Frivolity

There is only one cure for gray hair. It was invented by a Frenchman. It is called the guillotine.
~P.G. Wodehouse

I've really been trying to be frugal and not spent money on crap lately. (In light of those efforts, some may question my decision to buy my husband a car for his birthday, but the car was so inexpensive and so much more fuel-efficient than what he was driving that we're already seeing the savings.)

Perhaps, then, someone can explain to me why I just made an appointment to get my hair professionally colored. Because this is not something I do.

My natural hair color is a very dark brown, almost black. In college, I colored it red because I always wanted to be auburn, but finally went back to my natural color when I was about 25. Around the same time, I started to get gray hairs creeping in around my temples and the crown of my head. Not alot, but enough to bother me, particularly because I was only in my mid-20s. Premature gray runs in my family, though, so it was to be expected. And hell, my youngest brother started getting gray hair in his teens, so I shouldn't complain.

Anyway, over the years, I maintained my black-brown color (Nice n' Easy # 121A, same as Julia Louis Dreyfus in those ads she used to do).

But lately, I'm noticing the grays showing up faster and faster between colors, and it's becoming hard to maintain. Plus, as I get older (ugh!), I'm starting to think that a softer color might be in order.

This is making me sad for two reasons.

First, I always loved my dark color. I get lots of compliments on how dramatic and striking it is. It's kind of become my trademark.

Second, I fucking hate hair salons. The one time I got my hair professionally colored (a stylist had talked me into it while cutting my hair), I went to Aveda and was there for almost 4 1/2 hours. When I expressed my frustration to the stylist, she lectured me about the time being necessary because I had been using "box color" on my hair. She said "box color" like I had been dousing my head in nuclear waste on a regular basis, and was so supercilious and obnoxious about it that I had a temper tantrum and yelled that after this experience, I was never going to use anything but box color again because it looked fine and only took a half an hour. "Who has time for this??" I yelled. I waved my arm around at the plethora of women seeming to have nothing else to do but sit around all day with foil on their heads, and said loudly, "don't any of these people have jobs?"

Not one of my finer moments.

Against my better judgment, I'm trying again. The lady that cuts my hair said she wouldn't recommend a full recoloring (which is what I got last time), because it could damage my hair and take too long. (Tell me about it.) She suggested a gradual application of highlights that could blend with the gray and lighten my hair without destroying it. So, that's what I'm going to try.

Fingers crossed that my hair comes out looking OK, and that I don't end up arrested or with a restraining order against me in the process.