Sunlight-Colored Roses

A sanctuary for dreams and shadows

My Hair Journey

2003

My natural hair color.

2015

2015 or pre-2015 hair.
Growing out caramel highlights.
May 14, 2015. Hair continuing to lighten over time from the highlights.
First henna dye. Taken after May 14, 2015 and before mid-July 2015.
July 2015

2016

Summer 2016
Summer 2016 or later
Not sure when this was taken.

2017

May 13, 2017. My hair has become almost black after dyeing with henna for two years.

2018

May 15, 2018
September 2018. Hair dyed at Ulta with Redken.

2019

January 10, 2019

2020

January 28, 2020. Continuing to dye my hair at Ulta. The deep brown color fades a lot.
April 22, 2020. Dyed my hair with Garnier Dark Matcha. The deep green color was never visible, but my hair initially turned a deep brown-black. After the first wash, it started lightening at the crown, then eventually the length. In this picture, the lightening at the crown is becoming visible.
May 13, 2020. The length of my hair lightened after a few washes after the dye, but not as much as at the crown. It developed a tawny highlight in sunlight.
May 29, 2020. No hair cut for several months. Lightening around the crown after the at-home dye, which initially darkened my hair. Wearing my hair in braids regularly improves its health.
June 12, 2020. A trim, followed by henna dye. Bleaching around the crown shows as a reddish color.
August 1, 2020. Dark roots have grown out, and the bleaching around the crown is more obvious after several washes. Also got a much shorter trim than usual.
Dyed my hair with henna, then indigo over the weekend. I eradicated the bleaching.

2021

4/24/21. My third henna+indigo treatment.

2023

4/16/23. I’ve been growing out the indigo since last summer. The henna-only growth is to my brows. I also got a layered haircut in January that I haven’t liked. Another thing to spend a long time growing out.
5/23/23. Still trying to cope with this mess. Looks bad curled but worse straightened. One thing’s for sure and that’s that I have very thick, healthy hair now. Throughout grad school, I felt it had thinned and felt very uncomfortable about that. When I look back at old photos, I really think it had thinned, and it’s thickened up again.