 Good morning. Welcome back to my channel. It just woke up a couple minutes ago. I'm in the process of getting ready because today I'm getting my hair done. If you're brand new here, I am a licensed hairstylist and normally I do my hair myself. Cut it myself. I color it myself like 90% of the time. But every so often I like to not only treat myself and get to just be a client and sit back and relax and have somebody else do my hair, but I like to help support my fellow stylists and give them, you know, some business. Back when I was living in Pennsylvania, I had a lot of hairstylist friends, obviously. I had my co-workers that I trusted to do my hair, but when I moved down to North Carolina I was like, ooh, you know, I'm gonna have to really like do my research and find somebody that I trust and that, not only that I can trust, but that does the type of hair that I like because everybody has a different style, different technique, you know what I mean? And not every stylist is gonna be for every client and vice versa. So it's important that not only are you finding somebody that is keeping up with their education and really knows what they're doing, but that specializes in what you want. If I like a more natural, like, lived-in, beachy kind of look, I'm probably not gonna go to somebody that exclusively has bright rainbow fashion colors on their Instagram page because, not to say they can't do a nice lived-in color, but that's not their specialty. It's not what they do on a regular basis. But when I moved down here, this girl named Nina had reached out to me and she had been following me for a while. She is also a fellow stylist and we had met up for lunch one day and she was so nice. We really hit it off. Looking at her Instagram page, her work looks really beautiful. It's the same kind of style that I like. So I decided to book an appointment with her. So I'm gonna bring you guys along because I thought that would be fun, but I also wanted to share some of my professional tips with you. What to do if you are going to the salon to get your hair colored, how you can have the best, most successful experience. So my first tip would be give yourself extra time to get there, especially if it's your first time going to that particular salon because you never know. Maybe it'll only take you 15 minutes to get there, but what's the parking situation like? You know, do you have to find street parking or do they have a parking lot? Do you have to pay for a meter? Like those are things that obviously are going to take up more time and it's really, really important that you're on time to your appointments. But I would suggest, especially if you're going for color and especially if you're getting some kind of like transformation. You know, if it's like a little touch up, then that's not going to take as long. But if you're doing something different, I would expect that you're probably going to be there for a few hours. So get yourself something to drink, get yourself a little snack just in case they don't have anything there. Also bring things to do, especially if you are not a big talker and you don't really want your stylist to make a lot of conversation with you, bring some headphones, pop them in. That's the easiest, least awkward way to say, hey, I want a silent appointment, basically, especially if you're getting color while you're sitting and processing. The stylist might be off doing other things, working on another client during that time, so you might just be sitting there alone. I just prefer to bring headphones that way. I can like watch videos on my phone, listen to a podcast, whatever. My next tip is to do a little bit of makeup. You don't have to go like all out, but I will say sometimes I have found that when clients don't have their makeup done, it's harder for them to adjust to their new hairstyle, especially if you're getting something totally different, like you're doing a dramatic haircut or getting a dramatically different hair color. Having your makeup done a little bit will just help you be able to see like the full picture at the end. And a lot of people nowadays will take pictures for their Instagram. So in case they decide to take a picture, if you have a little bit of makeup on, you know, you'll look a little nicer for the picture and probably feel a little better. I know I feel more comfortable people taking my pictures if I feel like I look put together. As far as hair goes, this is a big thing. People are always asking if they should go with their hair freshly washed or dirty, what's better. I say you don't want your hair to be extremely dirty. Like if you, if it's like super, super greasy and loaded up with a bunch of product and it's been like a week since you last washed it, that's not ideal. Honestly, the color does take better on cleaner hair because there's just less of a barrier for it to have to work through, but your hair doesn't have to be like super, super clean and freshly washed either. My hair is like three or four days old. And as far as what you should wear to your appointment, this is something that is kind of important to consider too. I always suggest wearing layers. Ideally nothing with a hood because that can kind of get in the way. Layers are just good because you never know. You're going to be sitting there for a while. Sometimes you get kind of hot under that cape. Sometimes you get cold. So it's good to have options. And I also suggest wearing neutrals because again, especially if you're getting your hair colored, sometimes depending on the color, if you're wearing like a bright, vibrant colored top, it can kind of throw off the way the color of your hair looks. So neutrals are always best. And also if they are going to take a picture for their Instagram portfolio, it usually just looks better. It looks cleaner. It helps the hair come out looking more true to color in the picture. And also I wouldn't wear like your nicest clothes. A, you want to be comfortable because you're going to be sitting for a while. But B, you never know. I mean, majority of the time it's not going to be a problem. And you know, you're not going to have to worry. But you're in a