for my complexion.  I lived with it until my roots grew out and I waited an extra week before I colored my hair.  After coloring my roots, I pulled my color through the rest of my hair to tone it down and get back to the color that compliments me.  While my hair is a shade or two lighter than my “normal” platinum, I am happy with it and it is not damaged. 

So, the lessons learned are to read what you are buying at TJ Maxx and if your hair dresser gives you a hair fix recommendation then follow it!  Stay tuned and stay beautiful!