claudia-cifu_garance-dore

Lighten Up

10 years ago by

Claudia’s hair is naturally super dark, but for the last six months, she’s been going for this platinum-grey mix when it comes to her color. Like Garance, I have always fantasized about changing my hair and going super light but I can guarantee I’ll never have the guts to do it (I’ve also put my face into too many of those “celebrity hair generators” and I do not look good as a Gwen Stefani blonde).

Have you gone from dark to light? What is the upkeep like?

PS: Claudia goes to Blackstones in the East Village for her color.

61 comments

Add yours
  • cherie marie June, 24 2014, 5:04 / Reply

    LOVE! Platinum grey is gorgeous. I am medium brunette but went platinum in college (years ago, it’s true) and loved it to death, especially on the first few days when the purple toner was still in there:-) But I will advise this: you MUST have flawless skin to do it. For whatever reason every single blemish is exaggerated when your hair is so pale:-( Sad fact I can vouch for. You do need some blush & eye makeup also as it can wash out most people. But, if you can do it it’s the most gorgeous thing ever!

  • my skin tone kinda bans me from trying this out :)

    http://littleaesthete.com

  • absolutely dig this hair color. so nice

  • Nice hair color, but not for all!
    Passa a trovarmi VeryFP

  • Je n’oserai jamais, mais qu’est ce que ça lui va bien! J’adore

    Bisous
    http://www.Lauralexo.com

  • Love the lip color!

    Pinkandnavystripes.com

  • I LOVE LOVE LOVE platinum grey and hopefully I too can someday pull it off. Its so gorgeous and somehow makes the person look younger. And it helps that you can keep your eye brows their natural colour.

  • Mais justement, le blond Gwen Stefani ne va qu’aux brunes! Fonce! (crois en une blonde – à vrai dire chataîn clair mais les coiffeurs s’obstinent à me dire blonde…).
    Moi j’ai tenté le blond platine…pas que ça m’allait pas mais un vrai souci avec le “c’est pas naturel alors au fond je me sens pas bien” pourtant j’adorerai trouver LA couleur ou la coupe qui me donne du chien!

  • I love love love her color but it is hard to look good with it!

    Since you ask … I did cut my hair really short and dyed it ash blonde … I felt like a rock star but it takes a lot of work so I went back to long dark with highlights ombre kind of hair…
    Nina
    http://trendsurvivor.com

  • same here never the courage

  • superbe

  • The only problem is that you really need makeup all day long …and .…It’s hard in the morning unless you are very young..but we love it:)
    xoxo
    yael
    http://www.ftwwl.com

  • I never dare, but I wish I could…great color!
    XOX, Gap
    http://www.gaptoothedgirl.com

  • Tres jolie couleur sur une jeune femme.
    Sur une femme “mure”, le gris doit etre lumineux et soyeux, sinon………..

  • would love to try this

    http://hashtagliz.com

  • I had platinum hair (on the violet grey end of the spectrum) for two years and loved every minute of it. That hair color got so many compliments and red lipstick looks so vibrant and amazing with it (as do chambray shirts). I finally had to stop bleaching to save my hair texture and went back to dark hair, but I hope one day to have it again. My learnings: it’s worth finding a great stylist who does it right, buy lots of purple shampoo, and abandon ship before your hair starts looking too shabby.

  • natalie boyce June, 24 2014, 6:59 / Reply

    stripping the hair down like this makes your hair very fragile and stiff…but perhaps the main thing is that your coloring has to be just right to complement the lack of color. Very dicey deal…not sure it works here.

  • Angèle June, 24 2014, 7:04 / Reply

    Du brun au blond pour une asiatique oui !
    Ca fait un sacre changement. Pas de défi en particulier ni un changement du a un choc émotionnel ou une quelconque envie de changer de vie, je l’ai fait pour essayer.
    You only live once they said. He :)
    Finalement j’ai un balayage de couleur blond cendré que j’entretiens avec un shampooing pour cheveux secs et un soin violet de Kevin Murphy puis une fois par semaine la Creme lavante au citron de Christophe Robin. Nice combo !
    Ca change tout ! Les associations de couleurs, le regard des gens (parfois les stéréotypes qui vont avec), mon propre regard qui a mis un bon mois pour s’adapter, la luminosité apportée au visage !