salon where there's going to be a lot of products around the place, a lot of color. You never know. There could be like a little dot of color on a chair that somebody didn't notice and you sit down on it and it could get on your clothes. I'm just wearing a plain black tank top from Zara. These jeans from Target. This jacket is from Misguided. Shoes are also from Target. Ignore my room is messy. We're going to clean that up later. I just texted her to ask if she has Venmo or Cash App for her tip because I don't have cash on me at the moment. So I was just checking to see if I should stop to get some out or not. Because when you're tipping your stylist, most places will let you tip on your card if you're paying with a credit card. I prefer to just either tip in cash or do Venmo or something like that. That way I know for sure that they're getting the full amount that I am trying to tip them. And as far as tipping, I like to always do 20% at least. But that is, you know, up to you. It really depends on what you can afford. I have a video where I talk all about that and I kind of share my thoughts as somebody in the cosmetology field. So I'll put a link to that video in the description. So of course, after the fact, I realized I should have recorded our consultation so that I could share with you guys what kind of stuff we talked about, what questions she asked me, how I explained to her what I wanted. But these are the two pictures I showed her. I always suggest whenever you're going to get your hair colored, just bring inspiration pictures. That's the easiest way to communicate what you want to your stylist. And obviously these photos aren't exactly the same, but they have some like main similarities. And it was just to give her an idea of generally what I wanted and so that she could see the type of placement and the tones that I like. But I did explain because, yes, it's great to have photos. Like I said, I highly suggest that. But you also want to be specific and explain exactly what it is that you want and what you like, what you don't like. So I explained that I didn't want to be too different from what I was starting with. I just wanted to kind of brighten it up and add a little bit more lighter pieces. I like it a little bit more solid on the ends, more dimension going up towards the top. But I still wanted to keep my dark root. I wanted everything to be very blended so that it would be more low maintenance and grow out very softly. I also said that I do like brighter face frame money pieces in the front, but I didn't want them to be too bold or chunky, again, very blended, soft. I also said that my hair is naturally curly and I do like to wear my natural curls pretty often. So a big thing for me was to keep it as healthy as possible so that my curls would stay intact. And I even told her, you know, if the hair is not lifting as much as you want it to, that's fine. I would, you know, sacrifice. I would rather sacrifice brightness over the integrity and health of my hair, like that keeping it healthy is my number one priority. And I also said that I didn't want to necessarily be a full on blonde. I wanted to be somewhere more in between a brunette and a blonde. And as far as tone goes, I didn't want to be super ashy or super warm either. Again, I like to be somewhere in the middle, a little bit of a more neutral tone. And I also said that I didn't want the highlights to come up too high because, like I said, I wanted to keep my darker root, but I did want the pieces to come up a little bit higher around my face so that when I pull my hair back in a ponytail, because I do pull my hair back pretty often, I wanted to still be able to see some bright pieces around my face when I pull it back. So that just kind of gives you an idea of what things to point out, what things to specify during your consultation. And it seemed like she completely understood what I wanted. She was asking me all the right questions. So I felt really good about our consultation. And I'm pretty sure I didn't really pay too close attention to exactly what her technique was, but she definitely teased every single foil that she did in order to keep it really blended. And that way she wasn't going up super high. And I'm pretty sure she weaved every foil, or at least most of them, but she did keep a couple pieces out to keep some dimension. Being a colorist myself, it's always so fascinating to me going to different stylists and just watching them work and seeing their technique because there's so many ways to do the same thing and to get a very similar result. So I don't know, it's just it's interesting. I like watching how different people work. So after she finished applying all the foils, she put me to process under a heat lamp and she kept checking on my hair every 10 minutes or so. I want to say in total, I was probably processing for about 20 to 30 minutes. Once that was done, she brought me over to the sink and washed everything out. And then it was time to tone me. I don't know exactly what she used, like what her formula was for the toner. But she left that to sit on for a few minutes. And then I did ask her to give me a little trim and just kind of clean up my haircut. Here's the hair. I'll show you like a better angle and different lighting when I get home. But I always like to check it in the car. I always say this is like the best lighting because it's natural, indirect sunlight. Sometimes when you look at it inside, it's hard to see it like true to color because of the lighting. What do we think? She did a really, really good job. Like the blend is beautiful. That's always like my biggest concern. It is hot. Glad I brought my jacket though because it was chilly in there. They had the air condition on. Overall experience, 10 out of freaking 10. That was the nicest salon I've ever been to. Like hands down, she was very communicative, asked a lot of questions. I feel like she really understood what I wanted, what I like, what I don't like. Amazing job. So highly, highly recommend if you live in the Wilmington area, go check out Nina. She's amazing. I'll have her Instagram in the description. And it's 12 30 now. So that