My hair has been many different shades and styles over the last fifteen years. I was was bullied relentlessly for having ginger hair at school. So, I bleached it all and absolutely destroyed the condition of it. Then when I turned sixteen I started to dye it red. Eventually, I had it all chopped off into a pixie cut – a big mistake! Neither the blonde or the pixie cut suited me.

For the past few years I’ve been embracing the ginger and dying my hair a nice coppery orange.  I feel like this really suits me. When I was invited to the Bad Apple Hair Salon in Birmingham for a colour transformation, I had a think about what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to keep the orange as it’s so easy to maintain with my roots. However, I wanted to have something a little different at the ends. For the past couple of months I’d been dip-dying the ends of my hair bright red. After some thought, I decided I wanted to try yellow.

The consultation

I had my consultation with George at Bad Apple in Birmingham. When I explained what I wanted, he seemed keen to try it out. However, he did say that my hair might not take to it with all of the red dye that was on it. He suggested that before my appointment, I wash my hair a couple of times with some shampoo that will strip the colour. This would make it easier to work with. Something like Head and Shoulders is usually good for this.  I didn’t have any around so I just used a normal clarifying shampoo that I wouldn’t use everyday.

The colour – a yellow balayage

After having my skin test, I booked my appointment with Steph for two days later. When I arrived, I explained what I wanted to Step. Again, she said that she wasn’t sure the yellow would take to my hair but she was happy to give it a go anyway. She started off by applying a copper colour to my roots. Next she applied bleach to the ends of my hair in foils to give a balayage effect. This was left on my head to do its thing for about an hour. I was surprised to see that my hair went quite blonde under the foils! The years of red dye hadn’t done too much damage.

I was then taken over to the sink to have the dye and bleach rinsed off. An Innoluxe treatment was also applied. Innoluxe is a treatment to rebuild the inner structure of the hair, reinforcing, rebuilding and strengthening hair inside and out. I definitely needed this as bleach can be so damaging to your hair and I wanted it to be as strong as possible.

It was then time to try out the yellow dye. Steph applied one of the Tigi semi-permanent dyes and left it to work its magic for around twenty minutes.. She was surprised to see that it had taken to my hair more than she thought it would. As you can imagine, I was very pleased to hear that!

Tshirt – Pull & Bear
Faux leather jacket – New Look
Jeans – New Look
Glasses* – Perfect Glasses

The cut

I was then handed over to Hannah who was going to be cutting my hair. As I’m trying to grow my hair out, I just asked for a trim. I had a lot of split ends and my fringe was making me look like a Dulux dog, I was definitely well overdue one. Hannah trimmed my hair and blow dried it straight for me, before cutting my fringe to just above my eyebrows which is my ideal length. What I didn’t realise is that Bad Apple clients are able to get free fringe trims which is really handy. I’ll definitely remember that for next time my fringe starts creeping towards my eyes. There’s nothing worse than having a wonky fringe that you’ve cut yourself!

The end result

Overall, I am pleased with how my hair turned out. It isn’t the yellow I wanted, but I was told it would take work. I really like the ombré/balayage effect, I think it makes a great change for the summer and I’ll definitely be maintaining this style for the next few months. The Innoluxe treatment is a great way to keep the hair in a good condition. It’s definitely something I will consider having again next time.

Before I left the salon, I was given some shampoo and conditioner from Tigi as I’d had a lot of work done to my hair and I need something decent to help to maintain both the colour and the condition which I’ve been using ever since. So far, the ends of my hair have faded a bit but they still look great. I’m not sure if I will get them lightened again but when my roots need doing, I will probably try another yellow dye and see how that goes.

If you’re in the Midlands, I highly recommend going to Bad Apple, especially the Birmingham salon as all the staff were so friendly and helpful and I had such a brilliant experience.

The flagship Bad Apple salon is located on New Street in the centre of Birmingham. It’s just a short walk from the three main train stations.