Post #2 of the Day- Brighter Side of Me

POST #2 - In the previous post I mentioned that someone told me that I looked brighter. I do.

It’s because I went back blonde. For those of you who don’t know, I went dark brown for about two months. I loved it at first. But, people I knew for years didn’t recognize me. I’d wave and feel stupid because people did not wave back. In one instance, I was coming out of Turkey Hill and held the door open for Mark Thomas, who used to be program director at WVIA, where I worked as a freelancer for years. So, I said, “Hey Mark! How are you?” He was like, “Good, thanks.” And then went in. He is a recognizable person and now works at the Kirby Center, so he maybe thought I was just some random person. He didn’t recognize me because he is the type of guy who would strike up a quick conversation, or at least ask what I was up to. But no. He had NO idea who I was. I could tell.

That was sign one that people didn’t think I was the same person. Then, I felt like I was starting to look older because no one ever carded me—not once—since my hair was dark. I looked like my mom, I think. Sign #2.

Sign #3 was that Dave said I was looking older. He wanted my blonde hair back. He said it not only made me look old, but also a little dull. Not that brunettes are dull, but I think it just wasn’t my color.

So…. How does one go from dark brown to blonde without spending a hundred bucks at the salon? Well, you do it yourself. Um, that may have been a mistake. Brighter I am, indeed.

I first used a Clairol ultra-light blonde box dye which had bleach or peroxide in it. The box showed that even the darkest browns could go light blonde. It suggested a strand test, which I ignored. I am impatient. So, it also said that I may want to use another shade to tone that lightened hair.

So, I did this Saturday night before the big flea market. I was so tired from all the work, I skipped the part of the directions that said to shampoo the hair when done. I didn’t. Most dyes you don’t—you just use the conditioner. So, when I woke up in the morning, my pretty blue pillowcase had a huge pink spot in the middle. The dye had bleached my pillow case! Argh!

At any rate, my hair was yellow-orange. Bright. We woke up late for the flea market and I didn’t have time to do anything but put it in a pony tail. Around 7 a.m., after we had our stuff set up, I looked at myself in the mirror. Mistake. It looked so weird. So, I took a musty smelling hat from my flea market items and put it on. I hate myself in hats.

So, this morning before work I toned it with a light, ash blonde. I left it on for an hour. It didn’t do much different. My hair is still bright, but people today said it looked fine. It’s not as orange. I guess it’s not terrible, but I still would like it a little darker. I am not sure if I can do it, being that within two days I’ve had soo many chemicals on it.

To be a girl. Angelo here at CareerLink said I’d look nice with a Sinead O’Connor do. I may just try that.

But, this post kind of ties into Post #1 because I do FEEL brighter. And lighter after getting rid of all that stuff. Maybe it's kind of poetic that I dyed my hair back blonde (albeit a new shade!)-- I'm like my old self again!