Oh so Pretty

And just like that, it’s one of my favourite times of the year again: Toronto Pride is around the corner! In all honestly things feel a bit different this year for all sorts of reasons- I’m dating a cisgender man for the first time in a long long time, my best friend Sarah is coming to spend with weekend with me from Vancouver, and most importantly, I’m still reeling from the mass shooting in Orlando. The more I read about this horrible tragedy, and the more I think of how easily it could’ve been so many of my nearest and dearest in that club… it’s almost unfathomable, but it’s reality for those victims and their families.

With that in mind, the common consensus in the community and beyond is that we need to band together, become stronger than ever before, and most importantly, spread love over spreading hate. Pride has always been a celebration of love, friendship, community, and strength for me, and I think this year more than ever it remains important to sparkle on in full capacity. Rumour has it you might even catch a glimpse of my rainbow hair in this year’s parade if you look closely enough…

Anyway, on to the hair!

I almost always have some sort of unicorn-type thing happening on my head for Pride, and there’s no one better at swirling blended rainbow hair goodness then Amanda Quarshie at Blyss salon. I was introduced to the Blyss team through my PR contact at Davines (aka my go-to hair brand), and we’ve been pretty much unstoppable when it comes to amazing colour creations ever since. This year she used 6 different colours on my locks (including peach and lavender) to get the dreamiest pastel mane possible, all blended at different strengths so certain shades showed up more obviously.

Using Davines “A New Colour” in a warm beige blonde to create a base, and Davines Pure Colour for the actual rainbow, the end result was a subtle yet beautiful opalescent masterpiece, and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been terrified to wash my hair and lose the effect!

Stay tuned for more glimpses of my rainbow hair at the #RAOPrainbowparty post, coming early next week!

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Hair colour by Amanda Quarshie, hair cut by Alyson Peach, both at Blyss Salon. Dress from Aritzia!

Oh so Pretty

I generally get creative with my hair on my own, but every once and awhile I partner up with a local salon and let someone new get crazy with pastel colours on my mane.

A few weeks ago I booked an appointment with Carolyn and Kelly, a cut-and-colour dream team operating out of Medulla and Co. on Queen West. Together we dreamed up a pastel oil slick colour look, which we later would rename opal hair. With hundreds of tiny strands of pink, purple, baby blue, this colour work basically glittered by the time the blow dry was finished.

The best part? This colour work faded so perfectly into a slight iridescent pastel effect on my ends with a perfect blonde root. Some might call it extra skilled work, but I’m choosing to call it opal magic…

What pastel hair should I try next?

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Dear Diary

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Do you dream of mermaids and unicorns? Hope one day that Hagrid will knock on your door and let you know you’ve actually been a witch/wizard this whole time? Well I do, and one way I’ve learned to cope with my slightly less than magical reality is to make my hair wondrous pastel colours. Like all the time. If you too have an interest in trying out such a coping mechanism, click over to XO Vain for my unicorn hair tutorial and follow the ten simple (ish) steps!