Pink to Red in 7.5 hours

This morning I wrenched myself from my GG dream when my mum woke me up. Waking up was wikked difficult (and not because I was leaving the G's behind) but I managed it, eventually.

First up on the agenda: bleach cocktail. Nein, I wasn't trying to kick my own bucket (FTW!), just trying to remove a bit o' the darnéd pink before assaulting it with red. Unfortch, I wasn't entirely sure how to manage said cocktail, but a few Google searches later I was asphyxiating in the bathroom whilst mixing bleach powder and shampoo into a vile paste that soon turned the colour of a polar bear with a bladder-control problem. Lovely. I was beginning to have my doubts about smearing my hair with this crap, but decided to go ahead with it because, really, what's the worst that could happen? Besides baldness. And death. God, dying bald would blow.

I didn't go bald (or die, obviously), but I'm not sure that I really removed much of the colour, either. Some appeared to come out in the suds, but that happens normally, and the final result was still rather pink. I do think that it did some damage to my hair, because, as I was drying it, my strands felt a good deal more crunchy than usual. ::sigh:: Well, now I know.

My mum had graciously agreed to help with the dye-age again, which was positively lovely of her, especially because as my hair grows longer it becomes more difficult to deal with by myself. We got the bathroom all set up (using an entire Thursday SF Chron as coverage) and then launched into the dye-a-thon! I did have a rather obscene headache, due to my unceremonious waking and my lack of breakfast, and so every tiny tug of a strand of hair drove me farther and farther into pain and insanity. Luckily....in my house, we have certain things, such as string cheese and tylenol, that can be of great aide when one is suffering from an ache of the head.

It took about...2 hours or so to get my hair completely saturated, and then I popped on a shower cap and cleaned that shizZz up! Thank goodness I didn't leave the house, as I looked quite the slobster, what with my done up hair, my shorts, and my ragged denim shirt that bears the scars of many a dye-job. The fact that most of those dye-jobs were to make my hair black means that a lot of the spots on it are brownish black, which is rather gnarlz. But there is also blue, pink...and now red, as well. It's actually quite festive!

Even though the bottle says to leave the dye on for 15 minutes (it also says that the colour glows under black light! Um..RAD! To bad I haven't got one...) I usually leave that puppy soaking for at least a couple hours, because my theory is that the longer it's on the longer it'll stay coloured. Could be completely wonkster, but it works for me. Also, leaving it on is kind of also just delaying washing it out, especially when it is cold and gray outside, like it was today.

...Because, as you may know already, washing out my hair involves standing in my driveway in a bathing suit, spraying my head with icy water from the garden hose. Brrrrr! It is so not even a fun time. However, I had to do it eventually...

Dun dun dunnn! Mom to the rescue! She is really getting into this whole dyeing thing, it's awesome! Anyway, she decided to help me rinse out, so I ended up kneeling on my deck with my head over the edge whilst she alternated pouring warm water and freezing-off-the-hizzle hose water over my hair. It was still maj. uncomfortable but not as bad as usual. When we got most of the loose colour out I raced inside to condition that shizzle in the nice warm shower!

Then I dried & straightened it and now it's all nice-looking! I'll have more/better pics when I have them, as long as it doesn't all wash out in the next shower (which would be lame, super lame).

On Monday we'll see what all the peeps think.


Forever nuclear,
Charlotte

((Note to self: don't watch Tokio Hotel videos in the livingroom, as my face tends to do weird things))