A New Color of the Rainbow

I'll admit it with no shame and only slight embarrassment: my hair is not it's natural color and it hasn't been for a long, long time.  I used to just get highlights back in my late teens, early twenties just to do something a little different and add some style to my usual nape of the neck pony tail (I rarely wear my hair down as when it gets in my face it drives me CRAZY).  Well, now I dye it out of necessity as I have a few grays sprinkled in with my dark brown natural color.  I don't remember exactly when the first gray appeared, but it was probably a year or two ago right around time time miss M was born.  Coincidence?!  Maybe.  I think the first one I noticed was really before I conceived her, but they sure did multiply a lot quicker (so it seemed) after she was born!

I've always spent a small fortune to get my hair done as I was too chicken to attempt it myself and risk needing to visit a "real" hair stylist in a rush to fix whatever orange or blue hue I had given myself by accident.  I wanted to give it a shot at least once myself as I knew it would save us quite a bit of money and with two kids and my reduced schedule at work our budget is a little tighter than it used to be.  I don't really need highlights in the summer as I get them naturally when outside, so I figured I could attempt an all over semi-permanent color for my first attempt at home hair dying.

Before: please excuse scary morning face post newborn

I polled some on-line friends of mine, clipped some coupons, and headed off to CVS to buy my first hair dye.  I opted to be conservative and stuck close to my natural dark brown color.  Clairol Natural Instincts happened to be on sale and with my coupon I scored two boxes for $5.99 including a travel size Pantene color stay shampoo (which happens to be the shampoo I use daily)!  I could dye my hair for about 94% less than what I normally spend (excluding tip).  Holy crap.  I figured I'd need two boxes as my hair is shoulder length and I'm glad I got both.  I probably didn't need the full second box, but I definitely needed more than one.

Waiting for the dye to work

I skipped the skin test risking a potential allergic reaction, wrapped an old dark towel around my shoulders, applied vaseline on the tips of my ears and all around my hair line (a trick a friend told me about to keep the dye off my skin), prayed my two Littles stayed asleep, put on the gloves that came with the kit, and got to work.  It was quick and easy to apply and the wait for the dye to work wasn't bad at all.  Thankfully, my Littles both slept through the entire experiment and I hopped into the shower to rinse all the dye out and apply the conditioner included in the kit (it smelled of sweet coconut- Mmmm!).  I hopped out of the shower and was instantly pleased with the result.  It looked natural, covered my grays, and actually looked good.  I will say that for a few days my hair did feel dryer than usual, but I applied the conditioner that came with my kit for a week and a half until I ran out and it really seemed to help with that.

After

It was definitely a million times easier than expected and I'll definitely do it again and maybe even be brave enough to experiment with a different shade of brown.  I also think next time I'll dye it first and then get a hair cut as I think it'll help with the dryness by getting a trim after the color.  Please excuse the horrid self portraits....it was after a few late night(s) with a newborn that I attempted this back in August. :)