The response to the Easter perm was so wonderful. I loved reading your responses and hearing your stories very similar to mine—great stories and memories. As I was thinking about women and their hair, I remembered another spring hair moment that I thought I would share.
It was a beautiful spring morning many years ago, and I was making my monthly trek to the drugstore for my natural hair color. Or as my mother answers when asked, “Where does your daughter get her pretty hair?” Out of a bottle. It was that time, you know, when you can no longer hide those little blonde roots that show themselves every six weeks.
I liked the shampoo-in products as I could quickly maintain my youthful look in the privacy of my home. This particular Saturday morning, while everyone was still asleep, I decided to do the necessary touch ups. But when I was selecting my usual hair care stuff, I spied a new product that was designed to be kind to your hair. It was natural color—no chemicals. Guilt overcame me. Had I been harming or hurting my hair? Shame on me. So I took home the new product in a lovely shade of medium auburn.
I put the color on my hair, waiting the appropriate time, and jumped into the shower to rinse it out. Then in a quick time, I expected to be as good as new. As I blew my hair dry, I noticed this lovely shade of Christmas Red appearing the dryer my hair got. OMgosh. When I was completely dry, I was totally devastated and looked like my hair was burning.
“Ok, be calm,” I said in my mind. “The box said six washings, and it will be gone. Since everyone is asleep, I can wash it six times, and no one will know of my disaster.” I ran and got the dishwashing detergent that removes grease from dishes to be sure I had a strong soap. Six washes, and it’s gone. Wrong. Six washes, and it still shone bright.
Panic was setting in. What happened? Well everywhere the previous chemically enhanced hair color had been completely absorbed the pure color pigment. I was done, and this was permanent.
But wait, what would be wrong with putting my original, tried-and-true hair color over this? Now we are thinking. So I put on one of my son’s ball caps, rushed to the store, and returned home with old faithful. I repeated the process, rinsed, and whaaa laaa…..worse.
Everyone was waking up by now, and I was in shock. Now at this point, why didn’t I go to a salon, lie on the floor begging for help, and pray someone would show mercy? No, I was going to solve this by myself.
I returned to the store, this time hunting for the little bottle of toner that everyone has used for generations: Chocolate Kiss. This will turn red into…hopefully something near chestnut color. Well lets just say, almost brown with a red underglow.
Did I mention I was the church organist, and there was nowhere to hide? And that I was to stand and be introduced during baby dedication the following day?
Sunday…a day I will never forget. Raining. And we all know that when it rains, temporary toner runs. Could it be any worse? I guess I should be proud it had not fallen out at this point.
After the day was over and the somewhat horrible comments had been delivered, I was totally exhausted and ready to run. Then another brilliant idea hit. I thought, “Wow, if the first red color was absorbed completely, why wouldn’t brown be absorbed the same way?” So you got it…repeat the process. Well it worked enough to cover most of the red, but I can’t even describe the texture to you.
Today, every time I visit my local hairdresser, I always ask the question as the color is rinsed out, “Is it a color found in nature?” Ahhh, peace.
Got any good hair stories? Come on, let’s share!