Hair

DailyNewsie wrote a post yesterday about her new red-headedness, and it made me think about the first time I dyed my hair.

The first time I REALLY dyed my hair, not just used Sun In, I decided a red highlight was in order.

I had graduated from high school a month or so before and my parents just left for a cruise to celebrate their 20th anniversary. I had cleared a small gathering with them before they left; one of the girls in my group of friends (actually, my Locker Partner) was getting ready to have ACL reconstruction and we wanted to hang out together before her surgery.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Parents out of the country, a small gathering approved, all sorts of shenanigans are about to break lose. However, we were not like that. I had my group of 8-10 friends over and that was that. No drinking, no shenanigans.

Except for the hair.

My friend Megan and I decided that we would take this opportunity to highlight my hair. I also approved this with my parents (gosh, I was a goody goody, wasn't I?). We knew we wanted to go red, and I figured that highlights would be a good place to start because it isn't too dramatic.

We picked out some dye at the local Meier. I have no idea why we went there, as there are several hair-dye-selling places closer than it. We picked up some cool red highlights, went back to my house, and got to work. Excitedly we finished and sat back to admire the results.

It was pink.

My hair was tiger-striped a reddish-pink color.

In looking at the box, we realized we bought hair dye for Asian hair. Which is black. My hair was blonder than my hair is now, a dirty blond that is definitely not anywhere near Asian hair.

So, per the directions, we bleached it first and then dyed it, resulting in the reddish-pink color.

And in all honestly, it was pretty awesome.

But I was a little nervous about my parents' reaction. A couple of days after the party, I went to the local pool for my siblings' swim meet. My grandmother said, "It's not that bad."

I reported this to my parents through email hoping to allay any hair dying fears they might be having while they were laying on the beach. This reaction caused my mom to worry.

Luckily, I spent a lot of time out in the sun during that week and by the time they got home, the red had faded so much it was hardly there. This ended my first experience with hair dye, but set off a four-year love affair with the stuff that mostly ended when my husband to be said to me, "Are you ever going to let me see what your real hair color is?" Within this time period I saw several highlight jobs as well as a couple of total dyes, one that my cousin gave that was supposed to be light auburn, but resulted in me being a true redhead. Assuming the girl from Run Lola Run is a true redhead. (In truth, that hair rocked my face off, I should definitely post pictures of that one day.)

Today my hair is what has turned into its natural color. The nice blond of my youth has faded into a color that much resembles, well, nothing. My old roommate calls it, "Northern Kentucky Color" (she's not from the NKY). I often feel the itch to do something to it again. Perhaps one day I will.