Diva gone wild: a hair story

My husband begged me not to fall back into old habits.

"You're better than that now," he said. "You're worth more than that. We may not be rich, but we've come a long way since those days".

But I missed the excitement of it, you know? The thrill. I missed just being young and adventurous and not caring about long-term results or consequences. Truth be told, I craved the excitement of something just a little bit dangerous.

And so, the night before I was due to leave for the BlogHer conference in San Fransisco, I threw caution to the wind and I did it.

I dyed my own hair.

I know it sounds crazy but besides the desire to recreate my crazy, younger days in which my hair regularly went from bright red to golden brown to jet black all in the comfort of my own home, there were a few other considerations which led me to take matters into my own hands.

First, I'm a little cheap. Don't get me wrong, my regular stylist does a fantastic job but $165 (including tip) is a lot of money and the last few times I've dutifully forked it over, I couldn't help but wonder if his results were that different from what I could achieve at a fraction of the price.

Second, getting your hair colored professionally is time consuming. Not only is the hip salon I've been frequenting for years on the other side of the city, once I fight my way through traffic to get there I'm stuck for a good three hours. Is it any wonder 25 minutes in my own bathroom sounds heavenly?

Okay, lastly, I was on my way to BlogHer and I was stumped - stumped! - for a Shooting For Hip column idea. The idea of letting you down, dear reader, was unthinkable and so it is for YOU that I decided to put my dignity and my hair at risk.

Got that? Not matter how wretched this turns out you better tell me it looks cute because it's ALL YOUR FAULT!

Moving along.

I picked up my new hair color at the drug store. It was #R68 from the L'Oreal Feria Power Red Lines and it was on sale for $10.99 - a savings of more than $150. So far so good.

The instructions were a little intimidating at first and there was much opening of tiny, little bottles and mixing and shaking and praying that I hadn't made a mistake that would render me a pariah at BlogHer.

I ended up with a bright red solution in a plastic bottle with a long skinny applicator tip which I used to saturate my dry hair from root to tip. (No - I did not do a color test on my arm hair either. I went hard core - FOR YOU!)

Then there was nothing to do but wait 25 minutes for the color to seep into my follicles and try to ignore my husband who, after telling me several times not to mess up the shower, commenced with clicking his tongue and shaking his head gravely in my general direction.

After exactly 25 minutes I jumped in the shower and, as instructed, shampooed and rinsed twice. I then applied the conditioner provided and let it soak in for 5 minutes.

Yes, there was much mess in the shower. But nothing that couldn't be rinsed away. However, do not, I repeat DO NOT use any white or light-colored towels if you are crazy enough to attempt this at home.

Alrighty then: $150 and several hours saved. Blog post practically finished. Results? You tell me.

Personally I think it turned out pretty well. I know it's not perfect, but these days I'm willing to sacrifice perfection for damn cheap, easy and convenient.

Even my husband had to begrudgingly admit that my experiment was a success.

"I can see some dark spots you missed in the back," he said. "But it looks pretty good."

Pretty good?! Methinks someone had better be a little more effusive with the compliments, because I met the hottie in the above picture at BlogHer and he was clearly impressed with me and my new hair.

And sure I'm married and he's blue and probably not even my type, but dyeing my own hair has me harking back to my wild, younger days.

And there's no telling what this diva is gonna get up to next.

Comments

[Alison]

I think it looks FABULOUS!

Gorgeous, seriously! Excellent job!

[Beth from the Funny Farm]

It looks great! Come back and tell me ALL about Blogher!

[Nicole]

Love the colour.

And I love my colour in a box :)I got tired of spending $200+ for a cut and highlights in Vancouver (and the continual skunk-like look because the one hairstylist I had who managed to do thin highlights got married and pregnant) so I got the colour in a box.

Much happier now :)

[Vered]

It does look great. This color is very good on you.

You look all glowing and happy. :)

[Stomper Girl]

You met Grover?!?! I'm so jealous.

I think you look great. Wild hair is fun to do sometimes.

[kittenpie]

Wait, you have a problem with being forced to sit still and not do anything for a few hours once every couple of months? I LOVE that! It's me time! And it feels so decadent! I am very sad my stylist will be going on mat leave this winter, though happy for her. And you? Well, you're just divalicious, baby.

[Jamie]

Love it! Grover seems to like it, too. I'm just sayin'.

[mandy]

Brave of you. What makes us do these things right before a big event? I get that itch sometimes too. I have dark brown hair too, like you. I highlighted it at home myself once with a cap and I came away looking like a gray haired witch. It was awful. I immediately put a temp brown back over it! I hate spending the money, last time I did it...6 HOURS! It took 6 hours, can you believe that?

Grover, such a hottie.
Your hair turned out great, good job!

[Shannon]

I think it looks fab - you did a good job. Colouring long hair is hard, I find. I just went through the exact same thing - got tired of paying so much for my colour so I started to do it at home. I've been pretty happy although I have some greys that are really stubborn and hard to cover - uggh. But the cost savings is amazing, and it is easier than getting a babysitter while I drive downtown and sit in the salon for hours.

[D]

My husband used to do my hair color - for YEARS - even when I was bleaching it. He was really good at it, too. No missed spots!

Now, of course, I'm going silver gracefully. No muss, no fuss, and lots of money saved :-)

Peace - D

[Chantal]

I think it looks awesome. I started colouring my own hair about 6 months ago and I have to admit it is addictive. It took me 3 tries to find the colour I like (Garnier, 100% red dark brown) and I will stick with this one for a while. I think it is worth the money and time saved too.

[Jenn @ Juggling Life]

You're a braver woman than I. But I already knew that!

[Kristen]

Looks terrific. I actually noticed your colour in one of the blogher photos I saw, looked great.
I have way too much hair to even attempt this anymore. 3 boxes of colour and I still can't get proper coverage. So I make up for it by only getting my hair done every 9 months. Not on purpose, but the time involved is just not practical for me!
Hope you had a blast, can't wait to hear all about it.

[chelle]

OK CRAZY, I was just about to ask the internets if they dye their own hair ... I know your answer now! I think it looks awesome!

[Nap Warden]

I'm a L'Oreal Superior Preference girl. It is so much faster and cheaper than the salon. Well done!

[Karen MEG]

I THOUGHT you had coloured your hair. It looks great!
I coloured my own about 2 years ago but it was such a hassle. I did a number on my bathroom wall too.
But my advancing greys are making me think that I may have to go the cheaper route again. To be honest, I don't think I've had my natural hair color since, hmmmm, I can't remember LOL!

[Hetha]

It looks great! That's a hard shade to pull off well but your coloring looks gorgeous with it.

[Kami]

Seriously? You met Grover at Blogher?

I am so going next year!

And your hair looks fabulous! I have yet to do it myself but I must get quite a deal, I only pay $85. There are some advantages to living in SK :-)

[C]

Hooray for you :) You look AWESOME! Not everyone can pull off a shade like that one...and you are totally rockin' that #R68, sista!

[LaskiGal]

Grover???? NO WAY!!! Was he just as cute in person?

BTW--I'd tell you that you look great, but from all the other comments you got, I thought I'd better not else your pretty little head will get too big :)

[caramama]

You look fantastic! What a great job! And that color is great on you.

You are reminding me of my younger days and making me think about trying some color like that.

[Kat]

I personally really like that color. I would have never guessed it came form a box. I too use the ox because seriously - $150 saved is well worth it!