By Thuy Pham

For those who love to change their hair color often like me, it’s important to understand how to prep and section your hair for bleach and color. Thank you to everyone who joined us for our IG live, I had such a great time showing y'all my best tips and tricks for balayage at home. For those who missed the live, here are my step by step instructions on “How to section and prep hair for bleach” at home.

Instructions:

1. Make sure to condition and deep treat your hair before and after bleaching.

2. Gather your tools - Here is what you will need: 

• (3) towels. One for laying down to protect your work surface, one for wrapping around your neck to protect your clothes and a third to use to wipe up messes.
• (2) applicator brushes
• Color bowl
• Small plastic whisk to mix product
• Gloves - please dont bleach or color without protecting your hands
• Comb to properly section your hair
• Hair clips to hold your sectioned hair
• Arctic Fox - Bleach, Please

3. Before mixing your bleach, make sure to section up your hair. When doing root touch ups or balayage, I section my hair into four sections. Starting down the middle and then right behind the ear. Clip each section back with a hair clip. 
4. Mix your bleach according to package instructions. If doing a balayage, mix a 1:1 ratio of bleach and developer. 
5. Using a small plastic whisk, gently mix bleach and developer until well blended. You want a paste like consistency (think toothpaste!). 
6. To balayage, take a small section of hair and  apply the bleach in a tapping motion, making sure to hold the section of hair tightly and taught. 
7. Do this until you have balayaged the desired amount of hair. 
8. Allow hair to process for 30 minutes or until desired lift (lightness) is achieved. 
9. Rinse hair until all bleach is removed. 
10. Wash and condition hair with Arctic Fox Resurrected shampoo and conditioner. 

Ready to try this at home yourself?!

Check out my balayage look reveal here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CpWlE1jjRhv/

Follow Thuy on Instagram!

Thuypdx

Mama.Dut.Foods

So you’re looking for some refreshing inspo to spice up that split dye? Maybe you just want to go for a little pop of color? 👀

Whatever the case may be, we got you covered with 15 of our current favorite hair color combinations!👇

1. Space Cowgirl + Virgin Pink

@evelina.forsell 

2. Sunset Orange + Cosmic Sunshine

@lauren_loveslocks

3. Neon Moon + Aquamarine

@0allas

4. Sunset Orange, Cosmic Sunshine and Neon Moon (pairs SO well with a natural shade 😍)!

@lyn_bax

5. Diluted Poseidon and Iris Green 🤤

@lizzienowire

6. Half Virgin Pink and half dark brown? Yes, please! 

@colorlikenoother

7. Sunset Orange + Virgin Pink

@elle_n0r

8. Violet Dream + Sunset Orange

@woke.nikki

9. Neon moon + Iris Green

@jphair_st.helens

10. Cosmic Sunshine + Purple AF

@zoe_la_leigh

11. Diluted Sunset Orange + Poison

@theeglamnaija

12. Girls Night and Purple AF

@hadar_kawaii_hair

13. Virgin Pink and Cosmic Sunshine

@kaylahadlington

14. Pop of Cosmic Sunshine ✨

@dxnx.elle 

15. Pop of diluted Virgin Pink

@slm.beauty

✨ Pro tip: Using COLD water when rinsing will help to prevent some of the bleeding onto another color! 

Have a stunning color combination of your own to share? Please feel free to do so below! We’d love to see 🥰 In the meantime, we’re here if you have any questions. Stay Foxy 🦊❤️

By Thuy Pham

Happy New Year, AF hunnies!

A new year always calls for a fresh look! Every year, I always like to ring in the new year with a new look and this year is no different. When considering my next color, I had a couple choices that would have worked well for me. Taking into consideration that I had Arctic Fox Neverland in my hair, I thought my best choices were to go to a pink tone or violet tone color. 

Neverland is a beautiful soft mint color that was so fun to have for the holidays. It complimented all the red I was wearing for the season. With the green tones in Neverland, I decided that pink or violet tones would be best for my hair right now because I love having sunny and bright oranges and citrus color tones for the summer. Since we are a few months away from basking in the glory of summer sunshine, I needed to decide on a color for the spring. Since violet and pink tones live next to reds, oranges and yellow on the color wheel, they made the most sense to be my transition color.  

After deciding on my next color, I always come up with a formula or recipe for how I’m going to achieve this new color. I was having a really difficult time deciding between the violet and pink. I even took an IG poll that was split 50/50! 

A few days before I was planning to change my hair color, I was helping Kinsley clean and organize her room. I picked up a little velvet bag and emptied the contents into my hand. It was crystals! One was a beautiful amethyst looking stone. It had reflections of purple and sometimes pink and magenta. That’s when I thought, why not do something similar to this crystal? Purple with some pink undertones! Now, I had to figure out the formula. Had I wanted to do a true purple color, I could have easily applied Arctic Fox’s Violet Dreams over my Neverland hair and I would have gotten a beautiful cool toned purple. Since I wanted something with a little warmth to it, I had to color correct the green tones from my hair, otherwise the formula I create will reflect much cooler than I want. To do that I mixed a color correcting shampoo and shampooed my hair 2-3 times until the green tones became an ash/cool blonde. Once this is done, I apply my new color formula. 

