For the last couple of years, I’ve been dying my hair. I dyed my hair routinely in college, but then after a brief stint as a blond (I’m very brunette–this probably wasn’t the smartest choice for me), I decided to start fresh and went for a pixie cut. I went a couple of years without dying, but I began to realize that my hair had a lot more grey in it than it did when I was 19 or 20. So back to the colorist I went.
Even though in college I fairly regularly played with home hair dye, the last couple of years I’ve been pretty adamant about having a professional handle my hair. It just seemed like the safer route to go. I’m a professional. I need to look professional. A botched dye job–sort of like botching an attempt at cutting your own bangs–is simply not going to cut it now the way it did 5 years ago.
Getting your hair dyed professionally is expensive, though, and it seems like at my usual salon, every time I’ve gone in, the price has gone up by another $5-10. I started out getting my hair cut and colored for $80, and now whenever I go in, it pushes $120. With a baby on the way, this is no longer an acceptable way to spend my money, especially not every 6-8 weeks when I need a touch-up. (My hair grows slowly. I can honestly stretch it closer to 3 months if I really want to.)
So, last week we ran to Fred Meyer after having dinner with a friend, and I picked up a box of home hair dye. $8. It took me about five minutes to read the instructions, another 2-3 minutes to mix the color, and then another 5 minutes to get the dye in. After my hair was coated, I spent another 5 minutes doing a quick clean-up in the bathroom and removing any dye that had found its way onto my skin. 25 minutes later…rinse and condition, and everything looks fantastic.
In all, the whole process took less than an hour, which is a much less time than it usually takes if I go in to have my hair done. And if my hair is a little bit dryer than it would be after a trip to the salon, or if the color isn’t exactly what I wanted, well, it’s nothing a little conditioner and “pick a better color next time” can’t fix. On the whole, definitely worth the money saved. I don’t know why I’ve been putting this off for so long!
Now to find out how this goes when I have a baby around…
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