Women, Booze and Home Hair Color: A Dangerous Mix

Recipe:

1 vision of exciting new hair color

1-3 friends

2-3 bottles of wine

1 box of supermarket hair color

1 Friday or Saturday night

Combine vision of exciting and beautiful new hair color with 2 glasses of wine. Add friends and whisk in 2 more bottles of wine. When ingredients become soft and malleable, squish in hair color. Simmer for 30 minutes. Rinse thoroughly. Dry hair. Stare into bathroom mirror in shock, fear and disbelief. Add remaining wine.

There's nothing wrong with coloring your hair at home. Let's get that straight so you don't think I'm flat against it, there's also nothing wrong with hand feeding sharks, it's simply a question of risk and adventure. My other job is being an artist, working primarily in the abstract—so I'm all about risk and adventure! I love it when people are creative! But this is your hair we're talking about here. If I have a “happy accident” in the art studio, I will often use the so-called “mistake” to take me in a new direction that the mind would not have come up with. “Mistakes” are simply a point of view. But this is your hair we're talking about here. Some kinds of mistakes don't always go away so easily or quickly. In half an hour (wine or no wine) you can create a formidable disaster. So before you take such an adventurous leap, let's look at the potential risks. I'm not going to talk you out of it, I just want to you to be informed so you can make a clear, conscious decision. If you decide to go ahead, I'll cheer you on and celebrate your adventurousness and creative fire! And if it all goes sideways, I'll try my best to pull you from the rubble.

Okay, what are the upsides to coloring it yourself?

-Save money.

· Save time.

· Color as often as you like.

· Have one more excuse to drink and have fun with your friends 'til all hours.

· Hair color just might look good and you did it yourself!

Okay, good. Now what are the risks?

· Color turns out much different than you thought it would.

· Trying to fix it makes it even worse.

· Hair gets damaged.

· Friends are too drunk to give a damn.

· Dog thinks you're a stranger and bites your leg.

Now, let's investigate a bit further.

- It's much more difficult and risky to try to go lighter than it is to go darker and generally speaking, artificial hair color cannot lighten artificial hair color. This means you can’t apply a lighter color over the one you have and expect it to go lighter. It may lighten a little, but it may also be uneven and patchy. The only way you can significantly lighten your existing artificial color is by using color remover or bleach, and if you're going to get into that on your own, I truly do celebrate your adventurous spirit but I may not stick around to see what happens!

- Home hair color is stronger, harsher and more drying than high quality salon color (not all salon color is what I would call high quality). One of the reasons for this is that the manufacturer needs to make it predictable, making sure it works in many different situations. It's sort of like the difference between using a nice, herbal blend to get rid of bugs in your garden; it might take some doing, but get yourself some Round-up and no problem! All bugs dead! (along with every living creature for twenty yards). Milder, professional hair color requires more skill to use and needs to be tailored to each situation, requiring skill and experience.

- Fixing your wayward color isn’t always an easy thing, even for a seasoned stylist (not always, but sometimes), and it may take a few sessions. So add that to the risk assessment.

- Home hair color will not give you the shine or the variation of tones of good salon color. It can tend to be somewhat flat and monotone.

- The longer your hair is, the more risks involved because longer hair has more variations in porosity and other factors, plus if things don’t go so well that’s five years worth of hair with a problem.

Okay, okay, I think you get it; enough home color bashing already! If you do decide to dive in, here are some pointers that may help you and your hair.

- The safest way to color your own hair is to go as close to your natural color as you can. The further you stray, the more potential for danger and drama.

- Unless the previous color is looking faded, don't pull the color through the entire length of the hair every time you do the roots. It will damage the hair more than necessary and may get too dark. This is mainly for longer hair.

- Try to get the best quality color you can.

What constitutes beautiful hair color is a very subjective thing. There are many people who are quite happy with their home hair color and all is well. They don’t feel the need for anything of higher quality and that’s very okay, there’s no right and wrong here, just conscious choices. If you want to have some fun, be creative and save some money, please enjoy, but it's always good to be clear and aware, taking informed risks. And it might be a good idea to save the second and third bottle of wine for after the color. That way, you can celebrate if it does turn out well, and if it doesn't, you've got at least one way to make it all better.