It's a Trixies Transformation!
Here's a little Hairy Potter humor to start your reading with. And you know it's good when it's your stylist that sends it to you. Plus any meme involving HP pretty much makes me happy.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am only vain about one thing. I don't care what I'm wearing or where it came from. I have clothes from thrift stores, corporate retailers, or specialty shops. I can go from leggings and a cut up t-shirt to a nice dress to clothes appropriate for a gym all within the span of a day. I've got makeup from department stores, high end cosmetics brands and drug stores in my makeup bag. I wear $2 flip flops 90% of the time but also have stilettos for the occasion that they are necessary. My one splurge for vanity: my hair.
I've got more hair than 10 people and typically wear it long. Within the last year I had waist length hair that now is still considered long as it falls to the bottom of my shoulder blades. As a child I had bright blonde hair that has darkened with age and now at 32 I have the dreaded gray hairs appearing, though I've been told I exaggerate how much gray hair and that I should look at it as my hair sparkling. Over the years I've had black hair, blonde hair, brown hair and there was the time in college that I had fire engine red highlights. My hair is the thing that I love the most about myself, other than my witty sense of humor. Yes, I know, it's often in a top knot but if you had as much hair as me you'd understand why.
Last December I decided my waist length hair deserved a change. I referred to my hair style as 'broke girl ombre', which meant it had been a good close to two years since I'd had a thorough highlight. I'd stopped box dyeing my hair because I'd grown tired of buying 3+ boxes to color my hair only to have it fade and my roots look gross as they grew out. But I found a picture of a style that I needed to try. Tortoise shell hair on The Beauty Department. I love my tortoise shell RayBan Wayfarers so why not try it on my hair, right?
After staring at this picture on Pinterest for what felt like months I reached out to my friend, Tricia Rivas, owner of Trixies Salon for advice. After a short consultation with Jessica Griffinduring their Christmas Party we scheduled my appointment and prepared. That first experience was like heaven. And Jessica was amazing, despite my waist length hair and hesitation to cut much length off. I walked out of the salon feeling like a million bucks.
BEFORE: I rarely tried to style it. I often would throw it in a braid when it was wet to add some wave to it because the natural wave to my hair wasn't very visible because it was weighed down by being heavy and REALLY long.
AFTER: Jessica did a great job translating what I liked about the tortoise shell trend in to what we both felt made sense for my hair and was manageable. We darkened my natural hair at the top to provide the drastic contrast from the golden tones at the bottom.
I loved my hair! I'd never been happy with the naturally mousey brown hair color I had. I wanted the dark hair that my brother and father had. I always tell people that with as blonde as my hair was as a kid and as blue as my eyes are I never felt like I looked like my last name fit. I wanted to look like Meadow Soprano so that people wouldn't go 'You're Italian?' like we aren't available in a blonde version. Jessica and I maintained the dark color with touch ups every 6-8 weeks until March when I looked at her over lunch at a Chamber function and said 'It's spring! Let's go blonder!'
So there we were at the next appointment increasing the amount of blonde and bringing it up so it wasn't strictly in the ends. Cutting through the dark color that was on my roots was going to be a process. We both knew it wouldn't be one appointment and I'd walk out looking like a blonde bombshell. And we both loved the contrast of the dark and golden colors so we kept it warmer and the dark roots. And again I felt like a rock star leaving the salon.
The finished product of step two! Jessica is truly an artist with hair color.
Then a few weeks ago we got to take the next step to creating my perfect blonde hair. I'd decided to keep adding it to try and break up the dark roots. It is time to come to terms with the fact that I will never be Meadow Soprano and that whether I like it or not I am going gray and it's REALLY obvious the there is a gray root in the midst of all of that beautiful dark brown. So it was time to take the blonde up about 12,000 notches and part ways with the dark roots. As always I pin too many pictures on Pinterest before an appointment and just sit down, hand over my phone and tell Jessica to pick what she thinks she wants to do. I trust her completely. She won't try to take my hair from dark brown to platinum blonde because as the meme at the very beginning points out I'd likely lose my hair. And Voldemort's look wasn't even pulled off well by The Dark Lord himself. After a few scrolls through a Pinterest Board that has been around for way too long and has a LOT of different colors and styles she made her decision. Here was our inspiration for this round and the finished product!
