I’m not sure what’s more ridiculous.
Me, in the bathroom of my hair salon snapping a photo of myself -or- the fact that I posted it here for all of you to see.
One of things I love about social media is how I can network all day long, while hiding behind my carefully selected avatar. But this, my friends, is me in all my foiled glory.
I’ve been highlighting my hair since I was about thirteen. I was born a towhead blond, but somewhere around puberty my light tresses got darker. That’s when I got my hands on a bottle of Sun-In. I bypassed mist and went straight to full-on spray. And I sprayed. And sprayed and sprayed. Then, I spent the afternoon lounging by the pool. The fact that the first ingredient is hydrogen peroxide was completely lost on me, until I looked in the mirror and realized I had turned my hair orange.
Months later, I went to a salon to get my hair trimmed. The hairdresser surveyed my two-toned strands and said, “Girl, you need highlights.” I never looked back.
Today, I have quite the rainbow sprouting from my head: highlights, lowlights, some natural color and even gray.
So girls– and guys– do you have any adventures in hair color? Any do-it-yourself disasters? Or are you au naturale?
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Wow! I love the picture. Now that is tooo sexy!
As for my hair, I kind of have to go au-naturale. As in mostly skin colored. If I wanted to dye my hair I would have to get some first.
Michael, you rock a ball cap! Just about as well as you rock the halo and angel wings.
I have a few gray strands around the temples and I wonder when enough will appear for vanity to kick in so I’ll start dyeing my hair…
I started getting gray hair when I was 25. Wonder if stress really causes gray? I was working in TV news at the time.
You are a brave, brave woman.
I’ve been salt-n-pepper since I turned 18 (thanks Dad!). Having to color my hair actually encouraged me to spend most of my college (goth! *ahem*) days sporting various shades of purple, and that was tons of fun. But about 8 years ago I managed to box-color my hair to a very unflattering neon-orange.
I went to a salon and begged for help, and never looked back. I still go to that colorist and now his girlfriend (Chris and Tasha at Elysium in W.A. — shameless plug! they’re phenomenal!). Love ‘em. Love my hair. I’m the first to admit to admiring strangers that it’s fake. Tasha/Chris are awesome. Really. Go see them.
Not that you need to. You’re beautiful.
But really. They’re phenomenal.
Thank you. It’s crucial to find a good haircolorist! No brass, please! Once I tried L’Oreal Color Expert. I dyed my hair one color (dark brown, by accident) and painted in red (supposed to be blond) highlights. I got sucked into an informercial!
Oy. My worst infomercial cave-in was a Body By Jake abs-of-steel thingy. If I recall correctly, I was on rep #23 when the first bolt fell out. *sigh* I accepted a long time ago that washboard abs were not in my future.
I have been resisting the urge to get rid of the grey. I am not sure when the salt and pepper look started but it seems as if there is more salt than pepper these days. I figure if I spend more than 30 seconds messing with my hair then that is 30 seconds too long. LOL…. It is what it is I suppose. I am happy that I still have some hair to fuss with. LOL
I appreciate when men-and women- embrace their gray. I’m not there, personally,
but I do think it’s a good look on some people!
I love the conversations your photo has started! I have also been dying my hair since around 7th grade. I can never quite make up my mind…reddish brown, brown with blond highlights, strawberry blond, dark brown…you get the idea! I have settled into a reddish-hue for now, but when the weather warms up, I’m sure I’ll want some blond in the mix, too.
Laura, I had to retrieve your comment from spam.
So sorry I’m just now responding. I understand about experimenting. I bet it’s fun to play with various hues! For me, it’s determining the right mix of “highs” and “lows”… not too light, not too dark. And finding shades that go best with my skin tone. I think overall, I enjoy the process, which is why I give it so much of my energy!
You know I’m all natural. There’s never been a drop of color near my hair. (My momma would never allow herself to speak to me again if I even seriously contemplated the act.) Love the picture though, still fabulous with foils in your hair – not a lot can pull that off!
The foils do add a touch of volume, don’t you think? I remember my grandmother expressing her disappointment that my blond hair wasn’t so blond anymore! Kudos to you for staying natural!
Angie, this is almost eerie. I was just browsing through the stats on my blog and saw this entry: http://jannye.blogspot.com/2007/06/silver-streak-update.html and read it, then went to Twitter and your link was the first tweet on my list. Cue spooky music.
I have been going gray since I was in my early 20′s. By my 30′s I was at least 1/4 gray and began coloring. Then I got sick of the mess and expense and the idea of putting chemicals on my scalp every few weeks.
So I went natural. Never looked back. Now if I can just keep up with getting haircuts so I don’t end up with a Carol Brady shag every two months.
What inspired this post was the reality that my roots are now speckled with gray, and I never really gave my light brown/dirty blond/whatever-you-want-to-call-it locks a chance. What’s even more “twilight zone-ish” is that I almost posted a similar photo of my scalp!
Like Rebecca, I’ve had grey since my teens. I highlighted for years as my grey coverage strategy, and if I’m honest, I still like myself better as a streaked blonde. If it didn’t require multiple processes and hours in the chair every 3 – 4 weeks, I’d go back to that in a heartbeat.
Now, I’m a redhead, and even after a year of it, I am still really bleh about it. I think when I try, I carry it off fine, but I am too low maintenance to try that much. So, I avoid looking at myself in the mirror and continue to color it red because I don’t know what else to do. Or, more truthfully, I can’t afford what I really want to do which is to go to Chris McMillan and have him tell me what to do and then pay him a bazillion dollars to just make it happen.
