Public announcement: if you have your hair

Public announcement: if you have your hair professionally colored, talk to your financial adviser about protecting your assets.  Don’t have a financial adviser? I just put on some loafers and got an MBA online. So:

I had my hair colored recently at the Sally Hershberger salon in Chelsea, NYC by the brilliant Nikki Ferrara.  She took a bleached out, orange-y mess and without a photo turned it into literally a carbon copy of my 2-year-old son’s blond hair, with all the dimension that comes with natural color.  She added highlights, lowlights, and finished with a toner.  It was just beyond the beyond; it would have been financially irresponsible to let sun/city/pool/harsh shampoo ruin it. 

                

So I developed my own little system for hair protection, in the form of this triumvirate of goodies.  

1. Tone: To maintain the toning effect, which keeps the blond looking fresh and in my opinion keeps the lowlights looking darker, I shampoo with Clairol Shimmer Lights shampoo for old ladies.  I recommend this over the conditioner, and very much recommend it over other toning shampoos.  ~$19.00 here.

2. Wrap: If I’m swimming or out on the water/at the beach, I put my hair in a bun and spray it with Kérastase Huile Céleste Shimmering Protective Mist.  It’s a sparkling conditioning spray with UVA/UVB protection - so gorgeous.  $39.00 here.

3. Protect: At the end of the day, the absolute best you can do is cover your hair to protect it against UV light and heat that will bleach out your color. Besides, it looks chic. Example: this is a really nice hat (check the two-tone version too) and it’s only $12.99. Times that by about THIRTY and that’s about how much it would cost to have Nikki fix the fading.  Duh.  Here.  

Here’s more GPOY for you.  James did the cut.  Instagram’s not the best for capturing color but you get the gist.

Image: Lindsey Ellingson, Allure via, hair c/o Sally Hershberger Salon