How to dye your hair

I have had pink in my hair since I was 14 years old. My mum was scared I was going to dye my whole head blue because it had been a fleeting fancy of mine, so she got me pink streaks done at the front of my hair professionally. I never would have dyed my whole head blue as I was a total wuss as a kid and never defied my mum, so I won out big time! The same thing happened when she got my nose pierced or my 16th birthday as she was scared I was going to get my eyebrow done. Imagine a blue-haired teen with a eyebrow ring – ugh, so not me. Glad mum had her doubts about my wussiness and let me get these two things done tastefully.

Anyway, because of this I like to think myself quite knowledgeable about dying hair in non-natural, vibrant colours. Even before I got the pink streaks for the first time, I used to use this stuff called Magic Silver Rose which made my hair a vivid pinky-purple colour (it was a toner old ladies used as a rinse, bit like the ol’ blue rinse, but when used concentrated it was BRIGHT as fuck). As such I am a total pink-hair-snob and shudder when I see people walking around with bad dye jobs. Doesn’t matter what colour, badly done and poorly maintained colour looks nasty, though I am especially passionate when it comes to PINK.

That is why I thought I’d share my tips on dying hair vivid colours like pink so that if you’re thinking about getting your hair did BRIGHT then you won’t make the same fatal mistakes so many others have made! My advice needs to be triplicated for those who has all of their hair dyed a bold colour (or colours) as I can get away with a lot more as I have my pink strategically placed so regrowth takes quite a while to show.

• Get it done properly. Either go to a hairdresser to get your hair light enough for bright colours to show or at least make sure the person helping you out knows what they’re doing. I let some friends who had NO idea what they were doing bleach my hair once which almost killed it. Luckily this was the under-part of my hair so the damage was hard to see. Having someone stuff up when they’re doing your whole head will only result in tears!
• Pick your dyes carefully! The dyes you buy at the grocery store are OK for natural colours but if you’re going got a bright red or a plummy sort of colour, you might want to look elsewhere. These dyes are designed to go over your natural hair colour and will look nasty if done over bleached blonde hair. I must admit though, store-bought black is permanent as hell and extremely good value. For unnatural, bright colours pick the brand based on how bright and permanent you want the colour to be. In Australia we really only have Fudge Paintbox which is super bright but not at all permanent (therefore ideal if you plan to change the colour regularly). The most permanent of all bright dyes I’ve found as Special Effects, which is hard to come by in Australia, though very common in the USA. SFX is therefore the best value, as a bottle of the stuff lasts ages as you don’t need to retouch the colour nearly as often as Fudge. In between Fudge and SFX are brands like Manic Panic and LaRiche Directions. Directions is a little bit more permanent than Fudge but comes in big tubs that last ages so it’s really good value. Manic Panic comes in the same sort o tubs and is even more long-lasting than Fudge and Directions so also great value. It’s an American brand though can be found in Australia easily enough (likewise with Directions, though it’s from the UK).
• DO YOUR REGROWTH! There’s nothing worse than seeing someone with a bright coloured hair with a big, nasty strip of dark regrowth ruining it. On that note KEEP YOUR COLOUR BRIGHT! You want to rock the bright coloured hair? Then keep it looking good but getting rid off regrowth and keeping the colour even and the colour you want it to be. Nothing I hate more than seeing girls with half-faded pink hair with an inch of regrowth. Not got the time to maintain the colour? THEN DON’T HAVE IT! I know some people have their days/weeks where they let their hair fade out and look crap (god knows I have) but I tend to only ever see people during this stage, and rarely see them with the colour looking awesome. It ain’t hard so don’t slack off!
• Pick a colour that goes with the colours you wear. I cringe when I see people with pink hair wearing red (and vice versa). If you’re going to dye your hair a certain colour then make sure it’s not going to clash with half your wardrobe.
• Care for your hair! Now you have bright colored hair, you need to treat it better than how you’d treat your natural hair colour. Using shampoos that are made specifically or coloured hair are a good start. Avoiding going under the water in the pool or at the beach is another big one as chlorine and salt water can strip colour out. Washing your hair less may have to be another option because you’ll find your colour feeds really quickly if you wash it everyday vs every other day. And most importantly, particularly or those who’ve had to bleach their hair to get the bright colour, treat your hair to a special conditioning treatment after bleaching. I’m lucky because I have pink and black hair because the conditioner I get with the store-bought black dye is AMAZING.

