Thursday, January 2, 2014

New hair color! Gray (and Pravana pastels/ion pastels hair color review)

I made an impulse decision to color my hair gray today.  New year, new hair... why not? 


Here are the products that I used:
Ion color Brilliance brights: Rose
Ion color Brilliance brights: Titanium
Pravana Chromasilk Pastels: Pretty in Pink

For these colors, you don't need to mix them with any developer, which means they aren't damaging. It's just paint, which also means it's semipermanent.


First coloring, I wanted to compare the Pravana pink against the Ion pink. as you can see, the Pravana didn't color my hair at all. I'd say I was at or near a level 10 (whitest blond) and I've got porous and thick hair. It should have worked, but it didn't. 

bummer. also check out the scarf I crocheted. chains!
 The Pravana is in the far left, the ion is in the middle. The gray honestly doesn't look so hot either. I actually wanted a pale gray, almost off-white. but it looks kind of green, probably because the dye isn't completely opaque. I wonder if Jerome Russell makes a gray--those were very opaque colors. Sometimes the problem isn't your hair--it's usually the color, which is a translucent sheen of color. Especially when people say "Oh in the SUN it's purple or whatever." Short story: Pravana sucks and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Amazingly, it's a pro brand. I'd be pissed if I went to a salon and got this:
you can see by my roots it's KINDA pastel pink.
The ion pink is too vibrant to pass off as pastel. You'd need to dilute it to get it a true pastel.

Needless to say, I redid my hair and now it's:
wet hair

dry hair
The gray looks a little blueish. I honestly have an ash toner that would get this same color. Maybe with a few washings, It'll look more grayish. I LOVE the pink though. the pink is awesome, especially poking through the ash gray I have here.

13 comments:

  1. That is crazy about Pravana! Regardless, your hair looks awesome, I dig it!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yeah it's crazy....and I've heard great things about pravana...

      Delete
  2. Don't look so sad. It's pretty good~

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a fantastic hair and blog! Love it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your hair look amazing! Fabulous!

    ReplyDelete
  5. I used the violet pravana on my hair. I lightened it to about a 7 or 8 an it hardly takes. Excuse me while I go buy some manic panic. Glad I'm not the only one who experienced this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yeah parvana blows. glad i'm not the only one either

      Delete
  6. I love Pravana, and it has taken to my crazy-over-processed hair (caveat: the blue doesn't seem to take unless your hair is at a level 10 or so, and from what I've read online, the same is true of the pravana pink). I've used Pravana Violet mixed with Wild Orchid and Red, and I had the most beautiful plum-magenta color ever.

    I would also mention to make sure your hair is washed with a clarifying shampoo and no conditioner prior to coloring.

    And lastly, I slept with the color in, so it penetrated to the core of hair follicle - which I think was part of the reason the color lasted for over 6 months without having to reapply/re-color (I do this w/any alternative color, and it makes a huge difference).

    Anyhow, people's hair is different, so to each their own... :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried the nonpastel pravana colors, but I believe you when you say the violets and reds were fine. My jaw would drop to the floor if a pro brand couldn't do those colors. The pastels, however, are useless. Unless I had a defective tube. My hair was at a 10 and clean (otherwise the ionic colors wouldn't have taken either). It was disappointing since I keep hearing good things.

      Delete
    2. I don't bother with any of the pastels - I think you (proverbial 'you', not you, though you would, of course, qualify as well, lol) have a better shot mixing the full-on Pravana colors w/conditioner (the pastels from other brands I've tried seem to not 'take' to hair either).

      On a side note: have you tried Arctic Fox Hair Color? They're cruelty-free and even have a glow-in-the-dark neon yellowish color. I'm waiting on a shipment right now, and have read amazing things about them.

      Delete