    Alex and Garance, just try !
    If an Asian dares do this, then you can do this too ! :)

  • Marcia June, 24 2014, 7:25 / Reply

    This color is cool when you’re young, not so cool when you’re old

  • Well I do like the color. And on her especially, it’s adorable.
    But it does look like her hair has been through it and needs some TLC…! When my hair was like this I had to cut it all off (no, not a chin-length bob. like almost buzzzzed) and start from scratch :/. I’ll never have the guts to go light again after waiting 3 years for this horse mane to grow out. *sigh*

    xx mia
    http://www.ca-femme.com

  • oh! I want more of her photos! love to see her outfit along with her hair color!
    indeed, gorgeous lady!

  • A few years ago I went blonde….. my hair was lovely for about 2 weeks and then it became so dry and brittle!… I had to use intensive conditioner every other day…… I deeply regretted it. However, I guess its a bit like having a baby….. you know it hurt but you dont really think about that part when you try for your second one… The last 6 months I have been thinking about going blonde again… but this time I am romancing the idea of shaving my head down to 1 inch…. I feel like I can rock it……. I am still thinking….. I feel like life is all about experiments…. trying new things…. I will keep you posted…. alternatively if you ever hear a low moan swiftly followed by loud shrieking…. rest assure that I took the plunge…. but it didn’t go well!

    http://www.myclayexperience.com/

  • That hair color looks gorgeous on you, perfect shade for summer. mywhiteT.com

  • Oonagh June, 24 2014, 9:52 / Reply

    I bleach my hair platinum and love a violet / grey/ blue tint, but I crop it very short as it totally strips your hair. This lady looks great, but honestly at that length it must be like straw.

  • Jane with the noisy terrier June, 24 2014, 9:55 / Reply

    Hmmm, I have a feeling that’s the color my hair would be naturally if I didn’t spend $200 every five to six weeks to stay blonde! I’ve thought of letting my hair go gray/white but just can’t quite admit defeat quite yet.

  • Ai-Ch'ng June, 24 2014, 10:33 / Reply

    I love seeing grey hair- and that’s exactly what it looks like to me!

    As I’m too lazy to dye my hair, I’m waiting for it to go to that gorgeous and distinguished grey as pictured, naturally. It’s just starting to shoot through with a crazy scattering of white strands at the front, which I’m pretty excited about. Seeing my hair transform from dark (black at the top and down the right side, and deep auburn on the rest of my head) to the colour in the photo is awesome!

    I already like to blot some colour onto my lips – natural berry or a bright vermillion, scarlet or deep pink- and dab some blush on my cheeks, and I will continue to do that even when my hair goes completely the colour pictured.

  • i think u would make a great blonde…but the right color for your skin…it would soften your hair line….If i sound like a hairdresser i am …..stop dyeing your hair keep cutting and start with highlight ….thin and close together and not in the back….by doing highlight it will avoid that bleach yellow color…

  • I like the hair color, it rocks.

  • J’ai adoré devenir blonde. À mon dernier passage chez le coiffeur j’avais à peu près la même (superbe) couleur que la (superbe) jeune femme de la photo.
    Le soucis a été l’entretien de cette couleur qui c’est avérée impossible. Malgré les soins bleus des nuance jaunâtre se sont infiltrée sur ma tête. De plus, la décolo n’est vraiment pas l’ami du cheveux.
    Blonde depuis six mois j’ai adoré cette expérience mais je pense revenir bientôt à quelque chose d’un peu plus naturel.

  • The platinum grey hair color looks gorgeous on you, perfect shade for summer!

    X Chris

  • i can’t stop staring at the picture.. It is so pretty.

    xxx
    http://www.dominiquecandido.com

  • Nice style!!

    xx
    Mónica Sors
    MES VOYAGES A PARIS

  • Fallait oser ! J’ai une fois osé le chatain foncé alors que je suis bonde … catastrophe ! j’avais les traits très durs…. mais ça dépend tellement d’une personne à l’autre, de la couleur de la peau, des yeux, des sourcil etc. En tout cas pour éviter la catastrophe, mieux vaut y aller progressivement !

  • I am 33 and my hair is naturally grey, it’s a genetic thing, my grandfather went grey with 25, my mother also and now me. But I dye my hair light brown.
    I’ve seen young girls, young women and older women looking gorgeous with grey hair. The thing is that you have to have certain features, I don’t know what exactly…to look stylish. I belive is a combination of fashion style and makeup style.
    My sister in law, she is 45, went grey and she looks much older, sometimes exactly like my mother in law. Nobody dares to tell her because she thinks she looks great, but she doesn’t. So…you see what I mean is hard to pull it off without looking older.