I actually remembered to take a few photos while my mum did my hair last weekend. Yep, my mum. She is a pro at dying my hair which means I know it gets done well AND it’s free (I dye hair in return). It usually takes the better part of a full day to complete but she does a top-notch job each time so well worth it. Click the pics or full-sized images and descriptions.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! I’m always happy to help out with tips for keeping bright, unnatural hair colours looking good! Another great reference guide is this one by Gala Darling. Just remember though, everyone is different and practice makes perfect. What may work or me might not work for you so experiment and keep trying til you get it right!

Nailin’ It – Fluro Pink with Crystal Glitter

I decided I would go or something a bit more simple for my nails this time around as I needed a rest from stickers. My last lot displeased me greatly (tiny pink and white stars on a deep purple nail colour) by falling off all the time, despite four layers of top coat! Damn cheek! So after a successful trial run by my mum, I decided to try adding some fine crystal glitter to my nails. I couldn’t pink a colour til I found my el-cheapo fluro pink nail polish and realised this was going to be a match made in heaven!

Nothing at all complicated to this, I just gave my nails two thick coats of the pink polish and then dipped each nail into the container of glitter, shaking (and blowing) off the excess and letting it dry. When you first dip, you’ll have a tonne of glitter on the nail, most of which won’t stick (even if you dip your nail in immediately after painting each nail, as I did) so make sure to tap each finger gently so you don’t waste heaps of glitter. Once the coloured polish goes hard, apply at least one coat of clear top coat to seal and stop the glitter from flying off. Apply at least two coats for good measure (though you will still feel the roughness of the glitter even after three coats, FYI). This glitter was super fine which gives it the best effect, the coarser the glitter the rougher it will be to look at and touch. Oh and the glitter’s probably going to drag up the nails a bit, if you do the tips like I did. It actually looks cool how there’s lots of glitter on the tip and a little bit on the rest of the nail, but I am yet to work out how to keep the glitter in the one place.

Meanwhile, for further inspiration, please check out WAH Nails, a nail salon based in London. OMG if they had a shop in Brisbane I’d be broke because I’d be there every week! It’s inspiring me to get a bit more creative with my nails, though I doubt I’d ever be able to do anything like some of those nails. Wow!

Proposed lockout changes in QLD & how they’re WRONG!

For all of those not in Queensland, you may not be aware of the proposed changes being discussed in parliament about what times venues around the state can trade, what time lockouts should be and how public transport and police presence should be adjusted to crack down on alcohol-related violence, particularly in entertainment districts like Fortitude Valley (where I live and socialise). It’s been a HUGE issue, especially to those involved in the entertainment and music industries, and there’s a great concern that we’re facing a situation where nightclubs, bars and live music venues will be forced to close earlier because of a few trouble-makers who the law apparently cannot touch.

I am not an expert on this whole situation but I am one of the many people concerned by how adversely these changes will affect the Nightlife in Queensland and may even cause loss of jobs for those who work at these venues (ie. students, shift workers etc). I’ve always thought the 3am lockout we have is ridiculous and has caused more issues than it was meant to fix. As someone who lives and socialises in the Valley, I see the trouble caused when people can’t get into venues at 3am and find themselves drunk and without their friends and have to go line up in the excessive cab lines full of other drunken, frustrated people. No wonder there’s so much violence! It’s an undesirable situation for anyone, and bringing that time from 3am to 2am will just make the problem a whole lot worse.

In an ideal world, everyone would listen to me and follow my super-awesome, informed decisions. Obviously that doesn’t happen (yet) so I will just tell you all my thoughts anyway and hope maybe someone will listen to me and realise I may know a bit of what I am talking about. First of all, there should be NO lockout at all. All the lockout does is cause people to foolishly leave clubs and make a mad dash to another club (for no real reason except “OMG it’s almost lockout, let’s go to some other club just because we won’t be able to go there after 3 and maybe it’s better than this one”) which inevitably leaves a lot of people on the streets because their drunken perception of time and distance meant they missed lockout by a couple of minutes. Needless to say, this pisses people off and since they have nowhere to go and so they have to make their sorry ways home. Therefore at 3am the taxi lines are bloated beyond belief, all full of these frustrated punters who were keen to stay out longer, and facing an hour wait for a cab while they slowly sober up, which only infuriates them further. Meanwhile the people who managed to get into (or just stayed in) a club before lockout, who decide to leave the venue after 3am are faced with these now half-sober, angry people whose moods are all their worst. Tempers flare up, fights happen and people get hurt.

