I'm stuck at a crossroads that I haven't been at in a while. Please help.

     I have no idea what I want to do with my hair. Color wise at least. For the last few years, I had everything planned out like a road map, but I have just reached the end of the road. I don't know where I want to go from here. 

You are all probably aware that I have been growing my hair out for the last 2 plus years now, and I don't want to do anything too damaging. So blonde is definitely out of the running. 

Ok, not my finest moment, but you get the picture. 

Right now my options are to either go darker, red or stay the same. What do you think looks best on me?

Here are pictures from a couple of different times that I have had dark hair.

Yes, that is purple in my bangs.

The Pros

Going darker a healthy option for my hair.

It's my husband's absolute, hands down, favorite.

It's super shiny.

The Cons

When I do eventually want to go lighter, it will be more damaging, but maybe by then I will be ready to loose some length.

That's really the only con.

Here are some pictures from my red phases. Surprisingly this is my most common phase but am having a hard time finding good pictures. 

Pros
I love red hair. It is to me the most beautiful color. I always go back to it.
While it's the most damaging of my options, it's still not that damaging. And once I get it red, it is just as healthy to maintain as the other options.

Cons
Fellow redheads please don't take this badly, but the redheaded girl is always the friend, not the star. I want to be a star. The positive redhead stereotypes don't work in my favor... I'm married. ;)
It's the most damaging of all of the options.



Now for the whole reason that I am lost as to what to do:
The color that I have now is so similar to my natural color that I could grow it out without coloring it at all. Why not grow out my natural color one last time, until I go grey and have to color it? (Because that's boring, but humor me)

Recent pictures of my hair.

Pros
The healthiest option, as it involves no color at all.
Very low maintenance.

Cons
Boring. Boring. Boring.
I do notice a little difference between the new growth and the previously colored area, but I don't know if anyone else does.

It is hard to be objective when looking at yourself. So please help me decide what to do. Which do you think looks best on me? Of course I am open to other ideas as well, but this is what I have come up with, in order to preserve the health of my long hair. I still want it a little longer. 

Now I leave you with some wishful thinking. It's gotta get nice soon, right?

xo Andi

Ohhhhh Shiny! All you ever wanted to know about shiny hair, and probably more.

Let's be honest. We all love shiny things.

After all, diamonds are a girl's best friend, right?

 And, where would Lady Gaga be without a little bling?

     I don't think there is such a thing as too shiny, especially when it comes to your hair. I have never had a client say to me, "My hair is too shiny, can we tone that down a notch?" It is a universally coveted trait.

So let's talk about how to obtain this holy grail of hair. There are two factors that determine the shininess of your hair. 

The Color & The Cuticle

Why is the color important?

     There are two types of pigment found in everyone's hair. One determines whether you are blonde or brunette, and the other whether you have red or no red. For now we are just going to talk about the first one, because that is the one that determines the darkness or lightness of your hair. The difference between a blonde and a brunette is not in the color of the pigment in their hair, it's in the amount of pigment found in the hair.

     Blondes have very little pigment in their hair, where, the darker the brunette is, the more packed in the pigment is in her hair. Light bounces off of this pigment. So in a blonde, most of the light passes right through, where a brunette's hair bounces a lot more light back off. Voilà! There's your shine.

Q: I'm a brunette, why isn't my hair automatically shiny?

A: The cuticle.

     The cuticle is very important when talking about shine. The healthier the hair is the smoother the cuticle will be. Obviously the smoother the cuticle the more light reflects off of it's surface. 

So how does one get shinier hair?

     There are a few options all which involve color. What the chemical in any color does is opens the cuticle, deposits the color, and then closes the cuticle again. If you hair isn't super damaged the cuticle will probably be closed tighter than before the color. Which is why your hair looks extra shiny after coloring it.

If you don't want to change the color of you hair at all or are blonde:

Blonde girls there is some hope. You can get what is known as a Clear Gloss, also known as a Celophane. This will just close the cuticle down. It doesn't deposit any color at all. 

Color you hair darker:

Unless you have greys, use a demi permanent color. By darkening your color you will boost the shine there as well by sealing the cuticle afterwords. And demi permanent does little to no damage to the hair.

Last night, at the Oscars, Sandra Bullocks hair looked beautiful, and extra shiny. I loved her old Hollywood style.

So Sandy B's hair,

Brunette: Check

Healthy: Check

Colored: Check

     Whose Oscar style did you love this year? I didn't get to watch because I am in a different time zone. Tell me who else I should look up. 

Do you have any tricks to keep you hair shiny?

Thanks for reading! Have a great day!

<3 Andi