Some of you may have seen the odd snap of me with blonde hair appear on The Styleless Diaries or any one of my many social media pages, but I have never really talked to you about my hair colour history. As you can probably guess, brown is my natural colour but I do love being blonde and it is the one hair colour I have opted for more than anything else (second to that is purple!). In my time of need, I am turning to you, my lovely readers, for some much needed advice.
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You all know me as a brunette rockstar, but read on!
My Blonde History
My first attempt at going blonde was sometime in my pre-teens. I can’t even remember how old I was because it was that long ago. My mother and I discovered
Sun-In at our local chemist. For those that aren’t familiar with Sun-In, here is a little product description from the Australian distributor, Church & Dwight:
Sun-In was developed as a mild product to gradually lighten hair with the aid of sunlight or heat. Sun-In does not contain dyes. Its added moisturisers help protect the hair from the harmful effects of sunlight or the hair dryer. Forget the salon, now you can spray in illuminating highlights and streaks in the comfort of your own home. This new and improved formula contains micro illuminators which add shine to your hair and amazing manageability.
The miraculous Sun-In Spray In Hair Lightener
Sounds magical doesn’t it? Well, back in the early 90′s it did and we thought you could spray your entire head with it. Turns out, you can’t. And funnily enough, dark brown hair does not go blonde by using it … even if you do use it every day. Instead, it went a lovely shade of fluro orange.
After the sun-in incident I put off the blonde thing for a long time. When I started working at a local hairdresser during high school I realised it would take a professional to do the job. So began the years of spending 3 hours (sometimes more) in a salon chair getting my hair bleached. It started with just a few highlights and I kept going until my entire head was done.
A photo from an exhibition I was part of at 13-14 years old – the early days of hairdresser applied highlights
2002: A few years later I was 80% blonde
Once I was finally all blonde, I started to fear the dreaded ‘brassiness’. The thought of my beautiful beachy locks going yellow was terrifying, so I went lighter …… and lighter ….. and lighter ….. until my hair was white. Nowdays, white hair is in thanks to stars like Lady Gaga, but on a 20 year old back then, it wasn’t.
By 2006 I was a real blonde …..
…. but I always thought it looked brassy!
Why I Hated Being Blonde
Aside from the usual dramas of being a brunette going blonde (you know, maintenance, roots, etc), I also had the problem of being a fine haired girl. With my obsession to avoid brassiness, my ever lightening, thin hair didn’t give my head much ‘coverage’.
If I wore my hair back, I often looked bald in photographs. Under bright sunlight, my head was reminiscent of a Barbie doll, hair sprouting out of large holes. Not a pretty look!
June 2006 – This photo was taken just before my first appearance on Family Fued. The roots were bad but at least I didn’t look bald.
2007: Bad photo but as you can see, my hair was practically the same colour as my dog.
What Now …
Despite the the ongoing dramas of being a bottle blonde …. I want to try it again. It has been quite a few years since I last gave it a go, but I want to know what you all think. Should I try it again? Do I even look good as a blonde? Do you have any tips on being a bottle blonde or how I can avoid looking bald? PLEASE, share your insight, opinion and wisdom!
Hair Expo 2006: I was dyed blonder again while hair modeling for Pivot Point
On a final note, I am very sorry for all these terrible photos. As a reward for lasting through this entire post, I will give you a juicy piece of info. All the above photos of me as a blonde were taken pre-nose. Can you see a difference between my nose as a brunette and the other images?
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I didn’t think I would, but I really love you as a blonde! Get thee to a hair salon, STAT. I want to see Gwen Stefani-white-blonde on you again.
Hehehe jeeeez, bossy aren’t you! So you think an all over white blonde? You don’t think I will look sick?
don’t do it. add a few highights, or balyage, but you don’t suit blonde. especially now you’re a bit older!
Thanks Dana (said sobbing). haha no you make a valid point. I am older now. So when you say balyage you are talking a chunkier blonde highlight? Balyage gets thrown around a lot now so I want to get a clear idea of what people are thinking.
