As a certified beauty dummy — I'm scared of the daunting appliance that is an eyelash curler and was not aware when I overtweezed my brows — I had no business walking into the nearest barber shop and declaring, "I want to go blond!" But that's what happened about two years ago, and the result was not so pretty. A "stylist" applied a single-process blond treatment to my dark brown mane, and I came out with just about the brassiest shade of blond you could ever imagine. It had hints of red and brown and serious streaks, and I'm going to refer to it as "brande" from here on out.
Since then, I've been working on improving and lightening my color on my own. And I recently booked a touch-up at Studio B Salon in New York, where I had an eye-opening experience. There, I met with Beth Minardi, who touched up my hair by hiding my roots with fresh highlights. Beth is a color specialist who's worked with A-list celebrities like Cameron Diaz, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst, and Julianne Moore, and she offers her own chemically advanced product line, Minardi.
For the three hours that I sat in her hot seat, patiently waiting for my refreshed dye job, Beth gave me a handful of useful tips and shed light on the many mistakes I had been making during my transition from dark brown to blond. Read on for some important takeaways and a few snaps of my latest look — plus one of that not-so-lovely "brande" shade I started at. Whether you're thinking about lightening your locks or you already have, it's definitely important you familiarize yourself with my learnings about toner, deep conditioning, and highlighting methods. That way, we can all walk out the door in the morning knowing we're the best blondes we can possibly be.
