The journey to silver.

I love silver hair. My mother has the most gorgeous bright silver... Mine is very slowly turning but with a dull blonde base I don't get that lovely salt and pepper thing like she had early on. 

So.... I decided to play. 

First, I used Feria Pastel Smoky Sapphire. The box shows this:

Perfect. 

But all I got was blue highlights. 

Which was fun, but not really what I was after. Even a second application didn't change things much... I guess all those reviews that say this stuff isn't effective are correct. 

So... I got creative. I used two colours of Splat hair dye, and I even got brave and did a brief bleaching before I added the colour. Bleach is hard on your hair and after removing the henna last year, combined with a rather unfortunate tendency to neglect my hair for days on end leading to tangles that verge on dreadlocks, I have lost several inches of length. Still I figured this is likely the last kick at bleaching and lightening because the natural grey is coming in well enough to keep new hair reasonably light.

So... Bleach. 

Then blue and aqua, repeated until I got something I liked. I mixed the colour with conditioner, so it made my hair feel lovely and having it on for a long time was actually helpful, if messy.

Very blue. I like it. There were a few spots that were a bit too greenish for my tastes though, so I added more dark blue. 

Love it. Super fun. 

But silver is what I was after so following the colour wheel I used deep purple to counteract the greens a bit.

There were go! 

Okay the blue and purple highlights are not what I originally anticipated but they make me super happy. 

This is technically a semi permanent colour, so it will fade over time. And of course, my hair will grow and the roots will need colour. I'll just mix up blends of the various shades of blue and purple until what's in the jar looks interesting and comb it in. Let it sit for an hour or so, rinse, and voila!

It's a good thing that I like variegation and that I'm in an experimental place. I am very pleased with how much this has cheered me up... I've had a hard time paying attention to self care, so anything that makes me feel better about life and encourages me to smile and brush a little powder over my nose and keep my hair untangled is good. 

And three packages of hair dye costs less than half of what a therapy session is worth. :)

So much fun!