I am going through the same thing right now.. I’m naturally a mousey blonde and bleached my for about 4 years super white… Once i hit my 20′s i decided to go a more natural blonde and have been going darker and darker since… Now I’m like 4 shades from black and very much contemplating going back to Blonde.
I like you both as a Blonde and Brunette….! I guess I have no idea what advice to give you as I find myself in exactly the same situation LOL.
Looking forward to reading all the comments and seeing what you eventually decide x
PS. Those photo’s are not bad at all! My fave is the 2006 colour x
Haha yay, same problem!!! So which 2006 colour? There are a few different shades in there. School girl, Family Fued or Hair Expo?
Love you blonde! I totally think you should go super blonde again!
So you are with Clare, white blonde all over?
Love the last few photos of you being blonde at the Hair Expo 2006. DO IT!!! Lucky you can go blonde…imagine me blonde with my yellow Asian skin…*shudders* I have done it before and I looked awful!! Maybe it’s time I dug out some of my old photos LOL
P.S. I was looking and looking and looking at your pre-nose – there’s nothing wrong with it AT ALL! And please..don’t get me started on my flat Chinese nose…garhhhhh!!!!
Ohhh I need to see you as a blonde. Pleaseeeee dig those photos out. If I can do it, you can do it! haha
I knew someone would say that about my nose. You can never tell in photos like these. The only photos that actually show a difference are the ones i took pre and post op. But I swear, I can tell a big difference!
OMG def go back to blonde babe! If you are needing advice or wanting to do it, go see Stevie English, he will look after you, look how well he made me blonde in one go, that guy knows his colour like no one else, he will look after you!
Haha yes Stevie did a great job with you. I am amazed you have hair still! So do you think an all over, one colour blonde like yours or a mix of shades?
I think the blonde suits you Kimmi. I love the shade of blonde in the photo with your dog- your hair looks perfect that shade.
I used to use Sun In when I was at high school- it made my hair lighter but never a creamy blonde. I also used to use Clairol blonding creme- now that was intense!
What colour is your hair naturally Tara? I wish Sun-In had worked for me but I guess it was too good to be true.
BABE’N! Wow, can I just say, you are stunning. You are probably the most photogenic person I know. I like you as a brunette, but you can definitely rock blonde too.
Hahaha thanks hun. I never know whether being photogenic is a good or bad thing. On the good side, I look good in photos, but on the bad side, it means I look shit in real life. hahaha.
So …. you think I should stick to brunette?
I reckon you would look great blonde, but maybe something like this is more ‘modern’?
http://www.lifestyled.com.au/beauty/the-miley/
Either way, I’m sure you’ll rock it!
xx
Ooo that one looks very interesting! Do you think the same length as hers as well? I don’t know if I want to go that short just yet. I do like my long locks.
You look stunning in all of these photos but I really like you as a brunette
Thanks Belinda, that is one vote to Brunette. God this is tough!
It’s like I’m reading my biography. I have changed the colour of my hair so many times that people keep telling me I will lose it some day. I know black is my favourite, but I have spent many years of my life as blonde. My problem is that I have some white hair so with blonde highlights it’s easier to hide them. I had decided I was going to turn completely blonde but two weeks ago I couldn’t resist and I turned back to my black hair. So maybe my opinion is not very objective as I am in love with dark hair.
Haha you sound as conflicted as me, Demi. I am always feeling the pull between dark and light, it is like the Angel on one shoulder and the Devil on the other. Help!!!
Definitely go for it! I love the lighter blonde hues on you.
Really??? so you think blonde blonde? I finally thought ok, maybe I should go dark blonde, but now everyone is swaying my again. Hahaha.
I prefer you as a brunette (looks shinier and a lot thicker), but you can do the blonde thing well too. Just not as well as me. Always remember this!
Hahaha you are such a little ninja, Michaela. And by little I mean giant.