  • Ca lui va tres chic! J’adore sa couleur!
    http://fashion-soup.com/

  • Natacha June, 25 2014, 5:55 / Reply

    Je suis passée du noir au blond beige.J’ai du sacrifier mes longueurs pour un carré mais je suis ravie du résultat lumineux.Evidemment je fais un masque à chaque shampoing,2fois par semaine donc.Les marques PHYTO et CHRISTOPHE ROBIN pour son huile à la lavande me sauvent de l’aspect paille.

  • christine June, 25 2014, 6:06 / Reply

    I’m a natural brunette, all my life i had long hair that i started dyeing black since 9th grade. 1 year ago i decided i needed a haircut so i chopped it all off to the point that at one point it was shorter than Pink’s (shaved on the sides too). So i started to think what if brunette-black is not the best color for me? I tried red hair (big no-no with my complexion, plus i had to give up wearing half my wardrobe due to color clash) and then went to blonde. It took me half a year to go from red to blonde and i only managed to do it because i kept getting haircuts every other week. Now i’m a full on platinum blonde and i love it! Everybody says that it suits me much better than the brunette and i do feel more sophisticated, like a retro look. But could i pull off blonde on longer hair? I doubt it: i have to dye it every 3 weeks or my grown roots make it impossible to wear it Pink style so I have to go towards the Twiggy look to show as much blonde and as little brunette as possible, and that’s not easy on the hair. Plus i have to use special shampoo and conditioner for blondes to make sure i stay platinum and don’t go towards yellow (it’s kind of uncomfortable for travelling). But other than that, it’s great: blondes have more fun (if you can ignore all the blonde jokes around you)!

  • Quentin June, 25 2014, 6:18 / Reply

    Being blonde is amazing – especially when your hair is naturally very dark. It simply is an amazing experience, from how you look at yourslef to how people look at you. I have portuguese blood so my hair is normally really dark and thick, so bleaching it is quite complicated. I have short hair and prefer to keep it that way otherwise my hair would be like straw. Well, it is completely fucked up anyway but it would be worse if my hair was long. So don’t take that step lightly : you’ll probably have to cut it short at one point or another if you ever want your hair to be healthy again. Also bleach could be quite dangerous for someone with sensitive skin because it stays on your scalp for a while and kind of burns it… But i have been platinum blonde for a year now and i love it – as Angèle said, yolo !

  • Murielle June, 25 2014, 6:25 / Reply

    Du brun au blond, question entretien c’est refaire les racines tous les mois, donc c’est une galère.
    Je l’ai fait des années mais après qu’est ce que j’étais heureuse de revenir à ma couleur naturelle

  • Garance, creo que estarías muy guapa de rubia platino. Anímate.

  • Elitsa June, 25 2014, 7:18 / Reply

    I have done it actually. My hair is around 5.3 in L’Oreal dies, and I’ve been as light as 9.1 :) My skin is very fair and I have a light case of rosacea, so my sides are also a bit pink. As I’ve learnt from experience, pink complexions should stray away from matte colours. So, platinum was not good for me, but what worked really, really great was strawberry blonde. I just adored myself back then. I was a strawberry blonde from my 26th till my 30th year, and I feel that was probably the best time of my life – I had so much fun and business was great ;) I also had just myself to take care for (no babies yet at that time) and could afford all the upkeep, which was immense. I was at the hair salon every week for a blowdry (to actually enhance my curls than to straighten hair) and had my roots and overall colour retouched once a month. I had my eyebrows lightened a bit too.
    I would go to strawberry blonde any day now too, but I just feel I do not have the energy for that upkeep any more. I’m also not as light and vivacious as I used to be in my twenties (I am 35 now). I guess it’s the Worry that inevitably comes with children.
    But I would advise anyone to try it at least once in their lives. I somehow truly believe I was meant to be a blonde and something just went a bit wrong with my genes (my daughter is very blonde ;).
    So, go ahead, do give it a try. Just plan an yearly budget for that and jump in.

