So four months after going back to “plat,” I’m still rocking almost-white hair. This has been an eye-opening journey, especially for someone who has always been on the low-maintenance side hair-wise. (In case you need to get up to speed, read this post, this post and this post.) I went back for more last week, and now I have a few more pointers for anyone thinking of giving platinum a try.
1.
Be prepared to see your colorist more than most of your friends.
I never thought I’d see the day when I’m making my next color
appointment when I’m paying for that day’s appointment—because with highlights
I never had to (except if my lady-love-colorist Alex was going on vacation).
When I went platinum the second time she sat me down for a serious chat, and
made it abundantly clear that I HAD to see her every four weeks, because if I
went any longer we’d have to bleach all of my hair and not just the roots. In
the world of double-processing, this is a big no-no, unless I want all of my
hair to break off. She basically put the fear of God in me, and I am sticking
to this schedule come hell or high water.
2.
You’ll probably want to wear a hat for the first five days after
your color.
When I lived in highlight land, I usually wore a hat for the last
few days before my next appointment. Now, I rarely go out without a fedora or
bandana for the first few days after.
Why? Because it kind of looks like I’m wearing a white wig before I have a bit
of regrowth. And this is slightly disturbing every time I look in the mirror,
so I can’t imagine what other people are thinking when they see me.
3.
Get ready to itch—a lot.
If you ever bleached your moustache, or some other part of your
body, you probably recall the tingly sensation. Well, imagine that sensation
ALL OVER YOUR HEAD. When I’m sitting there for that one hour waiting for my
roots to lift, I have a teasing comb in hand so I can use the pointy end to
scratch the itchy spots. But the itch doesn’t end when the bleach gets rinsed
off—in fact it gets worse the next day, and I’m pretty sure some of the moms at
camp were on lice alert after they saw me going to town on my scalp. But you
have to be careful not to scratch too hard because this can cause actual
boo-boos on your sensitive skin. Hot, I know.
I’m all about full disclosure and I’m not trying to discourage anyone from going platinum. I’m 100% willing to deal with the side effects for the head-turning result. And as if the color of my hair wasn’t attention-grabbing enough, yesterday I cut it all off! So now I’m the girl with the long-in-the-front platinum pixie—and I couldn’t be happier… Here I am fresh out of the salon!
