Hair Coloring and the Labor of It

Last night was my first foray into home hair coloring. My friend, Madison, and I decided that we would color each other’s hair. Actually how it all started was, we were in a meeting and Madison scribbled a note – Want to highlight my hair? I agreed, thinking that I was saying that I thought it was a good idea, but was actually agreeing to help her do it. Oh, the nuances of a question mark. Either way, I‘m game and in need of some color, too. Plus, since I am trying to save all my pennies for an upcoming move, a task that I am achieving at a below average rate, this would be a more economical choice than going to the salon.

So, Madison would get highlights and I was getting a much needed all over color as I was currently working on some pretty extensive racing stripes. Racing stripes is a term I coined to describe the gray hair that grows on the side of my head over my ears. It’s kinda like this, but not as glorious. 

I arrived at Madison’s house a 6:00pm. We made a quick trip to Walmart for some last minute things and returned, ready to color, at about 6:45pm. We tackled Madison’s highlights first because we’d have to pull her hair through the highlighting cap. I took a picture to send to Madison’s mom, but I love Madison too much to put that picture here and if the roles were reversed, I hope she’d use the same discretion. But here’s what I’m talking about.

We underestimated the length of time it would take to finish. We looked like 2 monkeys cleaning each other and in 2 full hours, with about a 30 minute break for dinner, I finish pulling through her hair.

It was like trying to thread her hair through a colander, but I got it done and a pretty good arm workout to boot.  That’s true friendship.

My hair color took about 15 minutes to put on and 25 minutes to set. Since I was first-timer, Madison told me to rinse my hair until the water was clear. I stepped into the shower ready to “wash that gray right out of my hair”.  Little did I know that when rinsing, I would be reenacting the shower scene from Psycho. Wow.  

All in all, it was a good experience. It turns out neither of our hair is purple or orange. Madison’s highlights look great and I’m rocking a head of the Lightest Golden Brown you can buy in a box for $7.99. Maybe hair coloring can take the place of baking on the list of things I’ll do for my friends. The jury is still out.