The Incident

Ok, so really, this started last week, but I didn't feel like writing anything until it was all resolved. I was feeling like I needed change. And there was this picture of me and the ex (roommate that is...) on the refrigerator. We were at Chuck E. Cheese, and we looked like we were having a great time.

And I had blond hair.

The more I looked, the more I remembered how much I enjoyed having blond hair, and hey, remember that time I used the bleach blonding kit in college and how good it looked?

And I remembered.

Then TOGFI added fuel to the fire by saying that he'd always wanted to dye his hair, and that was all it took for me to go through my coupon book and find a $5 off Miss Clairol and head to Jewel. He was nervous, but I guided him through the painful process. It also helped that the fumes started to make him light-headed. Mine, on the other hand, didn't even sting my scalp. When I washed it off (too early, I know, but it looked done!) we discovered that my hair was now a shade usually reserved for foods that grow naturally in California and Florida. Not completely, but it definitely did not match the fun blond Micky in the picture.

So I dealt for a night and called the Miss Clairol woman in the morning.

I highly recommend this for anyone who jacks up their hair with a Miss Clairol product. It was like a secret mission. She gave me specific instructions on what product to buy and a special secret ingredient to make the color take to my hair. It was a good time. And made a big difference.

But not different enough. In some light, it was all OK. In others (like, most distressingly, the bathroom) it still had an orange glow. Generally I like Orange Glow, but I prefer it to be more of an all-purpose cleaner than my hair. So I dealt for a few more days, knowing that I would be coming home to Jenni, my hair woman.

Whenever I come home to KC, I always get my hair cut by Jenni (who, ironically, is from Chicago and lives here now...) at the mall. The first thing she said was "Oh my god! We're gonna have to fix that!" She knew. (I had almost cancelled all but the haircut the day before because some of the lights I was under made it look really good...the dressing room at Old Navy, the bathroom at the movie theatre...I was almost fooled. But thank god I didn't, because I looked in the bathroom mirror the next morning and was so glad I still had the appointment. Jenni's reaction.cemented that joy.

She bleached out the rest of the "gold" (That's what we called it to make it not seem so orange. It almost worked.) and then put on a toner to make it a little less canary yellow.

Soooo much better.

Still lighter than I had planned on going, and with my current haircut, I look a little like a short, round Billy Idol, but hey, at least it's not orange. And it's just hair, right? It's summer. If there was ever a time I could get away with this, it's now.

So when I hook up my digital camera for the 4th of July pictures, you can see the before, and I'll take a few pictures later so you can see the after. But I'm still in KC, so don't anticipate them too quickly.