Let me start by saying I have always been very gung-ho about my hair, after all it grows back so why not put it through a number of styles, shades and trauma as possible. This was until a year ago when I decided I wanted to go a darker more caramel shade of blonde… It was a fateful Friday afternoon and I impulsively picked up a box of Garnier dye while in Clicks and went home to dye my then medium length fairly damaged locks.

Thanks to the heat styling tools damage my hair was rather porous. Porous hair grabs on to colour deposits from dye and can come out very patchy if you use at-home dye, this was mistake number 1. When I rinsed it out I was confronted with “gorgeous” blue brown hair. As in the colour no human being should ever have on their head.

I begged a friend (who should have advised better) to please rush to the now closing shops and pick up a light brown box of dye as well as a blonder one. I had an important event the following morning and decided to go with browner hair rather than risk attempting to go blonde and instead ending up with orange hair.

The brown hair was as dull as dishwater but sufficed. My hair quality had not a gleam of shine nor health to it and I felt like so guilty. I then cancelled my plans for that afternoon and instead applied the blonde dye. Yes, three boxes of dye in less than 24hrs (it sadly gets worse). The blonde simply lightened my hair a fraction but was still awful. I finally decided to picked up Garnier’s Pre-Lightener in order to somewhat strip my hair of colour and then used my old faithful Nice and Easy 102 which restored my hair to its normal shade of blonde.

The texture and quality were shocking though and fortunately none of it fell out or broke off considering I had dyed it 5 times in 48 hours. So why didn’t I pick up the phone and go to a professional to fix it from the start. Sadly my experiences with local hairdressers have actually been worse than the above story. I just hadn’t met the right hairstylist and refused to risk my hair with someone else.

A few months after this incident I found David Gillson, the partner at Carlton Hair, he is based in Sandton but when he is down in Cape Town each month he does my hair. The past 8 months have transformed my hair. I have not played around with the colour or style, my goal is to have long healthy locks this winter. Having long hair should not mean compromising on quality, since having monthly Davines treatments my hair is now free from split ends and it is so soft to the touch. My hair used to take ages to dry and still does since I have fine hair but a lot of it. Hairdressers always joke that I have enough heads of hair for three people and it is not uncommon to have two hairdressers drying my hair at once to speed up the process. However, in saying that my actual hair no longer clings to water. Dry damaged hair will feel heavier after washing it and will try to cling to water to provide hydration.

If you want to have long hair it is an investment…

1) Be kind to it and only brush when dry (comb when wet or use a Tangle Teezer).

2) Only dye your roots each time never repeatedly re-dye all of your hair.

3) Use colour saving shampoo’s and conditioner

4) At home masks can work wonders on one’s hair but try to go for a professional treatment at least twice a year if you colour your hair

5) Finally we all know it is important to give ones hair a break from heat styling tools every now and then

My hair isn’t 100 % where I want it to be in terms of shine and colour (want to go a darker shade of blonde for winter) but it is softer and I have zero split ends which is a miracle in itself.

This shot is of my hair un-styled, no added products and no heat tools used on it. Before it would of been one massive mess of frizz.

I will be doing a hair care product post next week. In the mean time let me know what your hair care tips are?