Hair Scare

About once a year, usually as springtime nears (the timeline sometimes needs to be modified due to winters in Minnesota), I try to highlight my own hair. Now, some people may say "you get what you pay for" and recommend going to a salon to have this professionally done. Although I had one bad experience back in high school when I used a highlighting kit and ended up with blonde streaks, earning me the nickname "skunk," I generally disagree. And I'm cheap. So, for the past 5 years or so, I go to the store, buy some permanent strawberry blonde-colored hair dye, and streak my hair in my own bathroom.

This color has worked well for me. Because my hair is so dark, I usually leave the dye in for about 5-10 minutes longer than the instructions "recommend" (usually it's blonds or light brunettes that want to go redder). I mix it as the instructions indicate, squeeze it out onto the provided gloves, and randomly pick chunks of hair to cover from root to tip. I try to do some around the part so that it is noticeable when I wear my hair down. But I try to concentrate on my "top layer" of hair (when I put it up in a ponytail) because that's what sees the sun and gets lighter with exposure. It's always worked out really well.

So, house-bound yesterday, I thought it would be a good time to try to lighten my hair (I bought the dye a couple of weeks ago). I didn't do 48-hour patch test that the instructions indicate one should do before every hair coloring. But I have never reacted to any brand of hair color, nor is my skin especially sensitive, and it's kind of annoying to, when I decide it's time to do the hair, do this test, wait 48 hours, and then go for the real deal. So I just took the risk of systemtic hypersensitivity. I'm such a bad patient.

The brand (L'oreal) I bought this time was a new one, and it had this nifty comb-like appendage you could add to the bottle top. I thought this would be perfect for highlighting purposes. So I went ahead and squeezed that to the roots around my part and used my hands to spread the dye down to the ends of my hair, in the front, etc. Then, as I was to wait 30 minutes before washing the stuff out, I went to watch yet another episode of Scrubs.

After the episode was over (they are about 20 minutes long, so this was 10 minutes before the time was "up"), I went back to look in the mirror to see if I could see anything happening, and nearly jumped out of my skin. My roots were bright reddish! I wondered if it was the dye changing color with time or whether that was the real color of my hair, but I immediately dunked my head under the faucet to wash the stuff out. I was really nervous that my hair had gotten super (skunk-like) light and started freaking out even more when, even with wet hair, I could see the red streaks (usually they are less noticeable when my hair is wet and dark). I then rushed to blow it dry, something I rarely ever do, to see the "end effect" when my hair dried.

Luckily, it doesn't look horrendous (to my eyes). You can definitely tell that I lightened it, especially when my hair is down, but it actually looks "softer" with my hair dried. It also looks much brighter under the hot fluorescent bathroom lights than in regular light. But I know I'm going to be slightly nervous the next time I try to do this on my own. I'd be interested in hearing your honest opinions about this outcome the next time you see my new auburn-streaked head of hair :)

I can't write any more right now, but stay tuned for another scary story tomorrow...