Blonde hair icon, Blake Lively, trusts her locks to Goldwell Celebrity Colourist Rona O’Connor. In an interview with Hair Romance, Rona shares some tips, tricks and secrets about going – and staying – blonde.
Although she believes anyone can be blonde, O’Connor has four golden rules brunettes seeking blonde perfection need to obey:
- Know your budget
- Know it may not be possible to get the best results from a box.
- Know your skin tone; a professional can help determine this best.
- Know to look for a blonde expert if you are a medium to dark brunette.
And those last two points are crucial. Knowing your hair shade and skin type can make all the difference. O’Connor adds these three vital points to going from brunette to blonde:
There are three easy options for a dark to medium brunette, wanting blonde:
- Highlighting with three shades, all lighter by one to two shades to break up a dark to medium brunette, and sun flicking the ends heavily.
- Lightening the overall brunette base two shades lighter, heavily highlighting and toning to complete the perfect shade.
- Bleach blonde and toned: Your first time, plan on the day to get it right if you are a dark to medium brunette.
Rona’s final word of wisdom is on your shade of brunette and how to match it to the right blonde colour for you:
- For a light brunette: brunettes with brown eyes, and warm skin with yellow undertones look best with golden blonde tones.
- Brunettes with blue eyes and cool skin with pink undertones look best with cool blonde tones.
- One important rule to remember is, keep the cool or warm hue dominant next to the skin tone.
- Another rule that I go by with warm skin, is to keep the blonde base color one to two shades deeper than the skin tone. With cool pale skin going super light, keep it bright!
Next week I’ll reveal part two of the Rona O’Connor interview looking at home box colouring and what a salon can and can’t do to fulfill your blonde desires.
Have you ever tried going blonde? What would your advice be to someone going from brunette to blonde?
I am brunette dealing with going grey by becoming a blonde. It is so much younger looking to have dark roots. Unfortunately, it is also very expensive. I wouldn’t mind going grey except at the moment I would have Cruella de Ville hair. I would live to see tips on going grey, particularly for brunettes without the iron helmet that I will get naturally.
Hi Thea, I am just starting to have grey hair and I love it. I think they make my dark regrowth less noticeable. That’s a great idea for more tips on grey hair. I’ll ask some hair colourists for their advice and put a post together about grey hair soon. Christina x
I am naturally very very dark. I have always said “dark brown” but my hairdresser who is also my BFF has explained it to others by saying I am basically the shade before black.
I think the skin tone is a very relevant point. I think that when you go blonde and you are naturally dark you should seek the assistance of a colourist. I actually think you should seek that assistance if you’re changing your colour more than 2 shades either way. Best to have someone else to blame if it all goes wrong.
Thing is we don’t know how our hair will throw the colouring product, and a hairdresser can keep an eye on it and usually have good knowledge for how to correct it if something starts to go wrong.
I think if you’re wanting to drastically change your hair colour you need to go into the process open minded. Take a picture of something you like but listen to the advice of the professional. If you aren’t liking what they are suggesting speak up, ask them why they can’t do what you’re asking because a good colourist will explain to you exactly what they’re going to do BEFORE they do it, and explain to you why they are doing it that way.
Also keep in mind each hairdresser will have their own flare and style that may not line up with your own. That’s ok, but if you don’t like something it’s ok to say you disagree with their suggestion.
I just wish there were tips to not have to deal with this regrowth! Lol.
FANTASTIC advice Miss PInk! I so agree. You should see my post next week. I’m documenting dealing with the regrowth right now…ugh
A word of advice to anyone considering going from brunette to blonde: consult the experts, which is exactly what I did to make sure any of you considering this does it safely to prevent possible permanent hair and scalp damage.
Good point, thanks Sabrina