My relationship with my hair throughout my university years was a difficult one. I was insecure about the whole thing, and never felt my natural locks were good enough to be flipped over my shoulder with confidence while walking through the halls of Fashion School at Ryerson University.
During those years, I spent more time worrying about what I was going to wear to class than what I was going to actually learn in class. Often it felt like a daily competitive fashion face-off between the students, and looking back it’s not a huge surprise that so much of my time, energy and stress was spent on my hair.
In this time period alone, I experimented with everything from bangs, hair colour so dark it looked black, hair colour so light it looked blonde, a hair straightener, a hair infuser, to a hair colouring job so bad I looked like I was wearing my tabby cat on my head. To be fair, I was blazing through my experimental phase on a student budget, and regularly opted in to be a hair model for cheaper (or free) hair cuts and colours from salons around the city. Not exactly the greatest idea I’ve ever had.
Needless to say, after a while I emerged from my tumultuous relationship with my hair, and decided to give it a break. For years to follow, I refused to colour my hair at all, and even cut off a good 15+ inches of my long locks in hopes of one day growing back a healthy and happy, all-natural mane.
My hair is now healthier than it has been in a very long time, but a fact about wavy hair (even though I have come to love my naturally beachy waves) is that wavy and curly hair tends to be drier than straight hair, in general. For this reason, I’m still always on the hunt for that perfect solution to inject the shine and moisture into my strands that they need.
When Redken Canada approached me about trying their new Redken’s Chromtics Ultra Rich hair colour, I was hesitant at first, but then thought: “Why not? It’s been long enough!” Plus, I felt ready for something new.
Me, BEFORE!
For my Redken’s Chromatics Ultra Rich appointment, I booked in with Marie-Eve at in Liberty Village – a salon and colour specialist that were both completely new to me. Marie- Eve was warm and welcoming, and filled me in on what I was about to experience. As she explained, the new colour line, Chromatics Ultra Rich, offers clients a monochromatic end result that reflects the beauty trends of today – we’ve left blending multiple colours in the dust, and have transitioned to working more with one colour. Hello, contouring anyone?
The hair colour lasts just as long as any permanent colour (approximately three weeks before fading) and touch ups all depend on your colour. Marie-Eve says Redken’s Chromatics Ultra Rich is recommended to anyone seeking permanent colour to change their natural colour to the same colour or lighter, grey coverage, or need help colouring resistant hair.
After pulling down my post-workout hair from its messy bun, we talked through what I was looking for and what would work for my hair. Since I didn’t want to stray too far from my natural colour, Marie-Eve suggested that she would create more depth to my hair by applying a darker colour to my roots, and a lighter colour to the ends of my hair. Since I had explained that I was looking for something extremely low maintenance, she assured me that the darker roots would let my hair grow out naturally, without any obvious colour lines at the roots, and would even enhance the shine and moisture in my hair. Before getting started we took a before photo (above) so you can see the difference first hand.
Me, AFTER!
I must applaud Marie-Eve and her assistant for getting me ready to walk out of the salon looking like this (the after shot, above) in a mere hour-and-a-half in order to make it to a photoshoot right after. Normally, the application time (where they actually paint sections of your head with brushes) will last anywhere from 15-60 minutes, depending on your hair and desired colour. Colour processing averages 35-45 minutes, and total time can vary but averages at about two hours.
The picture below, shot in natural light, was taken right after my appointment at the aforementioned photoshoot, and will give you an even better idea of just how beautiful and natural the result is from my colour treatment with Redken’s Chromatics Ultra Rich.
I love that this looks like a more enhanced version of my natural colour, which is exactly what I asked for. While it’s not super obvious, in a certain light the red tones of the colour really come out, as you can see in this picture from my Intagram account.
Even after a simple wash and air dry using the Redken Color Extend Magnetics shampoo and conditioner, my hair not only feels softer and healthier, but looks shinier than ever, just as Marie-Eve promised.
I am genuinely so happy with my new hair that I may have finally found that healthy balance in the relationship with my hair that I’ve been looking for all along.
Thank You, Redken Canada!
xo
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