Hair Color Chameleon

Hair Color Chameleon

The Drama-Free, Trauma-Free Fast Track to Your Ideal Hair Color

 

 

I’m stunned that no psychoanalyst has developed a 12-step program for hair color addiction. Seriously, Lindsay Lohan and I can’t be the only obsessive-compulsive hair processors, not when every girl on the planet is suffering from some sort of mental malaise, whether an addiction to shopping, tanning, men, or other quirk of the moment.

 

And yes, this obsession, this unquenchable thirst for my perfect hair color, is a disease, and a conspicuous one at that. I sulk around for days after a friend walks by my table at a restaurant without stopping to chat. Until I realize that she simply didn’t recognize me as a redhead (or blonde, or brunette or whatever) that day. Even my own kids don’t recognize me in our family photos. Comments like “Wow, who’s that blonde getting married to Daddy?” aren’t that funny anymore.

 

Like all true addicts, my hair’s chemical-dependency was years in the making, first dabbling in Sun-In in the eighth grade, then an unfortunate experiment involving henna and a photo of Molly Ringwald, leading up to the hard stuff with the help of my enablers – er, trained salon professionals. Today, my ever-patient colorist knows to take no offense when I request that she un-do all of last summer’s painstakingly precise blonde highlights by covering them with deep chocolate brown this month, nor will she roll her eyes when I fling a photo of Julianne Moore in her face and demand “Match these gingery locks!” at my next appointment.

 

Despite this dangerous habit, I have been extremely lucky. True, some of the colors weren’t the most flattering– some made me look pasty, others ruddy, and a few were better suited for clear platform sandals and ankle bracelets than for my usual wardrobe -- but my hair has never suffered chemical burns, has never turned green or fallen out. I’ve been blessed with outrageously generous beauty karma that has inspired me to share some inside info with you, so that your journey to your ideal, most magnificent hair color can be a few decades shorter than mine.

 

Home colorists can skip years of trial-and-error (and tragic mistakes) by reading The Hair Color Mix Book, by famed colorist Lorri Goddard-Clark, (www.lorrigoddardclark.com), who does Reese Witherspoon’s hair. Like a cookbook for hair, Goddard-Clark shares secret recipes, mixes of drugstore color kits, giving everyone equal access to celeb-quality color. And, they work.  I’ve been known to whip up a batch of Lorri’s “Deep Caramel” sauce for my hair when it’s gotten too blonde.

 

Even if you’re not a do-it-yourselfer, the book is useful pre-salon visit as well, to help you find your best base and highlight colors. The first step is determining your eye color (this is not just a simple brown, blue or green answer) to find the hue that will bring out their highlights, then on to a color chart to determine your true starting hair color so that you can find the best range of lighter and darker shades. (Standard colorist-conspiracy advice is that you should only go one to two shades lighter or darker than your natural color for best results, but the book has instructions for those thrill-seekers after a more dramatic change; They’re probably willing to buy all new clothing and makeup colors anyway.)

 

Regarding skin tone, though going too dark can wash you out, the white-blonde route can be just as criminal. Amanda George, co-owner of the Neil George Salon in Beverly Hills, says, “It’s really important to take your skin tone into consideration when determining how blonde and light you can go,” and steers her blonde-ambitious clients away from a too-pale look. “You want your blonde to brighten the features on your face, so if the shade washes you out when you aren’t wearing any makeup, then the color is probably not right for your skin tone. You want people to compliment your color, not think it ages you 10 years!”

 

For die-hard color aficionados, professional color analysis can be a life-altering shortcut to your ideal palette, for hair color and clothing, makeup, jewelry, even your home. Along my perfect color quest, I had the Color Edge service by Rochele Hirsch, a fascinating color expert (www.rochelehirsch.com). Hirsch methodically mixed watercolor paints together until she had exact matches of my skin tone, eye color and hair, color replicas so exact that I can actually test foundation shades against my skin color swatch cards when buying makeup. From there, Hirsch formulated a palette of all the complementary colors that make me look and feel energized and truly alive, the colors that should fill my home, closet and makeup arsenal, ensuring that as long as I have my swatches in hand, I’ll never buy the wrong (potentially energy-draining!) color of anything ever again. Back to the hair: a spectrum of shades comprises your ideal hair color, usually four hues ranging from darkest, for your base color, to lightest, for the multi-tonal highlights that would render your hair magazine-cover worthy. And, though I so very often veer from Hirsch’s dictate of light-brown-to-honey-to-beige hair color, I cannot deny the fact that whenever I have it, it is, by far, the most flattering look for me.

 

And now, an earnest plug for the natural look: I truly admire women who embrace their natural hair color and never give in to the latest trends, the ultra-fake and homogenized celebutante look du jour or the potentially hair-ravaging chemicals they require. I wish I could be that authentic, that self-assured, that young Ali MacGraw, embracing my espresso-hued hair and thick brows. It’d be a relief to be free from that constant craving for new color, free from the ever-changing, unpredictable bi-weekly makeover. Then again, that’d be rather boring, wouldn’t it?