I love Hilary Duff! So having this be the inspiration was pretty exciting.
I have to say I think she did one hell of a job pulling it off! The majority of the blonde was done using balayage and she broke up the dark roots by doing baby lights on the top section of my hair. We still have steps left. There's more of the dark brown that will need broken up so that my natural color can transition in and we are even considering adding a shadow root. And if you notice I've finally started to cut length off. My hair is probably 10-12" shorter now than it was at the beginning of this process. I can curl my own hair and get the curl to stay for more than 10 minutes which is pretty impressive considering my skills, or lack there of.
Take a look at the transition from beginning to end of this process.
The very start to the very end!
Each transition along the way.
Jessica is truly an artist. I refer to her as my Magical Hair Fairy. Watching her paint my hair is almost therapeutic in a way. Add to that the experience you get of a trip to Trixies Salon and I'd do this every day if I could. When I go to Trixies for a color and cut I get TWO complimentary services to enhance my visit. There's a list to pick from that is handed to you along with the complimentary beverage (Ask the staff what the featured cocktail is because they change it frequently!). During my visits I've tried the Foot Soak, Hand Massage, Blue Oil Neck Massage, and Tired Eye Treatment. I highly recommend any of them! I'm a sucker for the Neck Massage because the Blue Oil is out of this world. As a chronic migraine sufferer not much makes me feel better than the smell of that oil and a gentle massage. I often go for the Tired Eye Treatment as well because the cool eye mask and the cool stones are a great way to relax as my conditioning treatment processes.
I always go for a conditioning treatment because as you can see we give my hair quite the workout when Jessica gets her hands on it. The conditioning treatment adds protein back in to my hair and helps keep it strong. I've started stocking up on my favorite Aveda products during my visits as well. Jessica and the entire staff are a wealth of knowledge about what is going to be best for your hair. I use the Color Conserve Shampoo and Conditionerwhen I wash to help keep my color looking great and my hair healthy. I also recommend the Color Conserve Daily Color Protect, it adds softness to my hair which is usually a mess when it's wet. It helps make brushing my hair after a shower MUCH easier. Add Damage Remedy Daily Hair Repairto help add protein to my hair and it stays strong despite the amount of processing we've put it though over the last 10 months. And when I do style my hair I can't do it without Control Force Firm Hold Hair Spray! It holds my hair without feeling like it's being weighed down by gallons of hairspray. Even while working like an aerosol hairspray it isn't going to damage the environment. Aveda prides themselves on being kind to the world we occupy through their products and the charitable initiatives that they do throughout the year. These products can be purchased directly in the salon after you finish your appointment.
A quick but blurry selfie post appointment with the one and only, Jessica Griffin, #magicalhairfairy!
I look forward to continuing the journey my hair is on and seeing what Jessica can do next. Each time I enter the salon it's like being able to shut off the world for a few hours (it takes anywhere between like 3-5 to do my hair...again I have the hair of 10 people) and just relax and hang out with the girls. I've gotten the chance to get to know the Tricia and the stylists at Trixies over the last year through my visits to the salon, working with Tricia on her LuLaRoe clothing boutique, and the Des Moines East + South Chamber of Commerce.
Visit Trixies Salon online at www.trixiessalon.comor at either of their locations:
South Side: 6209 SE 14th Street
Uptown Shopping Center: 4116 University Ave.
Yup, you read that right, EITHER location. Today is the big day for the team at Trixies as they celebrate the Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting of their second location in the Des Moines metro over on my side of town in the Uptown Shopping Center near Beaverdale, the Drake Neighborhood and the Roosevelt area.
Schedule a consultation and appointment today for your custom color because:
They do DAMN good hair!