If lockout was abolished and we could come and go as we pleased, there would be no more late-minute dashes between clubs before 3am and people would leave the venue and the Valley at their leisure. A lot of people would probably not stay out so long as most people feel the need to stay til at least 3am, and those who do want a big night can rest assured they have until closing time at 5am (which should also be extended, by the way) in which to visit various bars, pubs and clubs. It would also mean, those who leave clubs after 3am and find the cab lines are horrendous or that they missed the night bus, have the option to go back into a venue, which is a hell of a lot safer than spending the next hour amongst a broad range of drunk individuals who are probably itching for a fight.

Personally I don’t think there is a solution to late night, alcohol-induced violece. Aussies love drinking and there’s always going that unfortunate contingent of people who also enjoy fighting. Taking away the rights of the well-meaning majority because of the actions of the few obnoxious lout’s hell bent on picking fights and causing trouble is UNFAIR.We need to get rid of the bad elements and work towards making things safer for everyone else. Our public transport is atrocious and needs to run at times that coincide with venue trading hours, there needs to be a increased police presence to match the amount of people out and about (this should be a no-brainer but apparently isn’t) and we need services to help the people who overdo it and can get assistance before they do further damage and have to be taken away in an ambulance (is it Ravesafe who do this at the moment, or another group of volunteers?).

Let’s face it, we can’t stop people from wanting to go out drinking, so we need to make it as safe as possible for all who do and NOT let a bunch of middle aged politicians make decisions about the things they have NO clue about!

Somee links of note in regards to this topic:

Queensland Locked Out
Queensland’s earlier pub closing plan angers public
Venues brand 2am lockout ‘a return to Joh era’

Feel free to tell me your thoughts on this matter and give me some more links to add!

Being bored in Brisbane is NOT an option!

There’s not much that ticks me off more than people who constantly harp on about being bored or having nothing to do. I used to go crazy when people said it to me when I lived in London (seriously, if you cannot find something to do on any day of the week in London you’re either the most boring person alive or the most exciting, because clearly you must have done everything already). Living in Brisbane is, of course, not quite as thrilling as life tends to be in London, but that doesn’t mean you can ever say “there’s nothing to do today” because there always is.

Take my weekend for instance. It was action-packed, fun-filled and exhaustingly amazing. On Friday night I took advantage of the free entertainment being provided by Brisbane City Council and went to the Silent Disco in King George Square. If you’ve never been to a Silent Disco before then you are missing out! They’re becoming popular at music festivals and will probably be really popular after people got a free taste of one like we did in the City. As the name suggests, it’s a disco where it’s totally quiet, no music but lots of people dancing? You see, you get a headset on entry which has two channels tuned into the two DJs playing at the time which you can switch between at your leisure. That was you’re able to dance away while anyone without a headset has no idea what you’re listening to! It’s a heap of fun and while it takes a bit of getting used to at first, you totally get into it within no time at all. We ended up dancing non-stop for almost two hours – quite a feat considering no alcohol was involved and we were surrounded by 17 year old kids (and I foolishly wore heels)!

If that wasn’t enough for ya, I then spent my weekend at Supanova! For the unenlightened, Supanova is a pop culture convention held in Brisbane (and other cities in Australia) every year. It’s basically a chance for all nerds and nerds-at-heart to get together, many in costume, and buy comic books, anime, maga, DVDs and other stuff they couldn’t really buy anywhere else (well, without traveling all over the place, anyway) on top of meeting actors from cult TV shows and films, artists, authors etc. Personally I love the damn thing and go every year and spend literally hundreds of dollars on comics, figurines and various other cute crap I couldn’t get anywhere else. I also enjoy checking out all of the costumes – some people go to so much effort for ellaborate costumes of characters I’ve never even heard of, cartoon classics and anything in between. This year was my first time dressing up – I actually just went as a slutty Hogwarts student which resulted in a lot of good feedback and lots of pictures being taken (mainly from geeky boys who have a thing for Hermione, I’m sure).  Next year we are all planning to do a big group dress up theme (maybe two for the two days the convention runs) which is something I have been eager to do since I first went. Bring on the geekiness, baby!

