Isn’t it funny how hard women work to look beautiful, only to pretend that they didn’t?
Maybe it’s because women forget about their natural beauty, so they only “feel” beautiful after a lot of work. And then they feel ashamed for all the work (especially moms, given that finding time for yourself essentially means that it doesn’t go to someone else, since there aren’t any spare minutes lying around!).
Maybe it’s that women really can’t take compliments. I’m guilty of this, for sure– when someone likes my dress, I say, “Oh, really? I just got it at a garage sale” instead of just acknowledging and saying thanks.
Whatever the case, whatever the reason– I am here to acknowledge that I WORKED SUPER HARD ON MY HAIR THIS WEEK.
In fact, I’m here to tell you about my hair saga from this past week. Get ready, it’s a doozy.
I decided to get my highlights redone, given that we have a bajillion weddings coming up. I called my “backyard stylist” friend, but the hair chemicals have been giving her migraines lately, so she’s taking a break from doing hair for a while. My niece just started beauty school, so she convinced me to come get my highlights done for only $20. Pretty sweet, no?
It wasn’t their fault, honest. I mean, there might’ve been a few bumps along the road in the process, but the two students who worked on my hair did a fantastic job with the highlights.
It was MY hair that was the problem.
Whatever my “backyard stylist” used last, combined with the extremely hard water we have in Atascadero, combined with the fact that I went to a mineral hot springs last week, caused my hair to go bezerk once the bleach hit it.
My bezerk, I mean, my hair turned GREEN. Mermaid green.
In trying to keep things light, as the beauty school instructors scurried about me frantically, I said, “I look like the Statue of Liberty! I have a patina!”
But it wasn’t all that funny, really. Because the only way to counteract the green is to go the opposite route on the color wheel.
Which just so happens to be red.
So, after 2+ hours on the first day, I came back the 2nd day where they dyed my hair bright red– “Papaya”, to be exact. And you know what? My hair was SO GREEN when they started, that the red dye left it dark blonde!
Then, I came back for an additional two hours on the THIRD day to get the highlights put back in! Talk about ton of time! At this point, we were going on nearly 8 hours of sitting in a chair getting my hair done.
Luckily, the highlights stayed blonde this time, so all was well.
On our way to the wedding this last Saturday, Jesse remarked that my hair had become an “albatross” of sorts this week (Side Note: Husbands, take note– NEVER use the word “albatross” with your wife, especially if she’s an English teacher who loves Samuel Coleridge). However, once I decided to speak to him again, I had to agree that he was right. Sometimes, beauty costs a lot. I, for one, prefer the kind of beauty that DOESN’T cost me 8+ hours of breathing in horrific chemicals, but things happen, and we have to acknowledge it and move on.
So, long and short— I’m not going to pretend that my hair naturally looks awesome. It doesn’t. In fact, I have had it coifed in coconut oil almost 24-7 since last week, trying to undo some of the damage. And, I probably won’t ever be putting color of any sort on it, ever again.
I work hard at beauty sometimes, and I’m okay with acknowledging it.