took between like styling and pictures and everything like a little under three and a half hours. But I need to go to the grocery store now. I'll see you when we get home. Here is how my hair looks inside. It's like in between, which is what I wanted. Like I'm not quite blonde. I still feel kind of like a brunette. And I like that I still have my dark root and it's nice and blended. So it'll grow out really nice, have the money piece, but it's like not too chunky. She did say that it came out a little bit warmer than what she was intending because I did say for the tone that I don't like it super ashy or super warm. I like more of like a beige kind of neutral in between tone. She felt like it was a little bit warmer than what she was going for. But I said, you know what, rather than because at that point it was like all completely dry and her next client already was there. And I know how stressful that can be. So I was like, you know what, let me go home and play around with it and see it in different lighting. I think it looks really good. And, you know, I can just like use purple shampoo and stuff like that. Or even just tone it myself. And I always feel like it takes a little bit of time. Like the color always looks like ever so slightly different after a couple days later. Good morning. It's a beautiful day already. Like just pure blue skies. I'm gonna make myself my morning coffee. My favorite part of the day. And then while I have this, I'm gonna get caught up on some YouTube videos. That is my morning routine. Since I always get asked who my favorite people to watch on YouTube are, I thought I would show you. And I love pulling it up on my TV and sitting on the couch and watching. It's just, you get the full experience. So, Alexandra Rodriguez, formerly known as Learning to be Fearless, she's one of my favorites. And especially right now, I've been looking forward to her videos. She's been posting like every other day. She just moved into a new house. So she's doing a whole bunch of like moving, decorating content. I am living for that. I also love Danielle Hallen, good true crime videos. And then I love Carrie Dayton, her vlogs and her regular videos. She has two different channels. She does a lot of like fashion and sort of like body positivity type stuff. She's just like a real normal person, which is why I like watching her. Taylor Wynn, amazing. She does makeup videos mostly, but she also does vlogs. And right now, she is like not really living anywhere. She's kind of doing like the Nomad lifestyle kind of thing, where she's just going from different city to different city and staying there for about a month or so. I just, I don't know. I love her personality. I love her style. And then I also love Brooke Michio. She lives in New York City and she just does like lifestyle vlogging and stuff like that. She also has a podcast with her best friend. And then I also watch her best friend that she has the podcast with, Danielle Carolyn. Again, she lives in New York City too and same kind of thing, just like lifestyle New York City type stuff. And then of course Kendall Rae always. I've been watching her pretty much since she started her channel. And then Carly Bible, I love her videos, especially when she vlogs. And then I just a couple days ago discovered Hope Scope. She does a lot of like trying different products and different like clothing brands. And she does try-ons and reviews and then Stephanie Harlow of course. I'm subscribed to quite a lot of different people, but those ones that I showed you are the main people that I like get super excited to watch. And when they post a new video, I will watch it right away. Anyway, I am going to have my coffee. I have some computer work that I need to do, but it's also such a nice day out. So I don't know, we'll see. Update, here's the plan. So today is like the perfect beach day and kind of like the only perfect beach day of the week. And I figure the work I need to do, I don't have anything that's like due today. And I can always get some work done later when I get home. It's supposed to rain tonight. So it just seems silly for me to waste this gorgeous day sitting inside, you know? So I have my little bikini on underneath here. And then I just threw this dress from H&M over top. I still have my beach blanket in this backpack from the other day when I was at the beach with some friends. So we're going to bring that. I just got back from the beach. Oh, I definitely got some color. It was nice, very peaceful and relaxing, but I don't know if you can see this. I have so much sand in like every crevice of my body. Can you see that? My back is completely covered. It got all in my hair. I had it in a ponytail, but it's like all in my scalp. It literally, I got in the car and I was like, ew, it looks... Yeah, in person you can see it. It looks like I have dandruff, but it's all sand. So yeah, it looks like I'm going to have to wash my hair tonight. Exactly. And I tend to do that a lot. I really undermine my feelings. Good morning. Here's how my hair looks naturally curly. I mean, it's not like I didn't put any product in it or do anything after I washed it last night. I just kind of let it air dry and then I slept on it in a low bun while it was like still pretty damp. But you can see like some of these pieces, they are still a little bit too like vibrant. They kind of, they just look like they need to be toned a bit more. I think later today I will swing by the beauty supply store and just get the toner. It is like a quarter to 12 and I've already had like such a productive day. Last night I edited the podcast episode, so I listened back to it this morning to make sure everything sounded good. Published that. I responded to so many emails that I had been kind of putting off for the past few days. I got some more brand deals secured for the upcoming months, which is good, exciting stuff. I do have a video that I need to finish editing. It's almost completely done and I want to get that done by the end of today because I need to submit it to a brand for approval because there is a little sponsored portion in that video. Anyway, I'm going to make myself