So, as I said, there’s never an excuse to be bored in Brisbane because there’s always something to do, even if you’re the biggest dork in town. If ever you feel that pesky boredom monster creeping in, check out what’s going on (I recommend Our Brisbane’s What’s On guide or utilising your social networking pages for suggestions, Twitter works wonders for me!). There’s always something going on to suit your budget, even if your budget doesn’t exist at all (ie. you’re broke).So stop your bitching and go get out there, fools!

Loving Lady Gaga – Ruby’s Review

It’s taken me some time to write some sort of review for Lady Gaga’s concerts (she had two in Brisbane and I went to both). I blame the fact immediately after that crazy weekend, I caught a bastard of a cold which is still hanging around and pissing me off. But there’s also the fact I needed a few days to come down from the high I felt from seeing her live.

I am a big fan of Lady Gaga and have been since I first heard about her and saw her perform “Just Dance” for Miss Universe 2008 before she really took off here in Australia. I was intrigued by her look, what music inspires her and the song itself which I thought was an awesome catchy pop song. Within no time the song was a huge hit in Australia and so anyone who thought themselves better than the masses who choose what songs appear in the charts declared her as a one-hit wonder and rubbished her. I’ve remained a loyal an and defended her defiantly whenever moron’s had something stupid to say about her, her music or those ridiculous rumours that kept popping up.

Suffice to say I was very excited about her proper tour of Australia as I wasn’t willing to waste my money seeing the Pussycat Dolls (I’m really not a fan of theirs to out it mildly) just to see her supporting them. I’d only planned to go to the first show on the Friday night but a couple of days before the date I suddenly got the bright idea that I should go to both of her shows (not something I put much thought into, resulting in a few heart attacks and a lot of money spent thanks to most people on ebay being complete morons) which meant my dilemma of not having anything wear was immediately doubled! Though thankfully it was also easily resolved.

I could go into a lot of lavish and descriptive detail about every part of her show, especially since seeing it twice meant I saw a lot of stuff I missed on the first night, but that would be boring and isn’t quite the point of today’s blog. You see, I was a little bit worried Lady Gaga was going to be all Gwen Stefani on me (I saw Gwen’s last concert and it was just dreadful, I loved her in No Doubt but as a solo singer she’s terrible and her show wasn’t very impressive at all). But I quickly discovered Lady Gaga is an amazingly talented woman! Not only are her songs great but she’s a fantastic singer! We’re talking about belting out he words without ever dropping a note, being able to sing some opera-style stuff and even did a gorgeous little showtune ditty! Her costumes were more amazing than you could ever, EVER imagine (the one up top is the most magnificent thing I ever laid eyes on – it all moved by itself, I kid you not!). She’s not the best dancer in the world but she danced just enough to look good without getting all Britney Spears on us. She played the piano in various ways, including one that was on FIRE and a few keytar’s to boot. She even played double bass! The set was fantastic and the transitions between the set/major costume changes were almost my favourite bit of the whole show (projected images of her on a white screen with thumping house music – some of the most divine and artistic imagery I’ve ever seen). The whole show had a storyline which tied everything together while also creating a real stage-show feel to the whole thing. And last, but certainly not least, girl has a GREAT ASS! Lemme tell you, I’d never wear pants either if I had a butt that good!

All in all she exceeded my expectations and thrilled the hell out of me. I had to endure weeks of teasing prior to the show from friends who refuse to accept the fact she’s any good and think I’m pathetic for loving her so much, but now I laugh in their faces and say “you have NO fucking idea what you missed out on”. I only wish I could have taken the doubters with me to show them how great she is, because it would have blown their minds and I would have received a thousand apologies from all of them. And if you don’t believe me, check out this awesome review by Obnoxious Owl which only strengthens my point!

Check out the rest of my photos here!

Michael Jackson vs Fatty Arbuckle

After reading and commenting on a friends blog about Michael Jackson, I was reminded of the story of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. Never heard of him? That’s probably because he was from the silent film period and endured a terrible scandal that ruined his career and eventually killed him. In some ways it’s a lot like Michael Jackson’s story. A man at the top of his game has his world turned upside down by a scandal involving some kind of alleged sexual abuse. They go to court and they’re found innocent, but no one ever forgives or forgets and their career is essentially ruined. They die young as a result of their coping mechanisms for the hardships that came about as a result of their unceremonious loss of fame (ie. drinking, drugs etc).

