On a lighter note… my hair, not the current state of this country

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It’s been a while since I have rambled on and on about a meaningless topic. Since the current news is too much to take and the trending Twitter hashtag of #whyIdidntreport is absolutely heartbreaking I wrote this post as a distraction for myself and anyone else who cares to learn more about the inner workings of my head and how I wasted away most of a perfectly good weekend. Also, some creeps and cats because aren’t those the beings that rule the internet?

This summer I decided to get highlights in my hair. I got some of the color lifted from the brown to match the new silver that is filling my head. I was tired of the blah mousy brown hair or dirty dishwater color hair I had (that’s how my 7th-grade teacher described it).

I paid a really nice hairdresser in Tahoe a lot of money but she did a great job and I was happy with my new look.  Something you may not know about me is I strongly dislike spending time and money on my hair. I usually get my hair trimmed once a year for under $20.

I actually loved my pre-highlighted silver hair and a few years ago decided I would go grey naturally. I think women with natural grey hair generally look stunning.

I don’t know what happened but something came over me this summer and I was bored with my looks so I got the highlights. I also got a lot of opinions about my new hair. Some people loved it, some people were disappointed because they thought I was giving up on the going grey is better than dying your hair bandwagon, strange men started sending me friend requests on Facebook and creepy private messages on Twitter. I took it in stride and figured this is my last hair hoorah, I probably won’t be doing anything to my hair again EVER so I will enjoy it while I can.

twitter dm

PSA – Men, this is not a good technique. Don’t do it.

Recently, I got a professional headshot taken for work. It was a nice photo. I updated all of my social media profile pictures with it. I’m a little neurotic about having all my social media profile photos current and consistent. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, WhatsApp and others need to match. Facebook loved my photo. I don’t know what it is about Facebook and new profile pics. Thanks, Facebook friends.

sally headshot

I, being the (previously noted) neurotic person I am hyperfocused on my roots! OMG, those roots were so noticeable in the photo. Then my mind started spiraling and realizing I would not have time to fix the roots until November. October is beyond packed for this workaholic. I decided I would do a quick fix, right then and there around 6:30 pm last night so my hair would look good for my breakfast date the next morning with my friend Cathy Curtis who always looks gorgeous, stylish and fashionable (and is also super smart).

sally and cathy

I got in my car, drove to Walgreen’s and bought some lovely product that promised me matching roots in only 10 minutes! For the record, I know better than this. I have almost fried all my hair off in past DIY attempts but I was in denial last night.  I fell for the marketing on the box. I went home and applied the toxic crap to my roots and waited the 10 minutes, rinsed, washed and conditioned my hair to discover I now had bright, brassy, ORANGE roots. It looked like a big orange tire track across the top of my head.

bad bleach job

This photo doesn’t do justice to just how orange the roots look when the sun or a bright light is shining on them.

I thought to myself, “Fantastic! How am I supposed to fix this?” I asked Google. The internet told me this was happening because I didn’t leave the bleach in long enough. So, I reapplied more of the toxic crap to my roots and thought I’ll leave this on for 15 minutes to make sure, even though I heard a little voice in my head saying, “Don’t do it! You know better than this.” After about 10 minutes, I noticed my scalp was burning, really burning so I rinsed my hair, washed it and conditioned it only to find the same brassy, orange color!

By this time, it was after 9 pm and Walgreen’s was closed. I had already ruined my night I had planned of reading peacefully. I contemplated dying my hair purple because that is the only color dye I had in the house but everybody has purple hair these days. I only like to have purple hair when it is not the norm.

I rationalized that I could wear a hat. I thought about all my commitments over the next month and how I didn’t want to walk around with drugstore bleached orange hair.

I decided I must fix this now! I put a hat on and headed to Safeway stylishly dressed in sweats, a t-shirt and flipflops looking absolutely fabulous.

I bought a new root cover, this one said it was dark blonde, just put it on top of your roots and it will magically match your hair. I also grabbed a bag of kitty litter (preparing for grandkitties who are returning soon). I was a sight not to be seen.

grandkitty

I went home, added the new dark blonde to my orange roots and waited the 10 minutes. Rinsed, washed and conditioned to find brighter, brassier, oranger hair!

Woke up this morning, looked in the mirror and saw the orange hair. I wondered how I was going to get out of this stupid dilemma I created for myself. I put my hair up in a ponytail so the orange was just a subtle glow framing my face and headed to the ferry to meet up with my gorgeous, stylish, fashionable friend Cathy.

I wasn’t sure what to do. I don’t have a stylist to call. I remembered Myra who has her own little, adorable, magical salon in the back of Montecito Plaza called Smiling Hearts. Two years ago, on a whim, I walked in and she cut my hair. She gave me her cell phone number and told me to text to make my next appointment. Well almost exactly 2 years ago to the date, I remembered I still had her number. I held my orange head in shame and texted her this morning and asked if by any chance she had time at 2 pm today to do an emergency fix for my hair. I explained to her what happened. She said yes! Two hours later after she tried many creative highlights, toner, lowlights, etc to fix my roots without ruining the rest of my hair or frying my roots, I can now go out in public again.

My heart is smiling.

 

3 thoughts on “On a lighter note… my hair, not the current state of this country

  1. Cathy Curtis

    Sally- I just re-read this post. Lol. The truth is that you are such a delightful person to be around that after 2 seconds no one notices your hair! The first time I read it I didn’t notice that you put that photo up of us xoxoxoxoxox.

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