January 14, 2008

Once you go black, Pt. I

About two years ago, my hair turned black. The inkiest hue of raven's wing ebony you ever did see. It was thanks to the colorist at Vidal Sassoon. A friend was training as a stylist there, and I had volunteered to be a model for her end-of-term assessment. At that time, my hair was a medium brown color. As I sat in the chair, the colorist asked me: "How do you feel about going black?" She added that once you go black, it really is hard to go back. At the time, things were a little shaky in my life. I had just gone through a break-up. I was feeling drab, boring, unloveable. Black seemed risqué. Sexy. Mysterious. I banished thoughts of Cher, Tony Curtis and early-era Ashlee Simpson, focusing instead on Winona, Lara Croft, Lucy Liu. "Do it!" I said.
Amazing how decisions made in seconds can sometimes take years to rectify.
At first, I liked my striking black look, and the odd, assymetrical cut that came with it. I felt bold, bad-ass, adolescent. Then, in a rebellious moment, I chopped my long black locks into a Louise Brookes bob, by myself, with kitchen scissors. Rockin', I thought.
(As I mentioned before, isn't it amazing how decisions made in seconds can take years to rectify.)
Time marched on. I turned 30. Got over my broken heart. And then one day, about six months ago, I looked in the mirror and realized something. I look like Elvira.
A hairdresser near the Beverly Center estimated it would cost $700 to get my hair back to a medium brown, which seemed a little steep, thank you very much. So I went to see my good friend Tommy, owner of Sugar salon in Silverlake. Tommy is a biker who loves nothing more than painting foil highlights on Eastside babes. He told me that "Vogue" magazine had just called the salon, talking about doing a photo shoot. He wasn't sure how he felt about it. I assured him that "Vogue" calling was definitely something to feel good about.
Then he examined my inky hair. "Let's do an experiment," he said. He took a small clump of obsidian follicles and applied bleach. We both observed with interest as the two inches closest to my roots lifted to a nice shade of cinnamon. The rest remained black as a coal miner's visage.
There's this stuff that dissolves the darkness, he told me, promising he would go buy some. Then he sent me home, dark and dejected.
So I went online, looking for some answers. The news wasn't good.
People talked about putting "Tide" washing detergent in their hair to help dissolve the ink. Ingenious! Then I read on and learned that this only works if you have dyed it in the last week or so. Darn. Others recommended applying dish detergent to dull it out. (Can you imagine having hair that smells of Palmolive Oxy Plus?) Again, this only works if it has been freshly dyed.
One girl recommended sitting in a chlorinated pool for a long time. Or leaving lemon juice on your hair, and then blow drying. Both sounded like a fast-lane to frazzle, if you ask me.
I read about a a product called Colorfix at the website Nightmare Hair.com, which strips the black out so you can dye over it. "My roots are canary, my middle is bright freaking red and the ends are dark red," wrote one reader. Another described her hair as "apricot-colored". Hmmm.
There is no happy ending to this story, by the way. Not yet, at least. I am going back to the salon shortly and we'll see what happens.
(PS: I am listening to Black Sabbath as I write this. As they say, once you go Black...)

January 14, 2008 in BEAUTY | Permalink

Comments

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Posted by raloloothex | Nov 16 2008 7:43AM

I made it to blond, but it has been a long hard six months, and my ends are STILL reddish.

Posted by The Stylephile | Nov 3 2008 10:18PM

Am I the only person on this planet who doesn't find it hard to get rid of the colour black? I have been dying my hair the blackest shade of black around for years. And the few times I've decided to strip it out and give myself blonde hair have been very successfull. Sure there is always a bit of damage, but nothing a once weekly deep conditioning treatment and a haircut can't fix.

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Posted by wow power leveling | Mar 5 2008 5:22PM

Hey, I went black a few years ago trying to get rid of the "REDS" phase I went through. Nothing uglier than looking at faded red highlighted or dyed hair---gross!! I stained it black & it looks great. Now the only way for me to get to a caramel brown is to let my hair grow out. I almost made it happen-I let my roots grow out about 6 inches but then I stained it black again. I like the Demi look. Have you looked into Hi-lites? Lo-Lites? p.s.I look forward to reading stylephile updates!!!

Posted by Veronikuh | Jan 22 2008 1:09PM

I actually just did this. My hair is naturally very blonde and I had been wearing the blonde on top/black underneath for several years. My stylist and I decided to get rid of the black, so he put some chemical treatment on it. I can't remember the name but I keep thing it sounds like "modlox" or something like that. Anyway, he took it to an odd light cranberry color, then it oxidized in the chair in front of us to almost maroon. He then bleached it. It ended up turning about the color of a new penny, so we took some length off and it doesn't show that much. Word to the wise: don't try to chemically undo what you already did. You'll be much happier if you just suffer out the time and grow it off.

Posted by J | Jan 18 2008 8:26AM

If you don't want to strip your hair you could just let it grow out and dye the roots a dark brown. It takes time, but at least you don't have to chop it all off or damage it too much.

Posted by dont worry | Jan 15 2008 9:49AM

go see Susan Henry at Shades natural color salon in Beverly Hills. If anyone can fix it, she can! She is a master colorist and has a line of all natural hair products & color that will make your sing (after the black is out). Shades Salon 310.275.4882

Posted by designnomad | Jan 14 2008 6:29PM