some breakfast. It's a few hours later. I just got back from Sloan centric. I was a Cosmoprop. No, I went to Sloan centric because I wanted red can shade TQ. I got six and a which is like a natural ash and I'm going to do a little bit of a shadow root. She blended the color beautifully. So I'm not doing it because I need to blend anything out. I just like a little bit of a shadow root because my natural color is so dark and so ashy. So I just feel like creating a little bit of a shadow and just kind of ever so slightly darkening where the highlights start. Always just like makes it look a little bit more natural. So there's not as much of a contrast up at the root area for the toner for the ends. I got nine GI and eight V. I'm going to mix those up and then I also have like a tiny drop of eight GI. So I'm going to throw this in it too. So this is going to be my formula for the ends eight GI eight V and nine GI. So it's going to help tone down some of that brass. It's not going to make it super super ashy. It's going to just make it like the most beautiful beige tone. My hair is obviously clean because I just washed it last night. So all I'm going to do is get it a little damp and then put the color on top. Put on a cape. I don't stain my clothes and I'm literally just taking my detangling brush, running it underwater and then brushing through my hair so that I can get it damp but not like soaking wet. And for the record, I just want to clarify if you go to get your hair done at a salon and you notice something that doesn't really feel right. If you feel like it needs to be re toned or you're unhappy with anything at all, reach out to your stylist and go back to the salon and let them fix it or redo whatever it is for you. Before I left, she had even pointed out like I mentioned that she felt like it was a little too warm. She asked me if I wanted her to re tone it at that point. I told her no, don't worry about it. I didn't want her to be like running behind with her next client. And I decided to just tone it myself at home because I knew that to maintain my color, I was going like I was planning on just toning it myself at home anyway. So I was going to have to buy that color regardless at some point. And it was just so much faster and easier for me as a professional go get the color and just tone it myself at home then reaching out to her, waiting for her to have availability going back, etc. But yeah, don't try to fix your color yourself at home because you could just mess it up even worse if you don't know what you're doing. If you already paid money to get it done by a professional, you're better off just reaching out to them and asking them if they can fix it for you. I'm going to part it down the middle because that's where I usually part it. And we're going to do the shadow root first. So I'm taking the 6NA and I'm just going to measure out probably like half an ounce because I don't really have to apply too much of this. It's literally just like that little area where the highlights start. And then I'm going to do equal parts. Redken JDQ Processing Solution. Pour that into my bowl. Mix it up. And this color is a little bit lighter than my natural color. And since it's a demi permanent and we're just doing it with Processing Solution and not like a high volume developer, it's not going to lift my hair at all. It's just depositing the color. So I don't have to worry about like my natural root being affected in any way. So I'm literally just tapping it where I want it. Also when I'm applying this, I like to do it in kind of a diagonal. So I don't bring it down as far in the front. And then as I'm working towards the back of my head, I will bring it down lower. It just follows like the natural head shape. And that way the color just like flows really nicely and just looks more natural. I like to take a comb and just kind of like gently brush it through a little bit just to make sure it's like all evenly saturated and blended. And now in my bottle since the rest of the color is just going to go all over, it's easier and faster to just do it with a bottle. So I'm going to do probably like two thirds of the level 8. I'm just going to throw in whatever's left in the 8G. I don't even know how much is in here. Let's see. It's like almost, yeah, probably half an ounce was in there. So I'm going to do almost one and a half of 8V and then 9G. I up to two ounces. That should be more than enough because then we're going to do equal parts of the processing solution. So I'm going to fill this up to four. I'm going to leave the money pieces out for right now so that they can stay as bright as possible, especially since they got the most lift. Then I'm just going to go section by section. Highly recommend doing this over the sink. All right. We have the color on. Sorry. Battery died while I was applying this. I set a timer for 20 minutes. So I'm just going to leave this on and let it do its thing. Once the timer goes off, I'm going to hop in the shower, rinse this out. Probably going to do just like teeny drop of light shampoo just to make sure I get everything out. Conditioner and then I will blow it out and show you guys the final results. Wanted to get a quick clip. It's like super cloudy out right now, but the sun is going to set within the hour. So I wanted to try to show it to you and some natural light so you can see it toned it down quite a bit. But I just, you see how it just like looks so much softer and it really like flows more with my natural color. There's not like as much of a stark contrast. And again, she did an amazing job, but sometimes it does take a couple of times of doing somebody's hair and getting to know their hair and how their hair takes the color and also just their preferences. But the next time I need it done again, I will definitely be going back to her because this placement is perfection. Anyway, I am going to wrap up this blog here. Thank you guys so much for watching. I will start a new vlog in a couple of days. Stay tuned for that. Make sure you're following me on Instagram and my podcast if you want more content from me and I'll see you really soon in my next video. Bye.