Dyeing my hair
What a disastrous morning. I had so much to do and I ran out of time doing nothing but my hair.
I had just finished dyeing it, or so I thought. But when I looked into the mirror my hair was jet black instead of dark brown. Wow. Yikes! What did I do? After 40 minutes of all that gunk in my hair, I failed. Daring to open another container of L’Oreal to remedy the disaster, I could hear in my mind Peachie Prieto
As someone who hates parlors because they’re boring — just sitting down and reading mundane stuff to while away the time — I found myself doing just that. I headed to the parlor for some hair repair, not looking forward to being immobilized and wishing I was a jar of paste back home, being the best place to look horrible. Now — with a state of emergency looming — I found myself thinking: Why did I attempt (why not?) to do this beauty regimen at home? Naturally it was to save time and even money, but the inevitable happened to this amateur. I have a motto about learning something new every day. So what did I learn from that fiasco? Choose a hair dye as near to your natural color by looking at the box or the “now and later” pictures that show the color effects of dye. Another color check comes from the strands of hair on display near the boxes of hair products being sold. Secondly, if you intend to dye your roots, be sure you do the roots only and not the whole head! And thirdly, another error was to entrust my hair to someone without watching the procedure in a mirror.
As I was saying, off to a professional. I headed for a brief bleaching and another 40 minutes with another color — red brown this time. Rush, rush, one hour gone by, praying my hair wouldn’t split or dry up while my seven-year-old grandson Pico was hurrying me via text and via telephone because he was serving lunch at 12 noon and I had to try his chicken soup, bangus and pork loin. I was really getting hyper, between my hair being done and wanting to please Pico who had his chef teacher with him, and my wishing to complete a few memos that needed to be sent… all the while sitting there in suspense. Would the desired effect take place? I scolded myself for being too daring — I insist on doing many things myself, but hair dyeing apparently isn’t one of them!
As if I hadn’t learned, just two weeks ago I had a hair trim that turned out to be a haircut because I was watching TV and wasn’t watching myself in the mirror — again — as my hair was being cut. Short-short, my hair turned out to be, losing three inches in that nightmare. Lessons learned? Face a mirror and don’t say “bahala ka na”; tell your hair dresser what you want, and insist on it.
Long hair has an extreme significance for me. It enhances femininity and, depending on personal tastes, hair can mean power and an asset for self-confidence. How fast does hair grow? Fifteen millimeters or five-eighths of an inch a month; it takes seven years to grow it to my waist, if I measure from the front of the scalp line over the top of the head and down to my desired length. Mine could take only five years. Only problem? It’s difficult to accept the waiting period.
Sunday, I took a long look at my children’s hair to remind me what color my hair used to be. When I was younger a dye was not out of necessity but form endless experiments meant to enhance the complexion, the eyes, the mouth. Darker hair dyes or lighter colors were artificial enhancers and were kept a secret. Now we go through artificial remedies and announce them when we don’t even have to. Heads dyed red or blond with even maroon streaks do not necessarily reflect ethnic ancestry.
Shades are basically broken down into two categories: warm and cool. People with warm eye, hair and skin tones should choose a warm hair color, and people with cool tones should choose a cool hair color. The “warm” people have golden or reddish tones, whether in their skin, hair, or eyes, and “cool” people have bluish tones and skin and hair without a hint of gold. “Warm” people should choose colors with golden and red highlights, from strawberry blonde to dark auburn. “Cool” people should stay away from hair colors with reddish or golden hues and seek out the cooler colors, ranging from platinum to blue-black. Remember: stay within a few shades of your natural color.
Now, what to do if my hair gets ruined? Hair is an outgrowth of protein. So I should add more protein to it or a wheat mixture or coconut milk — all of these have worked on my head of hair. If you’re interested, check the ingredients of crème rinses and leave-on beauty conditioners for protein content.
To protect hair, I suggest deep-conditioning at the parlor or at home. I prefer the home ritual: Try applying a creamy conditioning mask or coconut oil every two weeks. If you can give your hair this treatment, say, once a week, that would be even better. First choice: spread coconut oil or coconut milk and massage it into the whole scalp, leave for 30 minutes or 20 minutes and shampoo well, then put in your crème rinse.
In the shower or bath, work a conditioner into your clean wet hair after shampoo. Distribute thoroughly, putting more on the ends. Leave on for 20 minutes, if possible, or even 10 minutes. A third option is to wrap hair in a damp micro-turban or warm towel over the warm coconut oil that has been heated for 30 seconds in the microwave. Rinse hair well with warm water, shampoo and put in your conditioner. With all three options, use a wide-tooth comb to gently distribute conditioner and remove tangles.
Falling hair has always been a real fear of mine. Do you know how many hairs we have on our heads? One hundred thousand hair follicles on brunettes and — since I’m at it — a blonde would be afraid to loose 140,000 hairs in her head. Those with black hair have supposedly 110,000 strands and redheads have 86,000! Would anyone want to loose 100 strands a day? That’s the reasonable projected hair loss in a single day. Me? No way!
