I’m A Dark Brunette And I Booked In My First Ever Highlights Appointment, Here’s How It Went

Given my Turkish roots - pardon the pun - my natural hair has always been very dark, very thick and very monochrome. Watching my friends experiment at school with box dyes, bleaching and attempting to rectify said at-home hair colour jobs with ColourB4 only increased my hair colour curiosity – but ultimately, what was the point? Given the depth of my natural hair colour, I was always under the impression that to go lighter would require next-level bleaching, a lot of resultant damage and unmanageable degrees of maintenance.

I'd pushed the idea to the back of my mind, until my best friend dyed her hair for the first time. She has naturally dark hair like me, so I hounded her with questions about her new golden-toned highlights. Soon after I booked in with Emily Mander - a well-known colourist based in Bath - to get it done myself. According to Emily achieving natural-looking results when highlighting dark hair hinges on colour placement. 'In the first sitting it's important to focus the colour around the face, enhancing skin tone and applying colour where it’s most impactful,' Emily says, 'show your chosen stylist realistic photos and references, and ideally book a consultation before you get straight into things.'

Watch: Come With Me To My First Hair Colour Appointment

Here's What Happened At My First Hair Colour Appointment

I arrived early at the salon, given the amount of hair I have I was anticipating a length appointment. Emily and I sat down and had a quick consultation. I showed her a few inspo pictures I'd pulled from Pinterest. A few, it turned out, were a little ambitions considering we only had one appointment to play with, so Emily made clear what was doable and together we selected a target look.

Next it was time for a dry cut. Emily gave me a long-overdue trim and spent time shaping the sections that frame my face.

When we got down to the business of foils Emily listed the help of an assistant - there was a lot of hair to get through. This was the most time-consuming part of the process, but I was quite happy to sit flicking through magazines underneath a mass of foils.

40-minutes later Emily was already removing them and brushing my hair out. Then it was off to the basin to rinse and add the gloss – a custom toning colour that was mixed especially for me.

A final rinse and it was time for styling. A mass of glossy waves later and I was marvelling at my new bronde look in the mirror. The file honey-toned highlights were exactly what I'd signed up for. I was delighted and more than willing to commit to a brand new maintenance regime at home - I needed nourishing new products to keep my newly coloured hair hydrated apparently, and I was so taken with my blow-dry I decided to make waves a regular thing. Shop my new hair buys below:

These Are All The Products I'm Using To Maintain And Style My Newly Coloured Hair At Home