Orange

This week, I became a product of my own vanity. Now I wouldn't say that I'm vain when it comes to clothing, nails, make up, or anything like l that. I'm usually pretty low key, preferring sweat pants to dress pants and big baggy shirts to body hugging ones. For some reason though, I can't stand it when my long blond hair goes dark. While I am naturally blond, it just seems that these last few years my hair is going darker, and I just can't handle it anymore. Because of a lack of babysitter and cash, and some big family events coming up, I decided that I HAD to do something all by myself. I mean, when I was younger I did it all the time. I used Kool Aid to make my hair pink. I dyed my hair black, red, blue. You'd think that would have been my first clue.

Anyway, the promise on the box: beautiful light golden blond hair. I had visions of myself tossing my beautiful long goldie locks in the wind. I saw a crown of lovely braids around my head. I saw airy blond curls, and thoughts that blonds really do have more fun.

I put Charlotte down for her nap and ran to the bathroom. I followed the directions to the letter. I put the dye on, and left it the allotted time. And rinse, and wash. And then I took a look in the mirror. Orange. Orange like Orange. Crap. I felt like Anne of Green Gables in the scene where she dyed her hair "a beautiful raven black" that was actually green. I thought maybe it just needed to be dried. Nope, it looked even worse. Plus the fact that I have a red skin tone, and then this horrible yellow-orange combo on my head made me look like one of the fraggles from fraggle rock. Or like Lady Gaga.

As the disappointment set in, so did the panic. This is going to be immortalized in pictures, I realized. With all the parties and get togethers before we leave, there I'll be, orange tinged and red faced.

My darling husband took pity on me and took the baby so I could run to the professionals. The result? 160 bucks to "fix" it, and to be honest I think it looks worse. There are now fluorescent yellow streaks nestled in a sea of orange. The worst is that now I really can't do anything about it, because my hair is too fragile. So what was done to save money and time ended up costing me alot more. And I am now convince that some things should just be left to the professionals.