Oftentimes, as a chef I am always looking for inspiration in daily life and my new hair color can inspire my desserts such as my butterfly pea flower limeade and purple ube whoopie pies. I believe that your hobbies can inspire you in so many ways. 

Directions to achieve my look from green to purple: 

Color correcting shampoo formula:

1:1 ratio of Arctic Fox Resurrected shampoo and electric paradise

Mix and shampoo. Repeat shampoo until the hair is a cool blonde. 

Final color formula:

2 parts violet dream

1 part periwinkle

1 part girls night

Arctic Mist diluter for ends of hair

Application instructions:

Mix color until well blended. Apply starting at the root of hair and work your way yo about 1/3 down hair shaft. Do this until entire head is complete. Mix equal parts of Arctic Mist diluter into remaining color mixture. Use this diluted formula to cover the rest of your hair. Process for 40 mins. Shampoo and condition with Arctic Fox Resurrected shampoo and conditioner. 

Magenta is a red-based color with pink and purple tones, based off of the natural dye cochineal, a revered red dye that at one point was worth more than gold. Viva Magenta represents tenacity, vigor, strength, and bravery. 

2022 was a trying year for so many of us. It was the second full year of a global pandemic, it was a year of restructuring and redefining how we live and exist. I think for many of us, it was a year of loss. A lot of people lost jobs, lost friendships, and had to restart in many ways. Viva Magenta is the perfect color for 2023, and represents reigniting that spark we all have within us. 

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of Pantone said, Viva Magenta is about “writing a new narrative”. So what is your 2023 going to say? 

I know for me, I am going to commit to doing one thing that scares me, every week. Whether it is something as simple as asking an employee where something is in a store instead of my usual ‘wander all 110 aisles until I find it!’ stubbornness, or something much larger like trying to sell my art like I have been saying I will do for the last ten years, or keep going to my open mic nights I do bi-weekly (because let’s be real that scares me every. single. time). Time is going to pass regardless, and I will never regret trying, but I might regret not. 

How to Make Your Mani Last Longer

Spending time doing your nails can be a great way to practice self-care, but how can you enjoy the fruits of your labor for longer? We’ve rounded up our favorite tips on how to prolong your mani.

Nail Prep

The key to a good, long-lasting manicure is the proper prep.

Use An Orange Wood Stick Or Cuticle Pusher To Push Back Your Cuticles

Pushing back your cuticles will help the nail polish adhere to only the nail plate. This will prevent lifting and peeling in the cuticle area.

Gently Buff The Shine From The Nail Plate

Much like sanding before painting wood, gently buffing the shine from your nails with a fine grit buffing block or nail file will provide a grippier surface for the polish to stick to. Be careful though! A light hand is best as over-buffing can remove too many layers and damage your nail.

Remove Natural Oils

Use nail polish remover, rubbing alcohol or a nail dehydrator to remove any natural oils from your nail plate. This will help the nail polish to stick better and prevent peeling and chipping.

Manicure

During the manicure there’s a handful of things you can do that will prolong your mani.

Use A Good Base Coat

A good base coat will provide a sticky layer, like paint primer, for the nail polish to stick to. Try our Foxology Base Coat  that will set the stage for a polish that lasts and is formulated to work with our Foxology Nail Polish.

Apply Polish In Thin Layers

Apply your nail polish in thin coats in order for your nails to dry more thoroughly. A quick drying polish like Foxology Nail Polish can help speed up the process. Using multiple thinner coats also gives you more control over the polish and will help prevent flooding your nails and cuticles. Nail polish should only be applied to the nail plate in order to prevent peeling and lifting. 

Use A Good Top Coat

A good top coat, like our Foxology Top Coat, prevents chipping and protects the nail. It contains Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Argan Oil, Aloe and Biotic to provide strength and hydration to the nail plate.

Apply All Layers of Polish On the Free Edge 

The free edge of your nail is the edge of the nail that extends past your finger. This area gets a lot of wear so protecting it will extend the life of your mani.

Allow Nails to Fully Cure

Your nails may appear to be dry to the touch, but they are not fully cured underneath. Avoid soaking in water or other activities that are hard on your hands for 1-2 hours until fully cured.

Post-Manicure

After following the above steps, there are a few things you can do after your manicure to help it last as long as possible.

Avoid Soaking Your Hands in Water or Using Harsh Chemicals

Soaking your nails can allow water to seep under the layers of polish and damage your manicure. When cleaning, harsh chemicals and repeated water exposure can also break down the polish. Wearing cleaning gloves when cleaning can help!

Reapply Top Coat

Your top coat can wear down over time with everyday use. Reapplying every few days can add extra protection and shine to your mani. Be sure to thoroughly clean the nail before reapplying your top coat.

Keep Your Nails Moisturized

Apply cuticle oil daily to keep your nails moisturized and prevent breakage and cracking.

Avoid Biting or Picking Your Nails

Biting or picking at your nails can chip your polish and damage your nails. Avoid doing this, if possible