00:00I'm worried about being perceived as trying too hard a little bit. People might
00:04look at me and think I'm having some kind of crisis. Hi, I'm Emily and I'm from
00:07Brooklyn. I'm taking my salt and pepper hair and I'm turning it blue. Before we
00:12get into this transformation, don't forget to subscribe below. I've been
00:16working in the photo industry for longer than I care to share. I'm going through
00:20this transitional period now where I'm involved in divorce. We separated after
00:2511 months of marriage and it was abrupt. I'm trying to kind of find my
00:29footing again. I'm transitioning back into just focusing on myself. I do not feel
00:35ashamed to be in my mid-30s. I don't feel ashamed to be gray, but I am starting to
00:39feel old, which I think is more about your mentality. And so I just look in the
00:44mirror and it doesn't feel true to who I am and what I'm living right now. This
00:49hair color is helping me with that transition. I think people are gonna be
00:52really supportive outwardly, but I suspect that people will be thinking that I'm
00:58having some kind of crisis. I don't think there's anything wrong with trying too
01:01hard. I'm just doing this for me and I'm
01:03excited about it. Bring on the blue!
01:10Let's head on back.
01:13So what made you pick blue? I'm going through a divorce and I just wanted a
01:17really big change to kind of reflect the big change in my life. You've been
01:20thinking about this for a while, right? Yeah. Maybe a couple of weeks. I had blue hair in
01:25high school, so I just thought it'd be fun to do it again. Why not? The blues, the
01:29purples, and the greens are gonna last a lot longer than if we were doing any type
01:32of pastel colors. I'm gonna kind of go through and pre-lighten some of your hair
01:36with lightener. And then once we get it to a nice blonde, what we'll do is I'll
01:40take you up to the shampoo bowl. We'll pre-tone you so that you have a little bit
01:43of a blue hue. Then we'll bring you back to the chair. We'll dry you completely and
01:47that's when I'll be applying kind of the more darker cobalt midnight blues into
01:52like a lighter blues. We'll let that process for about 20 to 30 minutes. Then I'll bring
01:56you back upstairs. We'll rinse you, bring you back down, and get you all styled. Great.
02:06I started seeing grays around the age of 12. People on the street often come up to me
02:11and ask if my grays are real. It's so attractive to people that they think that it is intentional,
02:16and they ask me where they can get it done. And I just tell them, you know, I grew up
02:20myself.
02:22This is all stress.
02:26We're gonna wait till you're about a nice blonde. We'll take you upstairs and we'll tone you and
02:31then bring you back down and put on the blue. How are you feeling so far?
02:34I feel great. I'm really excited. Awesome.
02:37I cut my hair really long for my wedding. I grew it out right after my wedding. I cut it
02:41off.
02:42And I just feel physically lighter and buoyant after my hair transformation. I'm hoping that
02:49I'll feel exhilarated. I might feel some regret, but I think that's good. You know, it matches
02:55the complicated feelings I have about my marriage too. You know, this is a really painful process,
03:01but just like blue hair will grow out. This pain will grow out. But I also think it's just really
03:08fun.
03:09I've had this kind of serious gray hair for a long time, and I want to look in the mirror
03:15and laugh.
03:15I want to remind myself not to take things too seriously and that I can still have little
03:21adventures, even if it's just a little hair color.
03:30So we just got rid of a little bit of the warmth kind of through the mids and ends.
03:34Then I'm going to get you all blow dried straight and smooth, and then we'll go in with the deeper
03:38blues, melting into the lighter blues.
03:55This is really happening now, huh? There's no turning back now. I don't want to turn back.
04:20That is blue. That is like 90% Cookie Monster right there.
04:26So we don't have to bust through any previous color. The health of your hair isn't a huge issue for
04:31me.
04:31We'll do a deep conditioning treatment on you today, and I do recommend probably
04:34buying a deep conditioning treatment just to use once a week at home.
04:40In high school, I wanted to dye my hair turquoise, and my mom let me do it.
04:46Very lucky. She always let me express myself, and it feels fitting to have that hair again now.
04:51This particular color is so reminiscent for me of my adolescence.
04:55And I feel like in some ways I'm kind of having a second adolescence.
04:59I just want to look into the mirror and see adventure and possibility and youthful energy.
05:17All right, are you ready?
05:19Yeah.
05:21Oh my god, I love it!
05:24Oh, awesome.
05:26It looks great!
05:27Yeah?
05:34It's so much softer than I thought it was going to be.
05:36I look like the ocean.
05:37I want a little fish barrette.
05:39I can swim across my head.
05:41I love it so much.
05:43It's got so much dimension and movement.
05:47It just feels effervescent.
05:49Making the choice to do something for yourself,
05:52to give yourself a hair color that isn't trying to cover something up
05:57is a really strong way to announce your presence in a room.
06:01And that feels empowering.
06:03Thank you so much for watching.
06:05If you have any more ideas for Hair Me Out, comment below.
06:08And if you want to subscribe to Refinery29, click up here.
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