It’s reported that the average American woman will spend $55,000 in her lifetime on hair products and treatments. Maintaining this investment in beauty products can be difficult for anyone, but can also be hard to give up. Self-care can serve as a creative outlet and can be relaxing, so how can someone find the balance between these two? As a college student, funds tend to be scarce. Regular beauty routines can sometimes be pushed aside in order to spare some cash. However, not every student is willing to sacrifice beauty for their budget.
Megan Morris decided to bypass the typical, expensive job of dying her hair by doing it herself…in her dorm room.
Why did you initially decide to dye your hair?
“I have wanted to dye my hair for a while. My natural hair color is kind of an ashy brown and doesn’t have much dimension to it. I, originally, wanted to try out the steely gray color that was in style this past summer, but opted out of that because I didn’t want to lighten my hair. The maroon color that I chose instead is just so fun, mild, and perfect for the fall season.”
Are you worried that you’ll have to stop some of your usual beauty routines while you’re in college?
“Not really. I don’t have much of a beauty routine to begin with. The extent of my everyday makeup is mascara and maybe some lipstick if I’m really feeling ambitious.”
How do you view self-care? Is it something that’s been important to you?
“Self-care is fairly important to me. I believe that taking time for yourself is critical in maintaining a stable life at any age. It helps you realize what things you really love to do but don’t often find the time for when life gets hectic. I often take at least 30 minutes to draw or read before bed and that just helps me unwind from the day.”
What was the most challenging part of dyeing your hair?
“The most challenging part of dying my hair was definitely trying to get the dye throughout all of my hair evenly. To be completely honest, I had to do two processes because I missed a large chunk of my hair the first time. I finally got dye on most of my hair the second time, but missed a little bit underneath the surface layer.”
Have you ever dyed your hair by yourself before?
“No, I have not. I have had my hair dyed at my house before, but was fairly young when I did, so I had my mom do it for me.”
Did anything surprise you about the process?
“I expected the process to be a lot harder than it was. At the salon, the stylists are using special brushes and tinfoil and a big hair drying machine. All I had to do was lather it in, put on a shower cap, and wait.”
Did you have help dyeing your hair?
“I did have help. I did all of the dying, but during the first process my friend Kayla stood by with a wet napkin to clean my neck, ears, and hairline of dye so it wouldn’t stain my skin. During the second process, my roommate, Rose, did the same.”
Were you satisfied with the results?
“Overall, I’m pretty happy with it. It was a fun color to try and a good experience to have. I don’t know if I’d do maroon again, but it matched the season quite nicely and that’s exactly what I wanted!”
Do you think this is something you’d recommend to other people wanting to dye their own hair?
“Definitely. The hair dye I bought was only $5 and the gloves that I bought were $2 and I got a pack of eight plastic hair caps for $1. It was easy, quick, and much cheaper than going to a salon.”
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
“Make sure you use a towel you don’t care about too much for the first couple washes because the dye will bleed and stain the towel.”
There you have it! Maybe with this advice from Megan, we can all cut down on that potential $55,000 we’ll invest in our hair over our lifetimes and experiment with some fun hair dye colors ourselves.