I love the foil photo. I took several of those once just to show MTM what torture I went through to look decent for him.
Wow, Andra, that was a lot of work and money! I go about every 6-8 weeks. When I was younger, I could go every 12. Speaking of Chris McMillan, I love those celebrity hair dresser reality shows. Did you ever watch Blow Out on Bravo? Loved that. And blond streaks or red, you rock it!
With the red, I have to go every 4, but it is a shorter process. With the highlights, I usually went every 8, but am too grey now. (Or gray.)
Well, this is fun reading…never realized so many folks started graying so young. I have been pretty lucky, good Portuguese genes and trying to take decent care of myself has worked out well. When I was in my mid 30′s, I used to think that I would definitely get some color if I started turning gray. Then it just never happened other than a few wild hairs here and there that have some sort of wacked out blondish yellow color to them.
Now that I am way, way past my mid 30′s, I am good to go with whatever it is, if it starts graying a bit, no biggie, just not going to take the trouble to mess with it.
Angie, great shot of you being tested by the alien invaders.
Na-Nu Na-Nu. Shazbot.
Yep, you’re definitely a Mork type.
Lou, my son started getting gray when he was 10. I had to call the barber and remind her not to say anything before I took him in because he got so upset with people pointing it out. He’ll be 30 this year and it seems to have slowed down, but he is gray at the temples and salt and pepper (mostly pepper for now) through out.
Wow, 10 years old and gray hair, that is amazing!
what a cool picture you posted, very entertaining.
i kept my natural hair (ash-blond, long, curly) until i was 24. from then on i started experimenting. no major disasters so far. i am going to get my hair cut really short (pixie) within the next few weeks, that’ll be a first for me and i’m excited!
I hope you post the photo on your blog!
i did get the cut and also posted a picture. it’s here:
http://artsyants.blogspot.com/2011/02/finally-my-pixie-hair-cut.html
and by the way, it’s been over two months now and i’m still in love with my hair being this short. now i’m starting to think about highlights
I love the cut! Thank you for the update. I love your blog.
oh, and thanks for commenting on artsy ants blog, you have an open invitation to visit the ant hill at any time
Oh, my! I’m fixin’ to color my hair in a few days. I’m sixty and I never colored my hair (once a friend colored it for me but for some reason I don’t count that) until a few months ago. My hair was auburn before it started to turn that “forbidden in America” gray color. The color I chose came out a bit orange, but in a week or two it softened and I received a few compliments. This time I’m going to be braver and try the little highlighting kit that comes in the package. Wish me luck.
Oh, and good on you for being brave enough to post that pic. Even in such a state, you’re still cute!
Oh, good luck! I think the trick is leaving the bleach on long enough, but not too long! And pulling finer strands, not chunks, through the cap (if you’re using the cap.)But don’t listen to me, I’ve had a terrible track record with home kits.
Keep me posted! Great to see you over here.
Angie, I remember the Sun-In days! I did the same thing with the sun-in and the sun and the chlorine from the pool. However, mine turned more of a greenish/orange color. It was gross! My mom freaked, took me to the beauty salon and they cut my hair, it was past my shoulders at the time. I got my hair cut super short and then she dyed my hair darker. That is when i swore off the Sun-in and never got my hair that long again.
I probably should have cut mine, too! I turned my hair green once…it was a combination of professional highlights, a perm and the chlorine from the pool! I never did well in chemistry. You?
That brings back memories of my highlighting days! I finally gave it up and went for straight color to cover the gray. I didn’t have the patience for sitting around like a martian for 90 minutes. Besides, I got claustraphobic underneath that foil helmet!
I had one terrible, horrible, no good, very bad hair color day, in which my hair turned out purple! Yes indeed, and just two hours before I was supposed to attend a big concert my husband was singing in. Taught me never to schedule hair color on the day of a big event. I ended up with goth black hair, and was thankful the auditorium was very dark!
I’m trying to envision you a) as a punk rocker and b) goth. Love it.
Ah, Sun-In. I can smell it from here, all these years later. It didn’t work out so well for this redhead either.
Yes, I do. When I was in college, I started dyeing my hair red, which enabled me to have an instant excuse for a quick temper and for the fact that I was always getting into trouble about something. My mother was always asking why I could possibly color my “beautiful natural brown hair.” Well, one summer I decided to cut my hair very short — ala Mia Farrow, for those who remember this actress whose hair was about one inch long — and removing all of my flaming red locks. When I returned for classes in the fall, everybody wanted to know why I had “dyed” my hair brown. I told them that my hair was naturally brown (leaving out my Mother’s “beautiful” description). They all said that it looked awful and that I should return to my frisky red hair. I did. If you ever see one of my sorority’s composites, you will see me flaming red. Now, when I am feeling frisky or just plain-looking, I dash out for my best friend, Ms Clairol, for an energy boost.
When I moved to the US five years ago I decided to stop coloring my hair (which I had been doing since my early 30s, I am now 47). Once the color started growing out I was shocked at how much gray there was. But I love how much healthier my hair feels and strangely enough get compliments for it, too. My husband loves it. But one thing is for sure though, it does not make me look younger, and when I am tired I think it makes me look old. So I am still debating with myself whether to start coloring again, a part of me feels that there is still enough time to be gray when I am in my sixties or so.
Thank you for visiting my blog! I stopped by yours and it’s quite lovely. And by the looks of your photo, you are too (whatever hair color you choose).