How To Maintain Colored Hair in the Middle East (and Where To Acquire Hair Products in Qatar)

Phew — It has been ages since I posted something related to hair! I’m keeping a hair-related blog, right. Anyway, I hope you do enjoy looking at my candy subscription boxes this past few months.

Before anything else, I would like to remind you about my disclaimer notes that are posted here and here. This post might also contain some affiliate links and/or codes where you can get discounts from partner websites and I will also get a small amount in return.

Finally — I found time to think about what subject it is to share with you with regards to hair – and what I thought might be interesting to discuss is what I’m recently facing: As you might know, year 2017, I had moved to the middle east to work and being the person I used to be, I know that the first thing that comes to mind to most people when they hear middle east is the sand; desert; camels…?; heat!

Well, you are right about that. Except that it gets colder during winter down to 9~10°C. But for half a year, you have to deal with the other side: 31~42°C, sometimes up to 49°C. What to do by then?

  • Store water in pails to cool it down for bathing
    During summer at peak hours of heat, you can almost boil an egg if you turn on the tap and put it in the running water. I kid you not. I cannot wash my hands directly from the tap during summer. Although, this is not always the case; this mostly happens to buildings or villas that store their water on the roof. Most high-rise buildings and hotels have cold water any time of the day and heaters are always available. So, one thing to be reminded of if you happen to stay at a place in the middle east, or eventually live in it, is to store cool water for bathing during summer because hot water for hair is a big NO.
  • Get under the shade; avoid walking under the sun
    Much like your skin, hair (and your scalp) might be well exposed to UV rays from mister sun. Good (or bad) thing about the middle east is you get access to air-conditioned rooms every where you go, even some bus stops has AC. If you find yourself needing to walk under the extreme heat, better be prepared with caps or scarfs. Fun trivia: if you are a Southeast Asian, chances are you have your umbrella with you, but will not see anyone else using it in the middle east. Nobody prohibits you using such, you just might notice that you are the only one (like what happened to me.) If you feel more comfortable with umbrellas in tow, go ahead!
  • Do not shampoo your hair everyday
    This is a general reminder to all kinds of hair. For dyed hair though, applying shampoo to hair will speed up fading the color. Downside is you might be uncomfortable with the greasy feeling, and if that’s your concern, you can use an alternative shampoo such as Dry Shampoo. You can find different types of Dry Shampoo in Qatar; powder type No Drought dry shampoo from LUSH Cosmetics, who has branches across big malls inside Doha; or spray cans like the famous Batiste that you can find in almost all grocery stores, common scents that I see are Original, Cherry, Floral, and Blush.
  • Use oil treatments once or twice a week
    Oils are great recharge for your hair. You strip them off, you put them back! You can find them at all grocery stores in different types, shapes, and color.
  • Use damage repair treatments as often as instructed
    I personally recommend Olaplex No. 3 for bleached hair. I bought mine locally from Nazih, a hair and beauty products supply store who has a number of branches in Doha. You can also try Some By Mi’s MIRACLE Repair Treatment, that I have yet to try, which I bought from YesStyle — you will also get EXTRA discount when you type in the promo code: YES5NIKITA at checkout!

Now that you are ready for the heat… Do you want to hear about the places you can visit here in Qatar? Let me know by commenting below.

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Hair Chronicles: Hair Update + Blue Grey Tip

It has been months since I posted an update or anything on this blog! The thing is… priorities smacks me in the face. Every. Day. I currently have responsibilities on a certain non-profit organization in line with my career, and at the same time, I’m enrolled at a review center in preparation for the licensure exams next year. 
But guess what I haven’t lost time to deal with? Hair color!

However, no, not really. As you would see on the following photos below, I have almost 5″ long roots. I’ve been busy that long and I did not have the luxury to dye my hair. The very last time before this post would be 2.5 months ago, during the Master Plumbers’ Oathtaking, in which I just covered my hair with Enchanted Forest, without bleaching my (already showing) roots.

Bleached once (which turned out to be uneven/pictured below) and topped with a layer of Bremod hair color tube in Blue mixed with a generous amount of white conditioner. That mix gave me a silver-y blue.

3-4 days after application, daily washing.
3-4 days after application, daily washing.
3-4 days after application, daily washing.
3-4 days after application, daily washing.
Bleached once, blue generic permanent dye with conditioner.
After application. Bleached once, blue generic permanent dye with conditioner.
I’ll let you in the not-so-secret tip; bleaching a jet black hair would give you a golden brown kind of color, if not bright yellow-orange — then, given that you’ve been taught Primary colors since Pre-school, you should know that yellow + blue would give you green. And digging more into the color wheel, violet neutralizes yellow.

