The Life-Changing Magic of Embracing Your Natural Hair Color
It's hard to imagine ever going back to blonde.
I’ve never been the kind of girl who’s really into exercising and have been known to require donuts as a bribe to brave even the most amateur of hiking trails. That being said, my upper arm strength has always been relatively decent and I wholeheartedly believe that’s because of how much time I’ve spent practicing braiding my hair. Princess crowns, snake braids and French braids that end in messy buns: I’ve done it all. I remember receiving a creative writing assignment in my freshman year of college and the prompt was to describe our relationship to our hair. I’m still pretty sure my professor had no idea what she was getting herself into with that one but I talked on and on about all of this. My hair has been my canvas and an outlet for a lot of my creative energy for as long as I can remember. I’ve grown it out to my elbows and cut it off to my shoulders more times than I can count, practiced new braiding techniques until my arms ached, and experimented with pink highlights and full-on ombre, too. It’s been a long time since I really let my strands just breathe and embraced my natural hair color, and I recently decided to do just that. Keep reading to hear more about my journey back to my natural hair color and all about the products I can’t live without right now.
Why I Decided to Embrace My Natural Hair Color
About a year ago, I decided to revive the ombre style I’d rocked back in my senior year of college and I opted to take the whole blonde hair experience up a notch. I went full-on (somewhat brassy in retrospect) blonde and went back and forth between loving it and hating it. As the weather warmed up and my hair grew out into a balayage/ombre hybrid, I was happy to have lighter strands and loved that my hair was guaranteed to make a statement regardless of what state the rest of me was in. No time for a swipe of bold eyeliner and a well thought out outfit? No problem. The strong contrast between my dark roots and lighter ends said a lot and when I wasn’t focused on how brassy the blonde color was, I genuinely loved my hair.
As the color grew out and I toyed with the idea of undergoing another round of bleach, I started to feel less and less comfortable with my hair. My roots grew out unevenly and it began to feel like an honest attempt at ombre gone wrong. I’d pull my hair back to expose my roots and have my natural brown color around my face as much as possible. I knew the time to make a change was quickly approaching. While I was hesitant about the outcome, the decision to dye my hair back to my natural color was one of the best hair-related decisions I’ve made in years. My hair looks healthier and thicker than it ever has as hair dye inevitably makes your hair a little coarser and rocking one solid color increases the appearance of thickness. Opting for one solid color also feels more mature and thought-out to me and I’m more confident in my natural hair color and the rest of my appearance as a result.
My hair routine has become a lot more streamlined since making this change, too. I’m a full-on TRESemmé addict these days. I start by washing my hair with the TRESemmé Color Revitalize Shampoo and the TRESemmé Color Revitalize Conditioner to protect the dye and nourish my hair. I either let my hair air dry or blow-dry it and apply the TRESemmé Get Sleek Heat Protection Spray. Then I spend five to ten minutes creating curls in big sections of my hair using my hair straightener. I finish off with a spritz of the TRESemmé Tres Two Freeze Hold Hairspray to hold my curls in place for days at a time.
All in all, I couldn’t be happier with my latest hair change and don’t see myself experimenting with color again anytime soon. After seeing these inspiration pictures, though, I am itching to cut my hair into a lob.
Looking for more natural hair color inspiration? Check out six ways to wear your new deep brown hair.