We all know the story of Michael Jackson quite well, so I will elaborate a little more on Fatty Arbuckle (but not too much because I’d much prefer you go and read up on his story yourselves as it’s both fascinating and appalling what happened to the poor man). Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle was one of the most famous silent film comedians of all times, mentoring the likes of Charlie Chaplin and discovering Buster Keaton (my absolute favourite actor of all times, by the way)  and Bob Hope (who I hope you all know!). He was one of the highest paid actors of the silent film era, being one of the first actors to earn $1 million per year back in a day where it only cost a few cents to see a movie at a nickelodeon. He was one of the most popular film stars of the 1910′s and pioneered the silent comedy and slapstick humour. He was plagued by his nickname Fatty which he detested, as he was a very athletic and agile man, not to mention a magnificent dancer. He was rich and famous and adored by everyone, and was on top of the world.

But then came the scandal that ruined his life. He threw a party at a hotel in San Francisco in 1921 as a means to have rest from his hectic work schedule. Some unsavoury characters came to the party, as what happens to most parties everywhere, including the aspiring-actress Virginia Rappe who fell sick during the celebrations and was only hospitalised two days later as her sickness worsened. She died two days later from peritonitis and a ruptured bladder (she was actually a very sick girl in general,  she had chronic cystitis which was made worse drinking which she did an awful lot of and had had numerous abortions since a young age). As always, there was someone there ready to exploit the situation and ruin lives in the process. Her name was Maude Delmont and she made the claim that Roscoe Arbuckle raped Virginia Rappe which he was quickly charged for despite a distinct lack of evidence.

The story was a media sensation, as was Roscoe’s court case, of which he had three due to the first two trials being deadlocked and declared mistrials. Back then most newspapers were owned by William Randolph Hearst and he exploited the scandal in order to sell more papers. Roscoe was portrayed horrendously, as a fat deviant who used his weight to pin down innocent women and that sort of nonsense. Studio executives threatened other actors against speaking for Roscoe so he had very little public support from anybody, even his good friends, which only made his case look worse, even though prior to this scandal he’d been known as the “most chaste man in pictures”. Once acquitted and given a formal, written apology though, his life was left in tatters.

Who was going to let their children see a film of a fat pervert, acquitted or not? His acting days were over and so after a while he started making films under the pseudonym William Goodrich but lacked any passion and went through two divorces in the meantime. In 1932 he was signed with Warner Brothers to star under his real name in two short comedies which did quite well in the USA (though were banned in the UK despite it being 10 years since he was acquitted of the rape charge) . On June 29, 1933 he was signed to make a full-length feature film with WB since it was clear the public was prepared to accept Fatty Arbuckle back on their movie screens, which would have been his big comeback but that very night he suffered a fatal heart attack caused by years of drug and alcohol abuse.

To this day most people have no idea of who Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle is. If ever someone mentions to me that they like silent films, I always ask if they know about Fatty Arbuckle and so few do. Everyone knows Charlie Chaplin, but few know about one of the pioneers of the movie industry, one of the best slapstick comedians of all times nor of the scandal that ruined his life. In fact you can still read books about Hollywood scandals that mention the Fatty Arbuckle scandal in the exact same was it was portrayed in the media back in 1921 (ie. Hollywood Babylon).

I doubt that in 80 years people will struggle to remember Michael Jackson, in fact he will probably still be known as the King of Pop for many years to come. But I think it’s such a shame that someone who shares such a similar tale of tremendous high’s and terrible low’s is all but a distant memory of those few who think he’s worth remembering. It’s also a shame that this is a cycle that started back in the early 20s and continues on to this day, that celebrities get placed on such a high pedestal when they do well but can be brought back down so easily and violently, especially through the lies of the jealous and fame/money-hungry.

If you’re interested in learning more about Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle then I suggest tracking down a copy of “The Day the Laughter Stopped” by David Yallop  as it is AMAZING though out of print and very hard to find. Otherwise there is the very recent “I, Fatty” by Jerry Stahl which is written as though it is a memoir by Roscoe himself.