Beauty + Health

How and Why I changed my Red Hair

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #RethinkYourColour #CollectiveBias

Three days after I left the Dana-Farber cancer institute with the words “pediatric cancer” hanging over my head, my mom took me to the Walmart hair aisle and let me pick out any hair color of my choosing. Growing up in a very conservative household, I was only ever allowed to get highlights but after finding out that my hair would be gone in about two weeks, my mama bear said I could change my hair to any color I wanted. If I was going to lose my hair, I was going to lose it in style.

So, the little girl in me who always wanted to be a mermaid, choose fire-engine red. It was surreal, to be staying up until 11 PM on a school night with my mom applying red hair dye to my hair. I was going back to school the next day (my first day back since my diagnosis) to finish off the week before starting chemo. No one knew about my cancer and I knew that my bright red hair would be the ice breaker for me to tell my friends what was happening.

What I didn’t know was how much I was going to love that red hair. And two weeks later, when my hair started falling out, I knew that if I survived and my hair grew back in, I was going to celebrate by having red hair again one day.

Fast forward to my (rather) impulsive decision to go out and buy red hair dye last September to change my blonde hair to red. Since I wasn’t teaching high school anymore and didn’t need to worry about keeping a conservative look and wanting to start our new life off in Arizona with a bang, I got up one day, took myself to the beauty supply store, picked out some red hair dye and went to town. A few hours later (and our bathroom looking like a war zone) I was a mermaid once again.

I’ll be 100% honest. I’ve never felt more like myself with my red hair. It just seemed to unlock a new level of confidence and empowerment in me. Not only did is symbolize the fact that I finally was coloring my hair back to red after promising myself I would do it over 10 years ago when I got sick, it also made me feel like I was finding a new level of self-love. I was rocking bright red hair and I didn’t care what anyone else thought; I LOVED it and how it made me feel and look. It was a reflection of all the self-healing I’ve been working on in the last few years. Red hair for the win.

Why I Changed my Red Hair:

But here’s the honest truth. Red hair is probably the hardest hair color to maintain. I had to color my hair every three-four weeks to keep it from looking like a bad dye job. I spent a ton of money on products to try and keep my hair healthy during the process, like deep conditioners and red shampoos. I told myself that putting the same color on my hair over and over again would be okay and not a big deal, but the quality of my hair (which is already funky after chemo) continued to go downhill. Because red fades so fast, I was going 3-4 days without washing my hair and the resulted in my scalp completely drying out (and it was disgusting!) My hair was breaking off, it was frizzy and it was a nightmare to brush through because of how damaged it was becoming. I noticed that I was developing thinned out patches along my hairline and I was shedding was more than normal.

As much as I love the red hair, I love having hair more. And although being bald had its perks (like never having to spend the time blowing it out) I don’t really want to lose my hair again. I made my peace that red hair is fun, but isn’t for me and decided it was time to go back to my roots.

Rethinking my Hair Color

Like I mentioned before, it’s very hard to maintain red hair. It’s also very hard to get rid of it. For my birthday, I treated myself to a hair cut and color and had my stylist match my color to my roots. 1 week later and my hair had already faded to a light brownish red and kind of looked like straw. Since I’m actively trying to NOT visit the salon and put more chemicals on my hair to allow it to heal, I knew I needed to find a different solution.

I was perusing my Walmart hair care aisle a couple weeks ago and saw that John Frieda had released a new line called Brilliant Brunette® Visibly Deeper™ Colour Deepening Shampoo and Brilliant Brunette®Visibly Deeper™ Colour Deepening Conditioner along with the Brilliant Brunette® Visibly Deeper™ Colour Deepening Treatment. I stood there reading the bottles for about 10 minutes, totally disbelieving that I had stumbled upon a solution to my fading hair. The new Brilliant Brunette® Visibly Deeper™ Colour Deepening line infuses color for a deeper and darker brunette shade when using the Visibly Deeper™ system of shampoo, conditioner, and treatment. This system will help me instantly darken my hair up to one shade deeper in the shower (with the treatment) without subjecting it to harsh and damaging chemicals from hair coloring.

I loved that this system would be so easy to transition into my every-day routine. I just had to replace my shampoo and conditioner with the new Visibly Deeper™ Shampoo and Visibly Deeper™ Conditioner and spend 5 extra minutes in the shower so I can apply the Visibly Deeper™ Treatment. It’s formulated with cocoa and evening primrose oil and is safe for color-treated hair, including highlights & lowlights, so I’m still getting all the things I want in a shampoo & conditioner! I love that there are no extra steps during styling or having to wait over 30 minutes for something to process during my morning, so no hassle. That’s my kind of hair treatment.

I’ve switched over to this line of products and will exclusively be using them for the next two weeks and plan on following up with a post to show the results!

Have you seen this new line of products in Walmart yet? (The in-shower treatment may be hard to find, but you can always order it online here) Have you tried anything from John Frieda before? Let me know down below!