Mistakes – they happen to everyone, even the best of us. That said, it’s never easy to accept when we’ve made a mistake, especially if it concerns something as important as our very own crowning glory.

Here are three hair toning mistakes that you should avoid if you want to have gorgeous locks!

Mistake #1 Toning too often or not toning often enough

One of the most important things you have to remember when you have bleached hair is your toning schedule. Toning too often, or on the other hand, not toning often enough, could lead to discolored, if not outright mismatched hair strands.

Also, overtoning is never a good thing. Some people seem to think that toning over and over could help them achieve their ideal ice platinum locks, but the truth is, they’re just stripping away their hair’s brightness and removing all signs of life from it. Once again, the goal of toning is neutralize color, not to completely remove it.

Mistake #2 Hair toning with the wrong color

A toner’s main goal is to properly show your dye’s real color on your hair. For example, just because you used blonde dye doesn’t mean your hair will actually be blonde – most of the time, it will turn out brassy and you’ll have to use toner to neutralize it.

Some people seem to think that any kind of toner could solve their problems quickly, as if that speeds up the entire process, but the truth is, you’ll just end up with hair that’s still not the same as your desired hair color. Let’s say your hair is a bit golden when you want it to be closer to sand blonde. Should you use violet or blue? Maybe you think blue can speed up the process since you heard that it’s used to tone orange hair, but trust us, it won’t be the same.

Mistake #3 Not using the purple shampoo right

Purple shampoo is heaven’s personal gift to people with bleached hair, thanks to its ability to instantly correct color without much hassle.

However, do keep in mind that there is a right way to use your purple shampoo, and knowing how to use it properly is already half the battle against discolored bleached hair. For instance, some purple shampoos specifically say to dilute first before using, while others can be used straight out of the bottle. Some are safe enough to leave on your hair for an hour or so, while others should only be used for a certain amount of time.

You’ll be surprised by just how many people, even those who have already been styling or getting their hair styled for years, have committed at least one of these hair toning mistakes! In the end, it all boils down to experience and to how much you’re willing to research before you undergo a procedure. Think before you tone!

To avoid other common hair mistakes, check out our ZALA blog now!

PUBLISHED 26TH JULY 2019

5 Steps To Toning Your Hair Perfectly

If you’re looking to bleach your hair but don’t want to pay steep salon prices, doing some research beforehand can help you get the best possible results in your budget. There are plenty of places online that will detail the best methods for bleaching your hair, but a lot of those resources don’t go in-depth about toning hair.

Here’s our quick guide on what a toner is, how to use it properly, how it can help you get the best results from your bleached hair!

All about hair toners

The process of bleaching your hair oxidizes it over time and this usually produces brassy yellow or orange tones in your hair instead of the perfect ashy blonde you’d see on a box of dye. After lifting your hair color to the lightness you want, hair toner is the product that neutralizes these warm colors and balances the tones towards a more natural looking hue.

Toning products 101

Hair toner meant for balancing hair color is similar to hair dye and has ammonia in it. This kind of toner is meant for color lifted hair that’s light enough to be considered blonde. If you’ve just bleached your hair, toning your hair right away can cause double the damage. Try and stay away from toner immediately after bleaching if you can resist the urge.

This kind of toner is what salon professionals use for toning hair. There are other products that technically aren’t “toner” that can be used for toning hair.

You’ve maybe heard of purple shampoo, which tones hair but is gentler than ammonia-based toners. Toning hair with purple shampoo is a gradual process. You have to shampoo your hair with this product up to 3 times a week to see your desired results, and then you’d use purple shampoo at least once weekly to keep your hair toned.

Another hair toning alternative is hair dye. Yellow on the color wheel is opposite purple, so to neutralize those orange and yellow tones you’d use a tiny amount of purple dye in a white conditioner. Apply the conditioner/dye mixture to your hair and leave it in between 15 to 30 minutes.

How do you I use toner properly?

