This has been a couple years in the making. I've always wanted to highlight my hair, but was too scared, too cheap, and actually really loved my natural hair color! I think with summer right around the corner, and our new life about to begin in Chicago, it was my last confirmation to just finally do it! I've been itching for a change for so long, it was just a matter of mustering up the courage to make it happen.

The irony of this whole thing is that I'm a licensed cosmetologist that helps my clients build up the courage to change their hair all the time...so why couldn't I do it for myself?? The cost and upkeep of having to come in every 6 to 8 weeks honestly was probably the biggest turnoff.  That's why I decided to do a balyage. The color doesn't go all the way up to the roots so I don't have to redo it every other month, thank goodness! I love how balyages, for the most part, look so natural and blend into the base hair color so well. It gives hair a natural, sunkissed look that's super cute!

Yesterday I headed over to CosmoProf (a licensed cosmetologist store that sells professional products), bought my supplies (because why would I spend the money for someone else to do my hair when I already know how to do it?! Psshh!), mixed all my color, and put my husband to work. That's right, my husband did my hair!! Of course I coached him the whole way through, but he did it and it actually turned out really well. He's a natural!

Don't be fooled- this process was actually super time consuming, and I was freaking out the whole time haha I'm so glad my sweet, patient husband put up with my moody self for almost 5 hours, because I seriously wouldn't have been able to do it without him!

I've listed below a brief description of how we did it and the products we used, for anyone interested or might possibly want to do this themselves!

The products I used were;
- Joico Blonde Life Lightener and corresponding Joico Lumishine 20 volume developer
- Scruples Power Blonde conditioning gel toner color Steel (aka toner) + 10 vol. developer
- Matrix SoColor 7M + 10 vol. developer

The lightener was obviously used to lighten my hair, which, because my hair is so dark, brought a lot of red-orange underlying pigments to the top.

Once I washed the lightener out, I used the Steel conditioning toner to get rid of the orange, but left just enough to maintain the caramel color.

After that was washed out and my hair was dried, I put the 7M on to deposit just a little bit more of the cooler tones to get rid of the brassiness.


It's definitely been a big change for me, but I'm really happy with the results! I'm ready for summer and excited to see what I decide to do next! (this might become a very addicting habit haha)