wake up!
January 24th, 2018 @ 12:52 pm
instagram bombards me with makeup artists and mermaid hair (cringe) accounts all day, erryday. i sometimes get really inspired to follow one here and there, but i honestly get bored of them easily. there are only so many teal or piss-yellow haired selfies i can look at per day. i think the alternative hair just takes over as a personality, and i don’t even look at the makeup for inspiration anymore. in fact, any account that’s just focused on one thing usually gets an unfollow pretty quickly.
as with everything shoved in your face in 2017, i realized how dumb these posts/accounts are making people. because of social media, women are holding themselves to this ridiculous standard that people are really that perfect, easily and often. that’s bullshit, and as much as people may enjoy applying makeup or dying their hair (guilty), it catches up to them when they have dedicated accounts. there are plenty of articles online where these girls come clean about the pressures. it’s like a pride thing for people not to admit that it’s not easy or annoying.
i’d like to help people that don’t know this type of stuff.
let me break the reality down for you:
mermaid/unicorn hair:
if you don’t have naturally light blonde hair, you have to lighten your hair in order to apply this type of hair dye. that means BLEACHING! you can either DIY or go to a salon. DIY means it’s most likely not going to be done correctly, but if you’re an artsy person or a punk rocker, you probably don’t care. the bleach job might be uneven, brassy or worst case scenario, it’s left in too long and could potentially break your hair, etc. – risky biz!
if you go to a salon, the odds are that you’re going to have a better experience, but nothing is guaranteed. people go in thinking that they can go from black to platinum hair in one sitting, and that’s not accurate. the darker the hair, the longer it takes to get to very light hair. each time you go and bleach, it’s called a process, and there are levels to your hair color. if you have very dark hair, it’s only about 3 to 4 levels down per process. patience doesn’t exist when it comes time to social media, but it should when it comes to the quality of your hair. sure, there are bonding agents that colorists can use to protect your hair through the heavy/multiple processes, but you shouldn’t. it’s not healthy for your hair, and bleach isn’t magic.
once your hair is light enough or it is already light enough, you’re ready to apply your “fashion colour” dye. semi-permanent dyes aren’t going to last you very long to begin with without special maintenance. instagram accounts don’t tell you that.
maintaining and prolonging this type of hair dye:
- putting dye in your conditioner (you’re gonna need gloves for in the shower so you don’t end up with stained hands)
- washing only with sulfate free products (that shampoo you love with sulfates, you’re gonna have to break up with it and find a new one)
- rinsing with only cold water
- not washing your hair very often (this is fine for curly girls, but straight hair, i doubt it)
- reviving it yourself every two weeks-ish (for the DIY’ers)
- go light on the heat styling
another thing that these accounts aren’t telling you, is that sometimes getting the base colour out from a dye is a royal pain in the ass. for example, if you dye your hair blue, good luck getting it all out. you can try using dawn, selsun blue, a vitamin C wash, or there’s even something called “color eraser” by joico, but it’s a lightener, not a magic powder that just erases dye hues.
upkeep:
so your roots are coming back in…! that means you can either start bleaching your roots to keep up with your new hair, dying over your new hair or growing your hair out. depending on if you DIY’d your hair, or went to a salon, it’s a whole new set of praaaaabs.
if you DIY’d and want to keep up with the colour, you have to commit to doing this at least once a month. if you have only one colour, it’ll be easier for you to maintain. those of you who decided to do more than one hue or some type of “trending” hair with various colours (oil slick, for example), is a potential nightmare you’ll probably have to give up on (unless you know a stylist). i don’t even know what the upkeep is for those types of hair styles, nor would i want to even attempt it. sifting through strands like that sounds insane… i’d rather just start fresh for the next colour (which is probably what the salon will tell you as well).
the bottom line is that hair is going to fade and grow out. you can either commit to keeping it rad or have it looking like doo doo. i’m assuming that people are not crazy and don’t think that hair is going to grow back in the colour they dye it, but people are probably utilizing their newfound attention spans and not thinking 10 steps ahead. i can see how easily being enthralled by an instagram or blog post can be, but it’s just not that easy. you either have to maintain it, or you’re going to have to dish out money to a salon (which is usually a lot of moola).
think before you trend.
makeup:
i’m not a crazy makeup person. i only wear eyeshadow, eyeliner and lipstick. i don’t do the whole foundation, highlighter, blush, concealer, eyebrow, etc. thing. i do know that i don’t love spending a ton of money on makeup, and unfortunately you have to get what you pay for. it’s very hit or miss with brands, whether they’re cheap or expensive. read reviews, watch tutorials and reviews and ask instagram makeup people questions. some of them actually answer you!
i think what people don’t realize when they’re inspired to start using makeup, is what actually goes into it, and what happens over the course of a day. your makeup isn’t going to stay 100% perfect all day, like when you put it on. i think people forget this (or maybe they just don’t know it). i also think that some people don’t even know that the shape of their eye, type of eyelid or their type of skin will affect the longevity. i have oily lids with an annoying foldy crease, so my eyeshadow is gone in 5/6 hours even with primer/concealer and setting stuff… even with great or expensive primer/eyeshadow brands. a lot of people don’t even know that’s the foundation of that longevity, they just slap eyeshadow on without primer.
most instagram makeup folks list the products they use (sometimes they don’t list specifics which i instantly equate to ego vs education – BOOOO!), but they don’t mention primers to their makeup 101 folks. they don’t even mention “6 hours laters, it’s going to be faded”, or “your crease may have a shitty ol’ line in it at the end of the day”… they just act like their makeup is amazing all day long. they’ve gotta keep up with their online personality/brand. if they’re here to educate, they should do that. there are a billion youtube personalities that teach you that, but i don’t know if everyone using IG thinks to look tutorials up that way.
i think my point for the makeup stuff here is that a picture is a moment in time. it’s not an 8 or 10 hour day in a realistic world… i love this chick mi-anne chan on refinery29, because she shows you examples over the course of her day(s) how makeup lasts (and also brand quality – cheap vs. expensive).
makeup is supposed to be fun, but if yours doesn’t look like a professional at the end of they day, IT’S OKAY. the same goes for the hair stuff… a lot of work goes into it.
i hope that people stop thinking these influencers have an easy-peasy routine, if it makes them feel bad not living up to their looks. i know some people do take it as a type of negative psychological issue and might even let it affect their self esteem. someone’s confidence or self-image should never be down because of an online image that’s just one moment in time. there’s always more to it.