If you’ve come to the realization that your hair needs to be toned, you’re going to want to do it the right way. Going to the drugstore and picking up a bottle of generic toner isn’t the move. Generic toner is going to dry your hair out even more, and that is going to make you sad. Instead, speaking to a professional colorist or a clerk at the beauty store about what kind of toner would be best for your color and hair type can help you narrow down the perfect product.

There are a few steps to toning hair that you should be aware of before you embark on the journey of self-transformation.

1. Make sure your hair has been lifted to the desired color

Toning hair before it has reached the correct lightness means the toner won’t be as effective. It will just result in a waste of product. It would be such a bummer to not get your correct shade so make sure your hair is light enough for toner to work.

2. Use a 20 developer for ammonia-based hair toner

Just applying the hair toner won’t work. Read the instructions before mixing the products together because the ratios may be different depending on the brand. Some brands, for example, use 1 part toner and 2 parts 20 developer.

3. Apply to slightly damp hair

You want your hair to be just a little damp when you apply the toning mixture to your hair. If you’re toning hair sometime after it’s been bleached, just wash your hair and towel dry it so it’s not dripping wet, and then go to town.

4. Keep an eye on the time

You should rinse your hair of the toning mixture after 30 minutes. Remember that this product has ammonia in it and that makes the cuticles of your hair strands swell to absorb the product. This process causes damage to your hair, so you don’t want to leave it in longer than necessary.

5. Dry, style, and enjoy your perfectly gorgeous shade of blonde hair

Need we say more?

And there you have it! A quick guide to toning hair. Make sure to follow these rules if you want to keep your gorgeous blonde hair looking just the way you want it.

If you want to re-tone your hair, wait at least 2 weeks. The more you shampoo, the sooner the toner will fade. If you don’t wash your hair frequently, you can go back after 8 to do some tress maintenance, and you’ll be right back to being your perfect shade of blonde.

For more hair care tips and tricks, don’t forget to follow us here at our ZALA blog!

PUBLISHED 2ND JULY 2019

How To Avoid Wedding Hair Disasters

Every bride wants her wedding day to be perfect. And of course, hair is one of the most important things to prepare since it can change the entire bridal look.

Want to make your hair look soft, savvy, and stylish on your wedding day? Here are some of the best tips to avoid wedding hair disasters on your big day.

1. Establish a good pre-wedding hair routine

If you want to avoid wedding hair disasters and achieve the perfect hair look on your wedding day, you have to establish a good pre-wedding hair routine. This includes analyzing your hair type to see which routine, styles, and products are most suitable for you. The proper treatment also varies depending on your hair type. Do take note that colored hair requires an entirely different treatment than uncolored hair.

2. Decide on a good hairstyle prior to the wedding

One of the worst things you can do before your wedding is doing everything at the last minute. Make sure that you decide on a good hairstyle prior to the wedding, months before if you can manage. A trim is, of course, necessary since that will remove split ends from your hair and help it grow thicker. You may also want to bleach and color your hair if you want. Whatever it is, just make sure that it’s planned well in advance.

3. Make sure your hair is well-nourished

Hair that is well-nourished is the healthiest type of hair there is. However, this kind of nourishment cannot be achieved in short notice. In fact, you’ll have to start months in advance in order to get your wedding hair as gorgeous as possible. Start your deep conditioning treatments about two months before the wedding. You can use hair masks once or twice on your hair to ensure that it’s always well-nourished. You can also add some leave-in conditioners to your hair regimen before the wedding to further improve the condition of your hair.

4. Use only natural hair products

Natural hair products make use of less chemicals like paraben, silicone, sulphate, sodium chloride, and alcohol, which can have adverse effects on your hair. Hair products that contain these chemicals as ingredients can make your hair extra day and can even lead to hair fall and eventually, hair loss, in the future. If you can, go for natural hair products, as these are usually less harsh on your hair.

5. Lessen the heat

Blow-drying and heat-styling are usually unavoidable especially if you want to look presentable at work, but these procedures are actually quite harmful to our hair. If you don’t want to see any wedding hair disasters that involve clumps of hair falling from your head, try to lessen the heat a bit starting months before your wedding day. Avoid using straighteners, curling irons, and even blowdryers to lessen your hair’s exposure to heat. If you really need to, just search for alternative methods like natural curling and airdrying.