  • cette couleur lui va tellement bien :) il faut être courageuse pour sauter le pas mais le résultat est top !!

    http://www.the-astro.weebly.com

  • DINA VON ZSCHACHWITZ June, 25 2014, 9:05 / Reply

    Dear Alex, you asked for an experience report going from dark to light hair?
    For me this experience is only an amazing one. I changed my long german dark blond hair very slowly to a wheaten blond – still long & beautiful mane 10 years ago. This kind of Agneta-ABBA-Blond!
    I would never return to my natural haircolour cause I AM BLOND now. This haircolour bleeded into my soul, into my whole personality. I got a lot of attention & compliments, I feel free & independent, just amazing. I dont know why but it came this way. I refresh my colour only every third month cause I got the best hairdresser for this issue. I am 38 years now – looking like 25 with 2 kids and no time for nothing, but taking care of my hair and its amazing colour is sacred for me. Cause it makes my life so marvellous!!!
    One advice: you should find the right blonde for you & and a very very very good hairdresser who loves to do this special Treatment. With a good result you need a lot of care of your hair but this needs your face too.

  • C’est très agréable de changer radicalement de couleur ! Je suis passé du châtain au roux, puis blond. Je problème c’est de retrouver ça couleur d’origine…. Je n’y suis toujours pas parvenu malgré plusieurs tentatives, les racines de couleurs différentes réapparaissent encore et toujours quelques temps après… Du coup j’attend que ça repousse suffisamment pour les couper. Pour moi, fini les couleurs aussi radicale ! Des mèches, un éclaircissement des pointes à la limite. C’est agréable le changement, mais pas les conséquences qui en suivent….
    Bise !!

    laposemode.fr

  • I have the jet-black-blackest of hair, and I’ve always wanted to go down the lighter route since I’ve been told most of my life it can’t really be done. Sure, an auburn highlight here or there but all over my head would require a complete stripping of my color. Could I, would I dare? Not yet, but there’s always tomorrow…

    http://www.enduringethereal.com

  • Le gris lui va tellement bien ! Mais je sais que ce n’est vraiment pas pour tout le monde, et ça demande beaucoup d’entretien !
    Je suis châtain foncé à la base, mais me fait des mèches depuis mes 16 ans, et suis considérée blond foncé. C’est de l’entretien, ça coûte cher, mais je pense que ça en vaut la peine, le brun ne m’allant pas du tout avec ma peau d’Anglaise !

    http://www.pardonmyobsession.com/

  • L'épingle June, 25 2014, 10:42 / Reply

    J’ai obtenu la même couleur, mais en plusieurs années. Les cheveux blancs ont commencé à se montrer alors que j’avais vingt-trois ans. Comme je me teins les cils, pour me dispenser de mettre du mascara, un jour je me suis dit : “tiens, et pourquoi pas les sourcils ?”. Je l’ai fait (et refait depuis) et c’est chouette avec les cheveux “gris platine” (j’adopte la locution, je ne dirai plus blancs).
    On a nettement plus l’air d’assumer.

  • Elle est superbe! Un visage très délicat et illuminé par la couleur grise!
    Je pense aussi à la possibilité pour les femmes qui ont bcp de cheveux gris, naturellement, qui pourront profiter de cette mode qui donne la bienvenue aux cheveux presque blancs!
    Malheureusement, il y a de visages qui vieillissent avec cette couleur. Il faudrait avoir un entretien avec notre coloriste et demander son avis, de cette façon, nous pourrions nous lancer dans cette aventure ou arrêter les élans provoqués par ces photos!

  • I have had brown hair my entire life and 6 weeks ago made the leap to platinum blonde. Luckily I like the contrast of my roots against the blonde and I’ve haven’t been to my colorist since. However, I am due soon! I would say every 4-6 weeks for touch-ups depending on your tolerance to roots and your hair growth. Mine grows like weeds! The texture of dyed hair also is a plus since before I bleached it my hair was silky smooth but super straight. Now it can hold a curl and it has volume!!!

  • I have naturally light brownish blonde hair and recently went platinum. I thought I’d hate the roots, but they are almost grounding in a way and just become a different kind of “look” about it.

    The only downside is that the texture of your hair does change and figuring out how to work with it can be a challenge. And dealing with it feeling sort of unhealthy-ish can be disturbing if you’re used to a really polished look.

