Extravagant

I went in to get my hair cut & colored yesterday morning. I had to miss my last haircut, so I just skipped it altogether. "Mistake. Big mistake. Huge." (a cookie for the first person to get that quote)

Also, I think I've been watching too much What Not to Wear, because I got a sudden urge for color. I've had blonde highlights before, but I've also been auburn, which looks nice, and highlights cost too dang much.

I got there about 10 minutes late (I hate having to get cash for the tip - I live for the debit card!), and since there was another woman coming in, two other people than my regular stylist put the goop on my hair. As long as Danielle (regular stylist for 8 1/2 years now) gave them the color formula, I didn't care who put it on me.

As for that color, I wanted a change, but nothing too drastic, so we went with a red/brown mix. Sadly, I realized that I couldn't get my hair to Lauren's color without serious work.

After they get it all on my hair (with a pause to mix some more, because nobody ever seems to get just how much hair I have), they washed it and I sat with some magazines to try to figure out a cut. When my hair gets too long and unruly, I get utterly sick of it and say, "Shave it all off for all I care. Just fix it so it doesn't drive me crazy anymore." Eventually, I came up with two choices. A longer cut, still down to around my shoulders, that flips up on the ends (it took me a long time to deal with the flippiness of my hair, though it is considered stylish now), or a considerably shorter 'do. I've had very short hair before, and like it, but longer hair gives me more options, and is easier to deal with, except for time involved in getting it dry. Besides, I can always go shorter later if I feel like it.

Cut, cut, cut. Haul out the hairdryer. "How does the color look?" "It's great, very rich looking." Once it's all done, I look at it. Huh. It looks almost the same color as it was when I walked in. We go outside to get some natural light. There, I can see the red undertones, but really, it still just looks brown. "You know, I was really looking for the red to 'pop' a little more." Thinking: I'm not spending $$ for color to not see any difference!

We head back in, and Danielle decides to use a demi permanent color, true red, the most intense demi color they have. She tells me that my hair just didn't pick up the red before, so we're not going to mess around. They mix this up, and the same two people apply it, again needing to mix more. What, you guys didn't learn earlier?

After they wash it out, again with the blowdryer. This time, I can tell it's red, but it's a pretty dark red. I like it. After four hours (I'm so glad Grammy came over to babysit instead of someone I had to pay!), I was done.

Later, Jeff & I were talking about the charm (a gingerbread cookie) I want for my bracelet . It's pricey (almost $100), and I said, "Maybe that should be a Christmas present instead of a birthday present. My hair can be my birthday present!" He looked suprised. "How much was your hair?" "Heh, more than the charm." He was suprised, so I broke it down. $30 for the cut, $50 for the color, and $13 each for a bottle of shampoo & conditioner, $20 for the tip. The product is the truly extravagant part, I think. I generally go for the cheapest stuff around, and it doesn't make a bit of difference to my hair. But when chemicals are involved, I splurge a little and go for the good stuff. But still, eeek at that much for two bottles! So I spent more than a week's worth of groceries in a few hours, just on myself! That's an odd feeling - I'm generally very frugal.