Say hello to Amy.

Amy’s hair:

Natural color is dirty blond
Highlighted with pale blondes and caramels
Normal condition
Fine hair with natural wave, but straightens easily (aka dream hair)
Prefers any length but pixie (been there, done that)
Would like to spend more time styling (sick of the frump)
Proficient with a flat iron

If you don’t already know Amy, let me just say she is one cool chica. (Check out her handmade wooden toys here or some of her creative advice here.)

Amy’s kind of OVER her hair right now and is looking for a new style. (A new style that she is actually willing to spend more time styling. HALLELUJAH. I NEVER GET THESE TYPES OF PEOPLE.)

That’s why these two options are going to be the diggity.

Okay, option #1. Dude, this would look SO GOOD on Amy for so many reasons.

1. Amy’s hair straightens very easily.

2. Amy is proficient with a flat iron.

3. The chin length would flatter her face shape.

4. Sideswept bangs would emphasize her blue peepers.

5. This cut would also look super cute and edgy air-dried and wavy with a little pomade on the ends.

So, see? Amy could spend time straightening and styling for a super sleek look, BUT this cut would look awesome air-dried and totally appropriate for her creative chica lifestyle.

Option #2 would be perfect if Amy wants to keep her hair longer. She could easily let this style air-dry with Aveda Be Curly (which she already uses), but the bangs would give the cut more dimension. However, this cut would look great flat-ironed as well.

What do you think?

Say hello to the lovely Grace.

Grace’s hair:
Medium dark brown, with natural gold and copper highlights
Normal condition
Very thick with a subtle wave pattern
Prefers medium or long length
Loves bangs
Uses flat iron to smooth out her “gross waves”
Uses FF Glossing Cream daily

Grace has lovely hair and doesn’t want a drastic change, but I think these two options could be fantastic. 

Option #1 is a cute shoulder-length bob with long layers around the face. This style would look so chic with Grace’s features and would be a decent-sized change without completely chopping her hair off. Plus, it is a versatile cut, given her hair’s wave pattern. She could flat iron or go au naturale.

Option #2 is a va va VOOM kind of style, and I think Grace could carry it off flawlessly. First off, I love the brow-skimming bangs, and what do you know? Grace loves bangs too. The rest of the hair would be lightly layered for good movement and volume, and Grace would only have to take about 2-3 inches off. I’m telling you, those bangs and Grace’s eyes make for a perfectly beautiful package. Do you agree?

Emily is 32 and lives in Boston with her funny boyfriend. She is a beauty school dropout who cannot stop cutting her own hair. She can be found obsessing about cheese and her cat at Pretty Crabby or talking about products endlessly at Tallulah Blue. She has not seen her real hair color since 1990.

When I was 15, I started using Sun In. That was all it took for me to become hooked on the cheap and easy hair dye in a box. Ever since I have been buying and trying every kind of dye you can get at CVS, Target, and the like. I have never had my hair dyed professionally. While I can easily justify spending $200 on a new handbag, it is really hard for me to spend that much on my head. I am not sure why this is. Maybe because it doesn’t last the same way a new leather bag does. After six weeks your hair has grown out and faded, but man, that bag is still so pretty.

In the 18 or so years that I have been dying my hair, I have found a few favorite dyes and now I am here to share them with you! You can learn from the times when my hair was so bleached out it was blue (true story) or when the brown decided not to hang around and it all ended up sort of orange and… splotchy. Please, learn from my mistakes. Your hair will thank you.

My favorites:

Garnier Nutrisse Hair Color – Sometimes I stray and use one of the below but I always find myself coming back to Garnier. It’s so easy and it has this Fruit Oil Concentrate capsule which you add to the dye and it all smells really good (mainly because the smell of the oil is covering the smell that most dyes have, ammonia). This is the one I used most recently, a brown which is not brassy or reddish (I try to stay away from red undertones because I am so fair and I can end up looking like an orange). I wish this one came with more conditioner though, it has a little packet so you have about enough for one use.

Cost: Between $6 and $7 Degree of Difficulty: Easy to Medium, three tubes to mix together. But nothing very tricky about it.

Loreal Feria – This dye claims it has “multi faceted shimmering color”! I don’t really know what that means (well, yes, I do. It’s like wearing sequins on your head, am I right?) but the color sure looks nice! I have found this one to last a long time and it also has a nice amount of conditioner which lasts for a few shampoos. I like Feria for when I go blonde in the summer, it is not as flat as some of the other blonds I’ve tried. I think because as well as taking the color out of your hair (bleaching it) it deposits a few different colors back on top – creating the afore mentioned “multi faceted” whosee whatsit.

Cost: About $10  Degree of Difficulty: Easy (Just two tubes to mix together, and then put on your head Voila!)

Loreal Couleur Experte – This is another one I use a fair amount. I also turned my mother on to this and she does it herself at home. This is the one you have seen in commercials and magazines with that freakish looking silver wand. (Seriously, does my hair dye also need to resemble a sex toy? Probably not.) That silver wand is one of the three tools you get to add highlights to your hair. First step is dying your whole head with the main color and then the second step is highlights.

The thing about the highlights is that they give you way too much of the lighter color. You should do what my mom does and mix it all together and then throw AT LEAST half of it away. No one (except perhaps Christina Agulara) needs so many highlights. The second tip I will give you is do the highlights SPARINGLY. Put much less than you think you need on your hair. I would suggest doing four small pieces of hair (evenly spaced along your part, or all towards the front) then rinsing the dye out and if you feel like  need more you can do more. Once you do too much, you cannot go back. Better to do less and add more later, the bleach will not go bad. You can even put it in Tupperware and put it in the fridge and go back and do some more tomorrow. At the worst, it will just seem like you spent a day at the beach. My what gorgeous highlights you have!

Cost: $15 – $20 Degree of Difficulty: Medium (Due to the tools, mixing and steps. But you can do it. Really. You can!)

Good luck! Your wallet will thank you and so will your head.