Anna Says - Home Hair Dye

Home Hair Dye

So... what do you think Anna means by, 'Home Hair Dye'? I should have checked. I am pretty sure she did not want recipes for making hair dye, she is not that kind of gal. So, she must mean tips for doing hair dye at home. This could possibly be the shortest blog post in history if that is the case. Because Anna, I have three words for you.....

Don't do it!

Oh my goodness. The trials and tribulations I have had with using hair dyes at home. In high school I used a spray on bleach that was activated by the sun - it was called 'Sun In'. To have a better effect, I used to blow dry my hair. My hair was seriously blonde! 


Six months before marrying Mr Cool, I decided to dye my hair red. Not really red red, more of a strawberry blonde red kind of colour. I picked out a box with a colour I liked and my best friend and Mr Cool helped to put it on my hair. However, I had shoulder length bleached blonde hair, the colour really grabbed. It turned out I also needed more than one box. When we rinsed the colour off, I had dark red zebra stripes. Not at all good. 


So, we went out and tried to find another box of the same colour to cover up the bits we missed. Back then, all the stores closed at 12 o'clock on a Saturday, so there were not many places to buy hair colour. We decided on another shade of red to cover all my hair again, two boxes this time. The colour was chosen was definitely not a lovely strawberry red colour, it was more of a tomato sauce red. Not at all good.


I can still see the look on my mother's face when she returned from a weekend away and saw what I had done to my hair. I hated it. So did she. It looked horrid. I went to the pharmacy and asked for a colour stripper, but all they could suggest was bi-car soda and anti-dandruff shampoo to literally strip the colour out of my hair. I went home and did this over and over and over again. And again the next day. It changed the colour to a kind of pinky splotchy red colour. Again, not at all good.


The only solution was to get a hairdresser to look at it. The remainder of the time I had before the wedding was spent pretty much at the hairdresser getting the colour streaked out of my hair over and over again.  When I look at my wedding photos, all I see is my over processed bleached hair... 


But, I did not fully learn my lesson. While living in London, I would buy those boxes of colour that you could put foils/streaks in your own hair. It was painstaking. I am not a perfectionist. I would start off well and then get sick of it and get sloppy. I probably spent most of my time in London with splotchy, weirdly coloured hair.


I then went through an Ash Blonde hair phase. Why, I do not know. I actually had green hair a lot of the time. Khaki green hair. Not at all good. Not. At. All. Good.


Then a ray of light entered my life.


I asked a friend who had dead cool hair, who did her hair. She gave me the number of a lady who cut and coloured hair from a studio at the back of her house. Her prices were good and she was into doing cool styles. When I turned up with green hair, she was very kind. She toned up the blonde and gave me some very funky foils. I had entered the world of cool hair.


I have been going to this same hairdresser for 6 years now. She does amazing work. Her prices are great and after going there for so long, she knows my hair and knows what hairstyles I can handle.


My sister {the one who sews} was between hairdressers so she asked for my hairdresser's number. Now she goes to her too. Then my other sister {soon to be librarian} was between hairdressers and asked for my hairdresser's number. Now she goes to her too. My mum {from whence I came} was between hairdressers, so I offered her the number of my hairdresser - she declined. She said she didn't want to turn up somewhere with her three daughters and find we all had the same hair cut! 


I have toyed with the idea of colouring my own hair again to save a bit of money. But... oi... I just don't know if I can go back to the gloves and the timers and the stains in the bathroom and the chance that it won't take evenly.


So, if you were hoping for advice, sorry. Just go to a professional. Trust me.