6. Relax and don’t stress out

Lastly, don’t forget to relax yourself before your wedding day. Stress isn’t good for your hair either, so better avoid everything that causes you to be stressful. If the details of your own wedding stress you out, just leave everything to your organizer. Your wedding day is going to be one of the best days of your life, so you better not be too stressed to enjoy yourself at your very own event.

Remember, when you look great, you feel amazing! And what better day to feel amazing than your very own wedding day, right?

For more hair tips and tricks, don’t forget to check out our ZALA blog right now!

PUBLISHED 18TH JUNE 2019

Best Wedding Hairstyles For 2019

Planning to get married to your beau this year? It’s time to get inspired by some of the best wedding hairstyles for 2019!

1. Simple Updos

Updos are pretty much a timeless classic when it comes to weddings. Hundreds and thousands of brides from all over the word don updos each year for their big days.

One of the most famous brides who wore a simple updo for her wedding in recent times is none other than Meghan Markle herself, former Suits actress and current Duchess of Sussex following her marriage to Prince Harry of the British royal family.

best wedding hairstyles for 2019 — (c) Karwai Tang/WireImage

There’s no denying that although Meghan Markle’s updo is rather simple, it also looks wonderfully elegant. Doing it with a middle part and with some stray strands framing her face also adds to its innocent and charming appeal.

For a classic wedding updo, you can also use a hair accessory like a crown or a comb to add some ‘oomph’ to your hairstyle. Together with a veil, this style is absolutely perfect for walking down the aisle to meet your beloved.

2. Half Updo

If you like having your hair down but would also like to emulate Meghan Markle’s gorgeous simplicity, you might want to do things halfway. That is, a half updo that will make you look both stunning and effortless at the same time.

Take Kate Middleton, for example. The Cambridge-based commoner married Prince William way back in 2011, but her timeless half updo still inspires hundreds and thousands of women worldwide. Like Markle, the Duchess of Cambridge also highlighted her simple look with a shining, shimmering, splendid crown and veil combination.

Just like Middleton, Danish professional tennis player Caroline Wozniacki also opted for a half updo when she tied the knot with retired NBA player David Lee just last Saturday. Adding some flair to her hairstyle are her effortless curls, making her look exquisitely pretty despite the lack of other embellishments.

3. Simple Waves

Simple and effortless are certainly in these days, with many brides choosing for the less ‘high maintenance’ look during their weddings. One of the best wedding hairstyles for 2019 is the simple waves, which requires nothing more than a standard curling wand and hairspray to recreate.

(c) Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham

Lauren Burnham is definitely looking very gorgeous on her January wedding, with her sparkling wedding dress and simple but beautiful waves. In fact, she looks especially refreshing in this photo, thanks to the setting’s down-to-earth vibes and her effortless look.

The Bringing Up Bates star, Carlin Bates, also showcased effortlessly gorgeous waves at her Tennessee wedding last May 25. All of her 18 siblings played a role in her wedding, from flower girls to groomsmen. What we want to know though is who helped create her look, because we oh-so-love it!

If you’re interested in doing the simple waves look yourself, you might also want to add some hair accessories like Bates’ flower crown to give a little more flavor to your hairstyle.

4. Elegant Bun

While buns are also a form of updo, we feel like elegant buns kind of deserve a category of their own. These buns are a great way to feature your hair since they pretty much command attention in the middle of the room – even when you’re walking down the aisle.

Hilary Duff’s wedding to music producer Matthew Koma wasn’t just heartwarming, it was pretty inspiring as well! We love everything about Duff’s overall sexy wedding look. Special mention to her huge high bun too, since it absolutely balances out her mermaid-style gown. Plus, it looks absolutely elegant, too!

This elegant bun isn’t just elegant, it’s also absolutely charming. The dutch maid braids make the entire look seem more vintage and a lot of more classy. We won’t lie when we say that this is honestly one of the best wedding hairstyles of 2019 we’ve ever seen, if not the best overall look.