From my experience, overtly neutralizing yellows gives you Silver. Hence, – you do the math.

1.5 – 2 weeks after application, toned roots, hair color back to washed up teal.
1.5 – 2 weeks after application, toned roots, hair color back to washed up teal.
1.5 – 2 weeks after application, toned roots, hair color back to washed up teal.
1.5 – 2 weeks after application, toned roots, hair color back to washed up teal.

Get That Blue Hair for Less than 100 Pesos

Backstory

I stocked up for my hair color supply needs from Quiapo. As per usual: I dropped by so I could get cheaper products that works just the same.

My hair has been through a lot and currently washed out from my previous Manic Panic© Cotton Candy Pink™ (it lasted only for about 2 weeks) over a bleached hair at about level 8 blonde.

I decided to try the color that I’ve long been planning to wear, which is Blue-blue. From experience, these color tubes (which costs around 35-45 pesos/piece) would do the trick. It always depends, of course, on your hair situation!

The process

I just want to warn you about its difference with semi-pemanent jar dyes, which you can put on directly to your hair; because these color tubes similar to these requires developer to process, and developers are oxidizers, and oxidizing damages your hair. Also, developers contain ammonia: it smells so bad that you should work with your hair in open air.

Prepare your tools. Find a well-ventilated room. Call a friend!

Mix 1 part dye with 1 part developer. (1:1) I used 9% (30 Vol.) developer.

    
  

This certain color develops so fast that it will turn Royal Blue before you get to the next section.

After applying it, I let it sat for about 15 minutes and washed it with shampoo (to thoroughly remove excess chemicals, I wanted to fade it out a bit, anyway) and lots of conditioner.

  
  
Because of the yellow-ish blonde color I had beforehand, it turned out to be this wondeful shade of Teal (— I’m wearing teal again) which is similar to Manic Panic©’s Enchanted Forest™ after a few washes.
 

Hair Chronicles: Bleached to Steel-Whatever to Ash Blonde with Palty Foam Hair Dye in Cinnamon Churros

WHO WANTS ASH BLONDE HAIR?

It’s my second time to use Palty hair color and hey, can I just say that I love Japanese products (everything Japan are accurate and neat). With that said, of course, it never failed my expectation/s. This would be a long post containing product review and step-by-step, a bit of WHYs and HOWs, and sure, photos.

How I discovered Palty? This was the very first hair brand that desalinized my hair. This time, it’s a hair dye, not hair bleach. I’ve seen the foam type hair dye line before, online before it was available here in the Philippines.

These are some BEFORE photos under different lighting for ya’ll:   

    
And a side-by-side comparison of BEFORE (left) and AFTER BLEACHING (Right): The freshly bleached hair is actually lighter in person, about level 7. I just waited for about an hour after towel drying until damp… also to let my hair rest and breathe for a little while before  toning using Palty foam hair dye in Cinnamon Churros. Bought this at the nearest drugstore for 50% off its original price and I have this on store for a while because I’m kind of afraid that my “hair color goal” with this particular product will not be as I expected. 

 Finally took the courage to try it out (because I remembered I trust Japan!)

There’s a wider selection of colors from this line from Palty but only few selected colors are available right now inside the country. (The list is pictured above.)

BOX CONTENTS

For my hands are as small as your cat, it’s kinda big for my palm and it contains the following:

MANUAL/instruction leaflet comes together with a pair of gloves and after-color conditioner.

Mixing spatula with weird holes

Mixing cup

Hair color in tube form

Hair color developer/oxide (I’m assuming it’s 9%)    

I am really aiming for Steel Grey so I left it for another 10 minutes.

Hair Chronicles: Going Purple with Manic Panic Ultra Violet

Sorry for not updating the site regularly, but I will try my best this time. I still answer queries here, just comment below or any post that interests you, send an e-mail, or follow me on Instagram.

After you hit that follow button, here’s the story on how random I pick colors to wear… just like how you choose what dress to wear today: I got my second Manic Panic jar from a physical store of an online shop, well because my first choice isn’t available. I don’t have that much money to buy a few jars in one go (plus I don’t like wearing multiple colors on my hair at the same time — except for faulty, uneven bleaching, I’m sorry).

Look at this beautiful and mad Violet. It has a blue undertone – not Red – one of the reasons why I picked this rather than other shade of Purple.

