Ugh, what did I do?

*Yes, I realize I've posted a lot today. It makes up for the long periods of time when I don't!

Here's my latest saga. It's completely ridiculous, very long, and all about my hair. Read at your own risk!

A couple of months ago, on Memorial day, I went to get my hair cut. I was tired of my same boring hair and wanted something new. I typically get my hair cut maybe twice a year. I walked into a salon I had never been to before. The girl who ended up cutting my hair was really nice and recommended a certain style and length, which I ended up letting her do and loved the results. She and I talked about doing color "next time" because of course, a stylist wants to have as many regular clients as possible. Sure, make me another appointment in 8 weeks! The haircut was $27 and I gave her a $5 tip.

Then that whole week I obsessed over going ahead and getting highlights done. I dreamed about it. I decided to go in that Saturday, just 5 days after the haircut, instead of waiting until my next appointment. VBS was around the corner and I wanted a whole new 'do to show off! I was really excited about this new experience I was about to undergo. I'd only had my hair colored by a professional once before, and I had never had highlights. She told me it would be $45 if I wanted to color it all one color, $65 for highlights. I thought that was a reasonable price and decided to go for it since I had earned a little extra cash babysitting my nephew and had some stuff sold at a garage sale. I thought, "I'm gonna splurge and treat myself!"

She started the foiling process, painting caramel color strips in my hair. After the highlights were done, (this process took 2 hours or so) she said she'd put a toner on for 2 or 3 minutes. I thought, "Okay, no problem. This is so fun!" When she was done, after washing the toner out, drying and styling my hair, I was really happy with the way my hair looked. Oooh! Pretty!

I walked to the cash register to pay, seriously believing it was going to be around $65. She rings me up and tells me, "Okay, that'll be $95." My jaw dropped. I sputtered, "W-w-what? I thought you said highlights were $65?" She said I had had color AND highlights so the price was yep, $95. I was in shock. I had not realized it was practically going to be $45+$65 when she told me the prices!

I gave her my credit card and begrudgingly wrote her a typical 15% tip of $15 because I was too embarrassed to argue and be rude and not give her a tip since she had done a nice job. So yes, my beautiful hair was at the steep price of $110! Just for the color! *choke, cough, sputter, gasp* I spent $142 on my hair in 5 days!

I thought I would be mad enough to never go there again, but I really liked my hair and decided to go back this past Tuesday and get a trim. I was not about to get it colored again because I can't afford that. Maybe someday if I'm ever wealthy... *sigh*

But I was getting sick of the root growth. I hate having roots. I haven't colored my hair much but when I start having noticeable roots, I go nuts. I started thinking about coloring my hair myself, trying to match my medium brownish roots. My caramel highlights were starting to turn a little brassy anyway, and I wanted to dye it all brown and let it grow out and hopefully not need to color it again. I figured, spend $45 to have her dye it all one color or spend about $8 doing it myself.

This has happened before. Let me explain- the first time I had my hair colored by a professional, a year and a half ago, it was dyed a very pretty reddish brown color.

Well, again, I couldn't afford the maintenance (why on earth did I do it in the first place?! I guess I wanted something different.) and I got sick of my naturally darker roots growing in, even though my husband and friends said it was hardly noticeable, I decided to dye it brown, hoping to match my roots. I went to the store and chose a dark brown color. Well that was a disaster! It turned out black and I hated it so much. I searched the internet for ways to lighten it, washing my hair over and over in Dawn liquid dish soap and Prell shampoo that supposedly is a terrible shampoo that strips color. It did not fade the color as much as I wanted it to. Ugh! I even called the Clairol hotline and was advised to buy a specific box of blonde haircolor, put it on and let it turn my hair tomato red, wash it out and put on a certain brown haircolor. I actually bought the boxes but couldn't go through with it, afraid I'd either fry my hair off or end up with an even worse color!

The funny thing is, my husband really liked it dark. I hated it with a passion. I have really light (I call it ghost white) skin that never tans and the black hair made me think I looked like some goth chick. Ugh, awful, awful. I think some people look gorgeous with dark hair and light skin, but hate it on myself.

The dark stage.

It eventually did fade. But the whole first week, I hated looking in the mirror and seeing that dark hair. I didn't want anyone to see me with it! I washed my hair a bunch of times, trying to get some of the color out. I remember I even thought about pretending to be sick that first Sunday after I colored it so no one at church would see it. I didn't, but oh how I wanted to!

It all faded out and after all of that time had passed, I had the highlights done. I've posted pictures before here on my blog.

Anyway, back to the present. On Thursday, I went and bought a box of medium brown haircolor and thought it would turn out nice. I learned my mistake before, don't ever do dark brown. Yuck.

I picked a cute box and name, Foxy Brown. The model on the front has beautiful brown hair. Ah yes, this is what I want.

I colored it yesterday afternoon. Well wouldn't you know. My hair is now almost black. I hate it. I think it's ugly!

I washed it 3 times after coloring it and it is not helping yet. I know it will fade but I don't want to be seen with this stupid haircolor! I have a birthday party to go to tonight and I almost feel like canceling. I'm like a teenager with a huge zit on my face who doesn't want to go to the prom anymore. I called my friend Kourtni this morning and told her about my whole fiasco and she begged me to still go to the party. She also recommended trying Baby shampoo to help strip the color. I will do that after I get this post up.

I took a profile shot of my horribly unstyled hair. It doesn't even look as dark in the picture as it does in real life.

And again, my husband thinks it's nice. I keep telling him he's supposed to think I'm cute no matter what I look like so his opinion doesn't really count. ;)

I am praying this color washes out soon. And if you learn anything from my experience, it's that you should listen when the experts say- when coloring your own hair, if you want to go darker, pick the hair color that is closest to the color you already have because it will be much darker than you think. If you want the same color hair that you have, pick the next shade lighter and you will get that color.

If I am ever stupid enough to dye my hair again, I will do LIGHT brown hair!

Go ahead and laugh. This is one LONG pity post. :-p