What Happens When You Try to Save Money by Coloring Your Own Hair

Last week I decided it was time once again to practice one of my favorite hobbies, dying my hair! I love to color my hair, almost to the point of obsession. Every couple of months, the urge hits me to do something fun and drastic to alter my appearance through my hair. So, I went to the store, walked down the aisle, and stared at the colorful boxes of dye until my eyes glazed over in excitement. Reds, blondes, browns, black, pink, blue, all the colors of the rainbow danced before my eyes saying, “pick me, pick me!” I was drawn to the red hues this time and triumphantly picked out a beautiful shade of auburn, purchased it, and proudly took it home.

That night, after putting my three kids to bed, I proceeded to work on my hair. I carefully mixed the product, applied it to my head, and waited the twenty-five minutes. I could hardly wait to see my new hair color! I washed the dye out and conditioned my shoulder length locks. After blow-drying my hair, I stepped out of the bathroom to present the new shade to my husband. He immediately stated, “it looks purple!” (Although I must say, it was only purple in some parts of my hair, and a beautiful shade of red in others!) I was crushed, this was not the reaction I was expecting. We discussed what we should do to make me presentable again, and decided to add highlights to help break it up and lessen the severity of the color, or should I say COLORS.

After waiting a few days to let my hair rest, I purchased a highlighting kit with a pull through cap. I believed this would provide for the most even highlights possible. So, on Sunday afternoon, during the Mavericks game, I was able to convince my husband to do the labor-intensive job of pulling my hair through all the tiny holes in the plastic cap I now donned on my head. We devised a plan where my husband put a pillow in his lap and I lied on one side while he enjoyably tortured me by pulling pieces of my hair through the holes with a crochet-type hook, and then I would flip to my other side like a piece of meat being cooked, and the process would start over again. Pop, poke, pull, pop, poke, pull. Over and over he did this, until about two and a half hours later he had finished the tedious work. I went to the bathroom to examine his work and mix the solution. As I looked at what he had done, a thought flashed through my mind that it looked like an awful lot of hair had been pulled through the holes, but I quickly pushed this thought out of head and went back to mixing.

My husband applied the thick, goopy mess to my head, then placed the plastic cap around my crown as instructed by the box. We waited the allotted time, around an hour for full effect, and then I jumped up hurriedly to wash the paste out so I could see my new, beautiful self. I got out of the shower and took a good look. Nice streaks on the part, a pretty golden color with some pieces a little more blonde. I was thinking we may have just pulled this off! The last step was to blow-dry and fix my hair so we could see the final outcome. As my hair started to dry, I grew more and more nervous. I was having a hard time pulling the brush through my hair and I was seeing pieces of what appeared to be yellow straw falling to my bathroom sink. When the final piece of hair was dry, I stared in horror at my reflection. I had a pile of blonde and orange hay on top of my head! I shuddered and asked my husband, “now what?!” He calmly suggested that I go to work the next day claiming that I thought it was Halloween as I looked like a pumpkin left on the front porch for too long. The only rational thing left to do was have my shoulder length hair, which I had been working so hard to grow out, cut to my chin to get the fried hair removed. I went after work the next day and had my hair cut into a layered bob. My new favorite stylist did mention that, overall, my husband did a surprisingly good job of highlighting my hair, though he may just need to use a little less zeal in his efforts next time. After all was said and done, I have gotten many compliments on my new, fun do. However, I may have to find a new hobby that doesn’t have the potential to create such drastic consequences!