A Little Bit Of Color - First For Princess Five

When I was Princess Five's age, my mother took me to get highlights in my hair. From that time, I got them in my hair regularly and then ended up doing them myself. I liked it because when I was young, I was a blonde naturally.

The older I got, the darker my hair got. My mother would comment on my hair color every time I would come home to visit asking if my hair got darker with each child. Princess Four and Five's hair has gotten darker as they got older.

Princess One, Four and Five have gotten highlights in their hair now. Princess Five wasn't sure she wanted them. We went back and forth many times but I realized her hair was processing much quicker than mine does so the top of her head went blonde very fast so I hurried and mixed more bleach and put it on the rest of her hair.

By the time I got the back done, I should have stopped the front because she didn't want any streaking. She just wanted a shade or two lighter. I liked her hair after I did it as it calmed down after she washed and dried it but I don't have a picture of that, I just have it while it was wet just after doing it before washing and conditioning it.

Princess Five cried at the few lighter streaks in the front and told me she wanted to dye her entire hair back so I went to the store and bought dye but then talked her into allowing it to go for a day and told her I would take her to the salon if she left it.

One, I didn't want her even more made at me and two, if they messed it up, she could be mad at them. Three, I thought she may get compliments on it or when the emotion of change wore off, even like it herself.

I told her NOT to say anything to anyone and see if they said anything. She was so freaked out that she slicked her hair into a pony and put a bandana on for school.

Her best friend didn't even notice as I told her no one probably would as it isn't super lighter. I just wanted to give her hair some volume as when she was on stage for the pageant, her hair was the color of the background curtains and didn't show up well on stage.

Don't get me wrong, I love her hair color and all the girls, but if you are putting yourself into a pageant, then I figure you should do everything to make yourself stand out so melding in with all the other girls and the background probably isn't what you want.

This picture of her in the blue shirt is her hair naturally. It is beautiful and healthy but melts into the shadow behind her and I was only a few feet away. The picture they took for the first pageant, was on black and they wore black so you couldn't tell where her hair ended and the background or her shirt met.

It was HUGE for her to let me highlight her hair and she was really upset with me last night but I took her to a salon today and paid lots to have the top few streaks dumbed down so they wouldn't stand out.

They seemed to be fading anyway but I didn't want her upset and embarassed. Funny though, two women at the salon came over and asked her why she didn't like it before the lady colored it. They told me I did an amazing job pulling it through a cap as you can't usually get that even of color so I did feel good about what I did and if she ever allows me to do her hair again, I will have all the bleach mixed BEFORE starting to put it on and I will start in the long hair in the back as it took longer to process and then put it on the front hair or when the front reaches the right color, I will put on hair conditioner to stop the processing until the rest is done.

I think she could have gotten used to it in a day or two with it fading as it did but it was worth every penny to have her walk out of the salon feeling happy. They just left everything but put some toner on the blonde strips in front and on top to darken it up so it is more like her natural color near her face which made her happy.

I can't blame her. She is a hair virgin as she has never had it cut short, had bangs, layering or any type of color. Really, the only thing we have ever done is chop off the back close to her shoulders to donate to "locs of love" and that was the most dramatic thing that has ever happened to her hair.

I trimmed it about three inches the other night as well as she wanted it more even in the back and to remove the split ends that she enjoys playing with when board. She looked so cute tonight at her sterling scholar meeting that I snapped the top pictures as we left the school.

The beautician said, "After this, she will probably be like the rest of us and want her hair highlighted all the time." If she is anything like her mom, she may just do that!