of hair + color [the reactions]

I doubt there are few sentences in the world that sound more arrogant than, “I am an enigma.”

I’m going to say it anyways.

Honestly, we are all enigmas in various types of wrapping. Some of us are wrapped in pretty tissue paper. Some of us are wrapped in concrete. Some of us are wrapped in the price tag stickers that pretend to peel off nicely and then DON’T and you’re left with stupid sticky pieces of sticker and you break your fingernail trying to get it off cause you can’t find the Goo Gone.

Where am I going with this?

I have bright, unnaturally colored hair. But 95% of the time, I want to be invisible. Continue reading →

of cats [Stuart]

In 2008, Aaron and I were newly married and newly moved into the ghetto.

While laying in bed, listening to rifle shots, we started talking about the kitten. We’d talked about this kitten for a long time, but we were finally living in an apartment that allowed cats and dogs and crack dealers. We’d chosen a name for this kitten before we were even married, and we were more excited to meet Stuart than we were about any of our wedding gifts. So we started searching through Craigslist and Petfinder, and we came across an ad for a litter of kittens born in Wyoming, Minnesota. They were little tiny tabby kittens with blue eyes and it didn’t take much convincing before Aaron agreed to go see them.

“We’re just going to look at them.” He said as I hopped up and down.

Half an hour later, with a tiny little gray kitten in his lap, Aaron said, “We’ll take him.” Continue reading →

of hair + color [the coloring process]

Alright, so I’m not that great at blogging regularly. [SPOILER] That will probably continue.

Color!

So you’ve bleached, you’ve toned, and you’re prepared to kill me if there’s another step before coloring. In which case there’s good news for both of us. Continue reading →

of hair + color [the toning process]

So you survived bleaching, hopefully with hair intact, and now…

…there’s a good chance your hair is still not white-blond.

Oh did I forget to mention that? Whoops.

So here’s the deal. If you have red hair (or hair that is more warm toned than cool toned), your hair after bleaching will be brassy. In other words, it will still be orange. Continue reading →

of hair + color [ the bleaching process]

The question I get asked the most is, “How did you do that??”

Sadly, this is not in reference to superpowers or dazzling magic tricks or illusions. Occasionally it’s asked by my husband as I’m laying on the floor clutching my left elbow, my right pinky toe, and both my knees in pain. The answer to that one is usually: there was a door frame. A door frame innocently existed, and I found a way to seriously injure myself with it. I should add “innovative” to my resume.

Nine times out of nine, it’s about my hair. My hair changes colors. A lot. Again, sadly, this is not a fantastic superpower, but the product of a lot of work. As a novice Hair Experimenter, I spent hours scouring the internet to learn how to dye my hair without absolutely murdering it. A tricky balance. It was difficult to find anyone who was in my particular boat, so in case you are, here’s my hair story. Continue reading →