[Parlay44]

So as I'm approaching 40 my seductive brown locks have lost some of their sexy luster. A few months back I decided to take some action. I called a hair stylist friend of mine and asked her to do some color for me. I figured I'd let a professional do it to avoid any noob mishaps.

For the record my hair is pretty long. It's all the same length and reaches to the middle of my back at this point.

It looks kinda like this:


The color looks like this though. It's medium brown but turns shades of red and blonde in the summer from being in the sun.


I've been getting a lot of grey hairs the past 5 years or so it was time do do something.

So here's the process:
First they comb out your hair. Then they ask you what color you're going for and they mix it for you on the spot. I just wanted the same medium brown but I wanted all the grey out and the red and blonde highlights gone.

So I'm sitting in the salon chair among all the cackling of the women-folk as she started brushing the color into my hair using what looked like a 1 inch wide regular paint brush. She started at the top of my head at the roots and slowly colored down the length to the ends. Total time about 15-20 minutes.

She pinned my hair up to the top of head so it wouldn't get all over my clothes. I was wearing a smock anyway.

30 minutes later someone came to wash my hair in the sink. Basic warm water wash to get the extra color out. 5 minutes.

Back to the salon chair she applied some kinda special conditioner for use after coloring hair. Massaged it in and told me to sit and wait again. I sat for a few minutes and back to the sink to wash it out.

Coloring is done. She trims my ends and evens up my hair a little bit. Puts in some leave in conditioner and blow dries my hair. I gave her a hug and kiss and I was out the door.

So evidently when you do color it always comes out a little darker and evens out after a few washes. The smell of the coloring was awful. Kind of a combination of burning plastic with wood burning in a bonfire combined with burning leaves. I'm not allowed to wash my hair for a day to make sure the color sets. I end up showering the next morning but just run warm water through my hair. No shampoo or conditioner.

It looked ok. Came out darker brown like she said and it soften up after a week or so. Smelled horrible for a few days. All in all not a bad experience.

Fast forward a few months and my roots have grown out about 2 inches and I can see white hairs showing at my temples and brown and white hairs at the roots.

So this time I decide to try it myself. I did some research online and decided to order some hair color from Amazon.

This is what I went for:


$12 and free shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/John-Frieda-Precis...hair+color

The process is pretty easy. You comb out your hair. It must be dry. You put on some black rubber gloves that they supply. Mix the contents of one bottle into a second bottle. Gently turn it upside down 5 times. Replace the cap with a nozzle cap type of device.

You squeeze the bottle and out comes a white ball of foam. Looks kinda like mousse if you older guys know what that is

I rub it into my hair and repeat the process until all my hair is soaked with this foam. While I'm massaging it in the foam starts to change color to a dark brown. I got the brown color all over my forehead and sides of my face.

I let it sit for 30 minutes like the box said and hop in the shower to rinse it out with warm water for a few minutes. In the shower I see a mass of brown color going down the drain.

I cover my hair with a special color retaining conditioner they supply in the box and wash it out a few minutes later.

Pretty painless process and it took less than an hour. Any of the brown dye on my skin came right off in the shower.

Result: It looked ok. No visible grey and it came out a nice dark natural looking brown. I'll definitely do it again in a few months. This was a temporary color and most of the reviews say it disappears after 30 days or so. Not a big deal. I can handle doing it again.

[iknowexactly]

I do it intermittenly. I'm over 50 and used sunscreen and wore hats since 18, so my face looks 40's. There's a very clear change to how younger girls react. 40 something is still in their fantasy range, but 50-something is OLD. about half my hair is grey now, luckily I'm not bald at all.

It's a pain though, it's better to have long hair because if you have short hair the sides grow out and they can see it's dyed in about 2 weeks.

If you have long hair the previously dyed stuff hangs over the sides and hides the new grey hair so until you have like 2 inches of roots it's not obvious.

Philippines, here I come, hope it doesn't get Facebookized before I get there.