Cutting Back

I'm always looking for ways to cut back on how much money we spend for the household. As I am the one that goes grocery shopping and picks up almost everything needed for the running of the house, I feel a responsibility to cut back wherever I can and to use whatever we have so that there is very little to no waste. One area that I have been resistant to cutting corners with is my hair. I love my hair. It is probably the one area that I have indulged and primped and protected more than most other parts of me.  I have faithfully gotten my hair colored every five weeks for years. I started coloring it when I saw the first gray hair (I honestly don't remember how long ago that was) and as those have just continued to multiply, I have continued getting my hair colored. In fact, Nate has never seen me with my natural color of hair. I did shop around and found the best beautician at the cheapest cost and I went to her for several years. Then a friend of mine suggested someone that is a trained cosmetologist but just works on the side out of her home. I went to her a few times and paid 50% of what I had been paying at the salon. That went well too, but it also made me want to see how far I could go in cutting back in this area and still get a good haircut and color. So, I bit the bullet and yesterday went almost as far as I could go. I started researching the best home hair coloring kits out there. Good Housekeeping has a ranking of them, so I made a list of the best ones. I bravely went to Meijer and looked at each of them. As my hair color is red, and my natural color is dark brown, it is difficult to decide on the right shade. I didn't want to go too red, but I also didn't want it to be too dark. So, I chose Auburn Brown. I thought that would give the hint of red I was looking for....hopefully. The best one for red hair, according to Good Housekeeping, was also the cheapest hair color at Meijer!  It was $3.48. Holy Cow!  That's quite a mark up at the salons and even at my friend's house! $3.48? Really?  So, I triumphantly bought it gaining more and more confidence that this would be an amazing way to save money each month. I then went to Great Clips and got a trim. The hair cut plus tip cost me $16.00. I'm not stupid enough to even begin to believe that I can cut my hair. I learned that I couldn't cut my hair back in 1987 when I cut my younger brother's hair thinking, "how hard can it be?" He didn't want to leave the house for weeks. It was awful. I felt horrible about it and yet even more horrible was the fact that I was grateful that I didn't try it out on myself first! That means, if this works, I can get my hair cut and colored for less than $20. That is 1/5 of what I paid in the salon! So last night, with Nate watching the furry children, I colored my hair. I followed the directions very carefully. The directions clearly said to not be concerned about the color of the dye because my hair wouldn't be the same color. I took them at their word because the dye was purple. When I finished, I washed my hair very thoroughly and when I looked in the mirror, it seemed rather dark...definitely colored, but dark.... So, I dried it to see if maybe it would lighten up. And to my chagrin, I have successfully turned my hair purple. That's right, the same color as the dye in the bottle. I think it's supposed to be red, but the brown is so dark that the red looks purple. The other small bit of concern is that after I thoroughly washed my hair, while towel drying it, the towel had red/purple streaks on it. I assumed that it would only be that time. Then, this morning, when I just wet my hair to style it, the sink had reddish/purple water splotches in it and my new towel had reddish purple streaks all over it after toweling it dry again. So, I may not have to worry too much about my hair being purple, it'll probably all wash out by tomorrow!  One can only hope!  Now, an intelligent person in this position, would probably swear off of home coloring, crawl sheepishly back to the salon and beg forgiveness. I'm not to that point yet. I've decided that I need to go a little lighter in my color selection and I'm going to try again. I will certainly keep you updated on the results! I am determined to keep up my effort to cut back in this area.