00:00I'm worried about being perceived as trying too hard a little bit.
00:03People might look at me and think I'm having some kind of crisis.
00:06Hi, I'm Emily and I'm from Brooklyn.
00:08I'm taking my salt and pepper hair and I'm turning it blue.
00:11I've been working in the photo industry for longer than I care to share.
00:15I'm going through this transitional period now where I'm involved in divorce.
00:19We separated after 11 months of marriage and it was abrupt.
00:23I'm trying to kind of find my footing again.
00:26I'm transitioning back into just focusing on myself.
00:30I do not feel ashamed to be in my mid-30s.
00:32I don't feel ashamed to be gray, but I am starting to feel old,
00:36which I think is more about your mentality.
00:38And so I just look in the mirror and it doesn't feel true to who I am
00:42and what I'm living right now.
00:44This hair color is helping me with that transition.
00:46I think people are going to be really supportive outwardly,
00:50but I suspect that people will be thinking that I'm having some kind of crisis.
00:55I don't think there's anything wrong with trying too hard.
00:57I'm just doing this for me and I'm excited about it.
01:00Bring on the blue.
01:06Come on back.
01:08So what made you pick blue?
01:10I'm going through a divorce and I just wanted a really big change to kind of reflect the big change
01:15in my life.
01:16You've been thinking about this for a while, right?
01:18Maybe a couple of weeks.
01:19I had blue hair in high school, so I just thought it would be fun to do it again.
01:23Why not?
01:24The blues, the purples, and the greens are going to last a lot longer than if we were doing any
01:28type of pastel colors.
01:29I'm going to kind of go through and pre-lighten some of your hair with lightener.
01:32And then once we get it to a nice blonde, what we'll do is I'll take you up to the
01:36shampoo bowl.
01:37We'll pre-tone you so that you have a little bit of a blue hue.
01:40Then we'll bring you back to the chair.
01:41We'll dry you completely.
01:42And that's when I'll be applying kind of the more darker cobalt midnight blues into like a lighter blues.
01:49We'll light that process for about 20 to 30 minutes.
01:51Then I'll bring you back upstairs.
01:53We'll rinse you.
01:54Bring you back down and get you all styled.
01:56Great.
02:01I started seeing grays around the age of 12.
02:04People on the street often come up to me and ask if my grays are real.
02:08It's so attractive to people that they think that it is intentional.
02:12And they ask me where they can get it done.
02:14And I just tell them, you know, I grew up myself.
02:17This is all stress.
02:21We're going to wait until you're about a nice blonde.
02:24We'll take you upstairs and we'll tone you and then bring you back down and put on the blue.
02:28How are you feeling so far?
02:29I feel great.
02:30I'm really excited.
02:31Awesome.
02:33I cut my hair really long for my wedding.
02:35I grew it out.
02:36Right after my wedding, I cut it off.
02:38And I just feel physically lighter and buoyant.
02:41After my hair transformation, I'm hoping that I'll feel exhilarated.
02:46I might feel some regret, but I think that's good.
02:49You know, it matches the complicated feelings I have about my marriage, too.
02:54You know, this is a really painful process.
02:57But just like, blue hair will grow out.
03:00This pain will grow out.
03:02But I also think it's just really fun.
03:05I've had this kind of serious gray hair for a long time.
03:09And I want to look in the mirror and laugh.
03:11I want to remind myself not to take things too seriously.
03:14And that I can still have little adventures.
03:17Even if it's just a little hair color.
03:26So we just got rid of a little bit of the warmth kind of through the mids and ends.
03:30Then I'm going to get you all blow dried straight and smooth.
03:32And then we'll go in with the deeper blues melting into the lighter blues.
03:50Whew, this is really happening now, huh?
03:53There's no turning back now.
03:54I don't want to turn back.
04:16That is blue.
04:17That is like 90% Cookie Monster right there.
04:22So we don't have to bust through any previous color.
04:25The health of your hair isn't a huge issue for me.
04:27We'll do a deconditioning treatment on you today.
04:29And I do recommend probably buying a deconditioning treatment just to use once a week at home.
04:35In high school, I wanted to dye my hair turquoise.
04:40And my mom let me do it.
04:42Very lucky.
04:42She always let me express myself.
04:44And it feels fitting to have that hair again now.
04:46This particular color is so reminiscent for me of my adolescence.
04:51And I feel like in some ways I'm kind of having a second adolescence.
04:54I just want to look into the mirror and see adventure and possibility and youthful energy.
05:13All right, you ready?
05:15Yeah.
05:17Oh my god, I love it!
05:20Oh, awesome.
05:21It looks great!
05:23Yeah?
05:29It's so much softer than I thought it was going to be.
05:32I look like the ocean.
05:33I want a little fish barrette and swim across my head.
05:37I love it so much.
05:38It's got so much dimension and movement.
05:42It just feels effervescent.
05:44Making the choice to do something for yourself, to give yourself a hair color that isn't trying
05:51to cover something up, is a really strong way to announce your presence in a room.
05:56And that feels empowering.
05:58You get so much easier!
05:59I'm here.
05:59Well, you've never got to go out for any of your story.
06:00So, I'm here.
06:00Go.
06:01Yeah.
06:01You