Oh Kimmi, you’re SO beautiful either way! (Sorry I tweeted rather than commenting earlier, my phone was being difficult.) I love you as a brunette because your hair looks thick and shiny and glossy and gorgeous. But I love you as a blonde too. I think the blonde really brings out your eyes and makes your skin look a little more tan. But as a brunette, you just glow. Maybe you could get some highlights? Perhaps some caramel, for a change, if you feel like one. Great post, I really enjoyed reading this and seeing all the photos of you at different stages
Awwww thanks hunny bunch. I definitely am itching for a change and I guess blonde has always been my instant go-to when I need it. So do you think chunky caramel highlights or just some barely noticeable ones? I am kind of in the mood for dramatic!
I think you you look very classy as a brunette but it doesn’t hurt to add some sexyness to your appearance. If you don’t want to worry about your roots at least for a couple of months, you can try a technique called Ombré, wich highlights the bottom part of your hair and the frame of your face. it’s a hair trend that gives you very natural hues at the roots. You can google it and check out all the celebs that are wearing the trend.
I hope you like it and decide to go for something like this!
Great pics by the way!
Hi Sandra, thanks so much for your tips. I do love the Ombré trend but i am just not one of those people to go with a trendy style. I prefer more timeless looks, but of course I would love some sexiness in the mix as well. Plus it has been done to death in Sydney and if I am going to do a trend I prefer to be leading it, not following it haha. Xox
I think you look great both blonde and brunette, it’s all about what you want to go with. Over the lasts year I have gone from very damaged dyed black hair to light blonde. The most important thing for me was finding a colorist that has a great reputation for blondes, because its a definite skill. One of the reasons I had for going blonde is that my hair is almost 100% grey ( and has been since i was 16), the grey re growth on black hair looked awful and I had to do my hair every 3 weeks. I love being a blonde now! The grey blends in much better and it’s just a really fun change. I also found I had to change some of my regular makeup to suit the blonde.
WOW Lou I can’t imagine the trouble you must have gone through trying to maintain the black and keep the grey covered. I have always thought that if and when I start to go grey, I will go Blonde because it seems to be easier to manage. I so agree with you on finding the right person to do the job. I think some of my earlier attempts at blonde were good because I saw a professional but they weren’t great until I saw someone who specialized in blondes.
I think my decision is just whether I want to go through a hair colour with so much hassle, as opposed to my natural brown colour where I never dye it. Change is difficult, haha. Thank-you so much for sharing your story. I think you have inspired me to start looking into which colourist might be right for me!
xox
hey! you look lovely as a brunette! don’t go blonde again.. i think it looked to yellowish on almost all pictures, except of the lovely shade 2007 (the one with your dog). another important point is, that you’re going to kill your hair with all the bleaching, especially when you’re having fine/thin hair. it’s our choice
but if I were you, I’d stay a classy brunette 
x
Thanks Nadine. The lighting is terrible in most of these photos but you are right, I leaned yellow quite a bit and that is why I was always going lighter and lighter. The funny thing is though that It never damaged my hair. I do have fine hair but no matter what I have done to it nothing seems to ‘damage’ it (TOUCH WOOD!). I just hope that my hair stays in good shape as I get older.
But now you have me thinking …. brunette is classier, isn’t it?
Well, blonde does suit you but in my opinion brown hair suits you way better. The natural colour is the one that looks best on us. I have naturally a golden blond but as it always is – I wanted it lighter. So I used a product similar to Sun-In and ended up with a light blond. This colour also looks nice on me but this colour makes me appear quite pale and further there is a difference between brows and hair noticeable which I really don’t like. Another point is the hairline. The difference between my natural colour and the bleached hair is small but it is still visible especially if I’m sitting in a shadowy place. For all the reason and the insight that the natural colour flatters us most I decided to let my hair grow undyed to get back my natural haircolour. The natural goldblond has grown to about 6 centimetres now but there are some 30 centimetres more to go.
I’d recommend you to stay a brunette. It flatters your skincolour, will never look fake which bleached blondes that are tanned, brown-eyed and have brown brows tend to do and also it’s way cheaper and much more effortless to mantain.
Whatever decision you’ll make – I hope you’ll be happy with the result.
Best wishes from Germany,
Apfelkern
Thanks Apfelkern, there is definitely some very true points you have made. I do think the hair we are given is the one that suits us best, but I guess my boredom gets the better of me.