  • Il faut oser ! Personnellement je ne pourrais pas, mais ça lui va très bien !

    xo CarolineJ
    http://www.sleevesandheels.net

  • I was originally very dark but started going grey at 21. Since then, I have coloured my hair to keep it dark, but last week I bit the bullet! I had my hair streaked; it’s now an ashy blonde. The plan is to grow out my grey. The grey regrowth won’t be so obvious against the blonde, and I will fade to grey. Hopefully, it will suit me – I am already agreeably surprised by the blonde – and there will be a lot less maintenance involved.

  • I am probably doing the opposite of all of this as I am growing my colour out to reveal my natural grey (silver/white in places) hair. I am in my early forties and hope I won’t look a hundred years old once it all all natural.
    I am quite excited to see what it will look like and I might need a nice lipstick!

  • Bernadette June, 26 2014, 2:50 / Reply

    No need for that, my hair is already grey. Actually, a natural mix of dark and silver…

  • Great colour, shame it looks so fried, which is probably what to expect

  • Je suis passee du chatain fonce au blond cendre recemment, je fais mes retouches balayages a la maison, tous les 3 mois, ca n’abime pas trop mes cheveux mais je laisse vraiment le bleach le minimum de temps et je fais plein de masques. Mes cheveux sont coupes au carre et arrivent au dessus des epaules, je sais que plus longs ce ne serait pas possible.
    Je te conseille d’essayer car c’est vraiment agreable, et l’avantage d’un blond plus naturel que le platine est que tu as moins besoin de maquillage.

  • Emi Ly June, 26 2014, 7:15 / Reply

    Hello! Je crois qu’au delà de l’entretien la question est: Est-ce que tu es prêtes à sacrifier tes cheveux s’ils sont d’une nature saine? Car pour l’avoir fait, et je suis brune de nature (d’origine vietnamienne donc bien brune…) je peux dire que tes cheveux morflent à mort! Ils étaient d’ailleurs morts… Même en allant chez le top du top des coiffeurs (ce que j’ai fait) ils se cassaient et tombaient donc je pense qu’il faut d’abord se préparer à ce changement. J’ai gardé le platine 5 mois et j’ai adoré le look/style que ça donnait. Le platine apporte aussi beaucoup de douceur au teint. Il faut aussi revoir les couleurs make up et vêtement car une fois blonde les couleurs que tu mettais brune ne vont plus pour une grande partie… mais ça c’est gérable!
    Du coup, tu passes au bac tous les mois à peu près (voir un peu plus si tu aimes les racines, ce que j’aimais pour le coté plus rock) pour refaire les racines et donc les cheveux RE-souffrent à chaque passage chez le coiffeur… J’ai finalement pris la décision au bout de 5 mois de couper très court mes cheveux et de revenir à ma couleur car le choix était: est-ce que je garde le style ou est-ce que je récupère de beaux cheveux? Ceci étant je ne regrette rien! Je ne suis pas du tout flipper avec mes cheveux donc c’était assez facile au final!
    Bonne journée!

    Emi Ly

  • What funny timing – I just went platinum myself last week. While I am a natural blonde (more of the icky, dishwater kind), I had been auburn for the past several years, then was brown and then darker blonde earlier this year. When Garance posted that amazing photo of the platinum-haired girl when she wanted to cut her hair, I knew what my next move would be – that is, after I chopped it all off like Garance, first.

    So, I finally took the plunge and it wasn’t as scary (or damaging or painful or expensive) as I thought it would be. I have another appointment next week to take me a bit closer to the cool white I am going for, but I am not really afraid of the upkeep or cost here in Berlin, as it is already a fraction of what it used to be when I was at the height of my super-light, double-process California blonde. I’ve got my heavy-duty conditioners and purple shampoos to keep things in check, but if it ever gets to be too much, I can always change it. That’s the brilliant thing about hair!

  • I think the texture and health of your hair can make or break this look…

From the Archives

This or That
  • This or That
  • Holiday Gifting
  • DORÉ x THE OUTNET
  • Happy Holidays!
  • #AtelierDoreDoes
  • How To...
atelier dore this or that summer sandals chunky sandals vs. delicate sandals

This or That / Sandal Edition

This or That: American or Française?

This or That: American or Française?

atelier dore this or that lingerie lace or cotton sex month

This or That / Lingerie Edition

This or That / Blush vs. Bronzer

This or That / Blush vs. Bronzer

This or That: The Beanie

This or That: The Beanie

This or That: Nails

This or That: Nails

This or That

This or That

This Or That

This Or That

Silja Danielsen Photo

This Or That: Low Knot or Top Knot