First Hair Highlights
I did it! I’ve had locs twice now, for a total of almost five years, and each time I’ve gone, “I should be bold and dye my hair!”
But it’s very permanent, especially since my natural hair color likely needs to be lightened for color to show much. Plus, lightening hair can be damaging. Last thing I want is to have my locs falling out. I’ve literally spent years growing these things; I’m not ashamed to say I’m a little attached to them, even if I don’t name them or count them.
But finally, with the aid of recommendations from friends and family on a beautician, I got my hair did.
It took quite a bit longer than expected—longer than the beautician booked, even—but the process was relative painless. (I’m a wash-and-separate kind of loc maintainer, and having someone else do the separating taught me that I have a gentle touch.) Some of the highlights are just blonde/lightened, and the others are a wine color. We opted not to go all the way to the roots of my hair for a couple of reasons:
- Much more time-intensive for two colors like this if color bleeding was to be avoided.
- I might not actually get this touched up again (the red will eventually fade to a lighter brown), so what do roots now matter versus roots in a month?
But… I like it! I still startle myself in the mirror, because it’s only been a couple of days, but I really like the look. I still don’t know if I’ll bother to maintain it or if I’ll just have really cool highlighted tips in a few years.
