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My mother and I have some interesting genes... My maternal grandmother was a strawberry blonde (naturellement, mais oui), and she sported some freckles. My mom got brown hair from her father, but she did get the freckles and the capability to sunburn by simply thinking about sunlight. Me... the brown hair from mom, the sun-resistant skin from my father. My mother used to call our hair color "medium blah." I never really thought much of it. I've dabbled with reds (thank you grandma for the right skin tone to pull it off), darker browns, and even pink and green. I thought it was time for me to grow up with my hair a little while ago, and had it dyed back to my "medium blah" so that it would be a little easier to manage. I started talking to a friend about how to style my hair while I'm abroad, and she offered a few suggestions... and then asked if I was going darker or lighter with my hair color. Apparently, "medium blah" does not suit me...
The latest Cosmo mentions that ombre hair, rose-gold (grandma throwback), black, and platinum blonde are popular right now. I don't like the ombre trend. I still feel like both black and platinum will wash me out. So that leaves the rose-gold trend. Of course, that means lightening my hair as it is, which means a trip to the stylist, which means some serious argent. Even worse, something THAT different from my normal color would mean finding a stylist in Paris (facile) that would treat me as well as my stylist here does (plus difficile) and doesn't cost too much (très difficile). Problem is... would this color even work in France? Time for some research...
I found a site that notes trends in hair color for women all over the world. It says that French women don't do crazy things with their locks. My naturally brunette hair color should be fine, but according to my friend, it may be too light to be right, and too dark to be right at the same time. This article says to go caramel with highlights and lots of shine.
Maybe I should use this as my inspiration...
The article is from 2009, so I might need to take it with a grain of salt. I'm not sure if my stylist knows how to do bayalage either... Just my luck, the ombre trend is from France... and that's the last one I'd do. Yes, I admit it. I would go black or platinum sooner than I would do ombre...
In reality, my current hair color wouldn't be called "brune" in France. I'd get laughed at if I made that mistake (brune refers to very dark brown and black). My hair color falls under the jurisdiction of "châtain" which seems to encompass what we would call "brunette" or "brown" as well as red and ash tones of those colors. Loréal's site for France (for some reason the US site doesn't like me) gave me a few options for what kind of hair color I should use. I have to say, I love 454 Brownie and 550 Acajou, but I think that 654 Marron Miel is what all the style guides I'm finding are leading me toward. Granted, this is DIY hair color, and while I have no qualms with using it, I like the idea of going to my stylist (or one in France) to make sure it gets done right.
As it is, I plan on getting my hair dyed before I leave the country. It now seems to be a question of going lighter and getting highlights, or just getting highlights. Now the question is how to style my hair...
La critique est aisée, mais l'art est difficile. -Destouches
