Yesterday I headed over to Salon Benjamin in West Hollywood for a hair makeover by celebrity colorist Chad Kenyon and hair stylist Alan Martinez. I was excited to go from brunette to blond.

And I was really excited to no longer look like…

THIS.

Yikes. Muy embarasante. Like I’ve been in a womens penitentiary. I am ashamed to say that this hair accompanied me to Gray Malin’s party on Thursday night. Sorry, Gray. Sorry, world. Just keeping it real. Real hardened criminal.

GOING FROM BRUNETTE TO BLOND

I’ve been in need of a cut and major hair help for months now, but with travel and life getting in the way, and as someone who doesn’t love the typical salon experience (noisy, pretentious, too-cool-for-school), I kept putting it off.

Luckily, Salon Benjamin was the complete opposite.

Not only was the salon in my favorite part of West Hollywood (right by Cecconi’s), the interior design was stylish, the stylists and colorists looked like they had just walked off the pages of The Sartorialist, and everyone couldn’t have been nicer. That combo doesn’t happen often, but it was so low-key and friendly that I enjoyed my whole afternoon of getting the royal treatment at one of LA’s best salons.

Here’s a look at my new ‘do.

My hair was at its worst when I arrived, frazzled and lifeless (as evidenced above in that second photo which was snapped right as I was leaving home to head over to the salon).

I told Chad and Alan I was ready for a change and was most inspired by this Kate Moss picture with lots of blond highlights, but in an undone way. It seemed like our complexions were similar and seemed like the most natural transition from going darker to blonder.

We decided warm, caramel highlights were the way to go.

What’s fun is that my hair looks completely different depending on the light. The first set of photos above were shot during the golden hour yesterday, so it’s not a huge departure from my previous brunette mane, though much warmer, caramely, shinier and healthier.

Then in brighter light, like this, it looks much lighter and blonder.

You’ll see more of what I mean as I share more photos in the coming weeks, but I feel like I got the best of both worlds.

On one hand, I was really nervous about going from brown to blond. And on the other, I was really excited for the change. Well, during the day, I am a blond and then, as the sun starts to set night, I’m a brunette with warm, caramel highlights! That suits my split personality to a tee.

What do you think of my new blond ‘do?

Have you ever gone from brunette to blond? Or would you like to?

I’m happy that I want blond-ish. 🙂

Photos by Fred Baby