April Fool’s Day 2009- It’s no joke. Appointment for highlights

Today’s appointment was prompted as a follow up to my last one after realizing that I did not have my highlights the way that I really wanted them.  One thing I’m learning in this process is how important it is to verbalize what you want to your hairdresser and not to be afraid to give feedback in the moment if their interpretation is not the same as yours.  I wanted to go lighter in alignment with the spring/summer season, more highlights that were visible along the edges when I pulled my hair back, and more highlights in general throughout my hair.  Before leaving, I also wanted to pick up their sunscreen to test if I would have an allergic reaction like I have to every other brand I’ve tried.

I nearly canceled this appointment with my day being extremely hectic, but I’m glad I kept it.  It’s so important to make time specifically to pamper yourself and I felt 100 times better by the end of the appointment.

BEFORE PHOTOS

can you see how exhausted i look??

AFTER PHOTOS

APPOINTMENT SUMMARY

Pulled up the blog post from my last appointment and shared it Dairdre.  I think this helped us facilitate a discussion on what I wanted to have done.  Total cost for my highlights $85 plus $15 for eyebrow wax.

This was I believe the second time during the processing that I sat under the Climazon heating dryer unit to help color lift through orange stage quicker.  Funny little contraption, and I’m glad I remembered to ask what it was this time around.  No trim needed.

I’m super pleased after this appointment.  My hair is exactly the way I wanted it.  I again went with the mini-facial as my free spa treatment service.  The hot towel seemed to melt all my stresses away!

Dairdre suggested that I switch conditioners over to Aveda Color Conserve Strengthening Treatment (click HERE to read more on the Aveda website) instead of continuing with Aveda Brilliant.  The Color Conserve conditioner has protein in it which is good for strengthening the hair follicle.  I’ve been using it and am happy with this conditioner as well, although it generally makes my hair feel more dry to the touch.  I do recall Dairdre mentioning that this would not be a good primary conditioner over the winter months because of the drying affect it has on hair as opposed to strictly a moisturizing conditioner like Aveda Brilliant.  Over time, I’ll probably alternate between the 2, although I just like the smell of Brilliant conditioner.

Unfortunately, Aveda Daily Light Guard (SPF 15) sunscreen also irritated my skin.  I stubbornly keep trying different products hoping to find something that doesn’t cause an allergic reaction (skin tingles and burns followed by fine bumps that crust over and become oily/scaly over days, also skin becomes even more sensitive to the sun during this time- perhaps because of the skin breakdown, there are also some small patches on face- usually around nose area- where top layer of skin seems to “burn” away leaving those areas particularly painful during the first few days).  I surrender for the moment and will resort to staying out of the sun and wearing hats/sunglasses when I can.  Since I barely used it, I left a message with Dairdre about returning it and hopefully I can get a full refund.  Perhaps, I could’ve tried a little from the tester bottle if I planned ahead.

*NOTE* I did learn that we don’t need anything more than SPF 15 to apply to your skin because the amount of chemicals added and the resulting protection at SPF 30 is essentially not worth the result.  As soon as I get some more “official” info about this, I will update this post.  The suggestion is to use SPF 15 and just apply more often when in higher intensity sunlight.