But of course if it’s too dark for your taste, you could always add a white base – conditioner! I’ve read that you shouldn’t use an anti-dandruff shampoo and/or conditioner IF you don’t want to fade out your the dye on your hair just yet. (I’m still going to read about anti-dandruff shampoos and try it out first.) I added just a spoonful of conditioner to the dye and directly slapped it on my hair.

Photo below was taken at my dentist’s clinic and I just had my first dental braces adjustment so I really can’t smile just yet, but hey I’m loving my hair color.

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Watsons 50% Off Hair Haul

50% OFFI was at SM North EDSA yesterday because I watched Pitch Perfect 2. (It was fine.) I checked out Lolane’s “Headzone” or their free hair color application booth at The Block, I scanned the shelves that had been set up there… And they don’t have P38. So, uh… Why is it all hair brands are limiting their options when they export here in PH? (Luckily we have our trusty online shops to provide us with crazy hair colors.)

Anywaaay, on the way to the booth, I eyed 50% off at this drugstore… And Palty was on display! But then I have to tame my urge to peek at the available shades because I don’t want to bore the guy I’m with. And I’m limiting my expense that day.

Today, I dropped by Robinson’s Imus to finally check out the shades at Watson’s. (Yes, they have Watson’s inside Robinsons.) I WAS SO THANKFUL TO LAY MY HANDS ON PALTY in Cinnamon Churros for only… PhP 249.75! That’s down from PhP 499.75/box! And I bought this CRUSET in A911 Golden Blond for only PhP 94.75 (which is also 50% off from PhP 190~) to lift my hair color because…

I’m going Blonde again!

Manic Panic® Enchanted Forest™

Dang! It’s been already 1.5 weeks since I dyed my hair with Manic Panic® Enchanted Forest™. Here’s my Instagram photo updates for the meantime:

ImageFiltered using VSCOcam app, it’s really not that Blue.
ImageManic Panic® Enchanted Forest™ under daylight.I’ll get back to you — and update this post — once I finish all requirements needed for my trip out of the country. Hopefully I can share my experience with Manic Panic® in detail by then. Have a nice day!

Updated today, April 16, 2014.

I’ve got a shitty day and I have nothing left to do so might as well update this post about my hair — which has gained a lot (a lot, really) of compliments every time I go out.

I dyed my hair with Manic Panic® Enchanted Forest™ a week ago, April 6, and after 10 days, it haven’t faded that much. Remember that my hair is pre-lightened to about Level 7 or 8 by bleaching. The color turned out to be the color I expected — Teal, though color Green overpowered the Blue overtime.

Any issues encountered using Manic Panic® hair dyes? It’s my first time to dye my hair with a bright color, and using Manic Panic, the only dissatisfaction it brought to me was… it just stains too much, on my skin, on my clothes — and my pillow case and bed sheet; plus my friend’s, too. Other than staining, I have no other complaints. I love how the color stays, yes, on my hair (not on my skin.)

How am I maintaining it? I just rinse my hair with cold water. I remember using shampoo just once, after 4 days. The next day, I poured vinegar (local ones – the only available vinegar we have here, mixed with water) all over my head. Don’t worry, after air drying your hair, it shouldn’t smell.

I cannot compare Enchanted Forest™ with any other Manic Panic® hair dye colors, because I haven’t tried the others — yet. I hope I get more breaks to try and dye my hair in different colors.

Welcome 2014!

 2014 is here, and I hope you have good year ahead but… Now, for a change, I made this new (another) blog because of my plans to kill dye my hair.

I’m sorry that I can’t settle down on a single blog name, let alone a single topic to write about. My mind keeps on wandering around different things at different times — it focuses on one thing this time, then one moment, in the other. Anyway, I had this idea of dyeing my hair, this summer, with bright, bright colors. (I know it’ll wait for 3 months, but then, you will see.)

I have touched my hair a several times before and I promise you I will share about my experiences (as an amateur hair murderer) from the very first time where I took its virginity… Along with tips and reviews — speaking as a consumer, and a friend — I will give my personal recommendations to products I’ve tried, and also heard about. And oh, did I tell you why I have to wait for summer? Because of. My. College. Department. The college of Architecture denies you of the privilege of expression. (Or right to freedom of expression.) most especially to your hair, may it be crazy colours, shade of blonde, or even highlights. It is as if physical appearances affect a person’s performance and identity — but that’s another issue, and I’m going to cut it right there.

In case I cannot fulfill my promise on dyeing my hair on summer [with bright, annoying colors], I will disregard this blog.

But I think that will not happen because I’m really getting fired up about this. This’ll be a hairy blog.