5. Au Naturel

Have you ever thought of going au naturel for your wedding? For many, it must seem like a huge no-no. For some though, it actually becomes a strong point for the event.

Then again, perhaps you really don’t need much of anything if you’re Karlie freakin’ Kloss. The Victoria’s Secret Angel tied the knot with her beau at Wyoming earlier this year with a simple wedding dress and an even simple wedding hairstyle. No accessory, no special styling, nothing. Just goes to show that you don’t always have to dress up to look elegant since you’re already beautiful in your own way!

That’s it for our best wedding hairstyles for 2019! Regardless of how you choose to do your hair on your wedding day, there’s something you have to realize: to one man in the room, you’re the most beautiful woman in the entire world. And that’s all that matters.

For more hair tips and tricks, check out our ZALA blog now!

PUBLISHED 16TH JUNE 2019

The Best Wedding Hairstyles For Coloured Hair

As you know, June is the month of brides, so we’re all for gorgeous and elegant wedding hairstyles this month.

For today’s article, here’s a list of some of the best coloured wedding hair, for all you out there who are looking for some style inspiration for your wedding day!

1. Blushed Pink Updo

Talk about romantic! This hairstyle exudes beauty and grace, not to mention an air of elegance, thanks to the combination of light and dark colors. You can also replace the roses in this hairdo with whatever flower you’re going to use at your wedding, to better coordinate your wedding hair and wedding theme.

2. Rose Highlights

Interested in trying out a new color for your wedding hair but scared to take the plunge? You can take some inspiration from this simple yet gorgeous wedding hairstyle right here. It’s a beautiful combination of ombre and highlights, guaranteed to look lovely both in photos and in person.

3. Ocean Blue Braids

Feel the mystery and wonder of the deep blue sea with this absolutely magical wedding hair! The silver leaf accessory just heightens the swirling colors. We seriously don’t know what else to say, as everything about this hairstyle is just breathtakingly gorgeous.

4. Ombre Waves

“Simplicity is elegance,” or so they say. This hairdo may be a lot simpler than any of the other styles on this list, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not beautiful as well. It’s certainly one of the best ways to have that ‘woke up this gorgeous’ look on your very own wedding day.

5. Pastel Cotton Candy Updo

It’s cotton candy time! This updo combines the playfulness of pink and gray and the elegance of braids. A sequined silver hairpiece only adds to its royal glam. It’s an eye-catching hairstyle, clearly befitting the real-life princesses and queens that we all are.

6. Platinum Braids

You may love looking like an ice queen in real life, but that doesn’t mean that you have to look as cold on your wedding day! Turn your hair into a lovely combination of messy braids, loose waves, and simple yet lovely hair accessories. Interested in this hairstyle but don’t have the length required to recreate it? Good news, you can get ice queen platinum hair extensions right here on ZALA!

7. Splash of Pink

We love how this hair looks both laid-back yet so romantic at the same time! The darker hair at the top makes it look kind of like a reverse ombre, with some pink highlights to add a little splash of color to an otherwise plain shade. The half-up braid and pink flowers just add to the elegance of the entire hairdo.

8. Pastel Paradise

This hairstyle is like something straight out of a candy-lover’s dream. The combination of pastel colors is so cute and glamorous and gorgeous all at the same time! We’d definitely love to see this hairdo in a pastel-themed wedding, with pastel table runners, pastel cakes, and pastel decorations, creating an entire pastel paradise!

9. Mermaid Princess Waves

Maybe this is what Ariel’s hair would look like on her wedding day if hers was blue. We just love how relaxed this hairstyle looks like, despite all the intricacies of the braid and all the sparkly hair pieces.

10. Candy Pink

This hairstyle is perfect for all you pretty-in-pink ladies out there! It looks absolutely soft and dreamy, 100% guaranteed to make you look like some kind of Disney princess on your wedding day.

For more wedding hairstyles and inspiration, check out our ZALA blog right here!

PUBLISHED 14TH JUNE 2019

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