A little background on my relationship with my hair…
My hair has always been a huge part of me. I refused to cut it for so long until I came to college and spontaneously chopped it off halfway through freshman year. It was a very dramatic change for me because I felt like I had lost a part of myself. My hair had always been my personal hiding space where I could conceal all of my insecurities and emotions. Cutting it off was like removing a mask that I’d been wearing for most of my life.
I didn’t just stop there though. About halfway through this quarter, I made the spontaneous- albeit slightly pressured- decision to dye my hair blue.
The Spontaneous Decision
Two of my younger sisters came to visit me a few weeks ago, and we all went to our cousin’s dorm over at LMU. My cousin is a connoisseur of self-dye jobs and has been dying her own hair for several years. Even though I knew I was in good hands, I couldn’t help but feel scared out of my mind. I am extremely apprehensive when it comes to messing around with my hair.
After about 20 minutes of peer pressure from my siblings and cousin, I finally caved in and decided to live in the moment. YOLO, am I right? So, we went to CVS and bought some hair dye.
The Product Details
I ended up choosing Garnier Nutrisse’s Ultra Color Dark Intense Indigo. According to the label, it’s supposed to “transform dark hair with ultra-reflective tones in just one easy step,” but it didn’t turn out to be so easy.
I have very dark (basically black), thick, curly hair that is extremely difficult to manage. It’s always an unruly mess on the top of my head that can never be tamed.
Anyway, this stuff is apparently supposed to be able to turn even black hair blue. I’m not talking about a bright, vibrant neon blue; it’s supposed to be more of an underlying blue tint that makes your hair reflect blue tones rather than the brown/reddish tones that most natural hair has.
The Process
Once back in her room, my cousin laid out her tools and dove right in. Since I was quite hesitant, we only used one container of hair dye, even though the amount of hair I have would probably require two to three. This could be part of the reason why we got the results we did.
My cousin then proceeded to coat my entire head- excluding my roots- in the indigo concoction. I had never been more terrified in my life, but it was too late to back out now. After finishing the bottle, all we could do was wait.
The Results
After the standard 45 minutes had passed, she told me to rinse out my hair in the tub using cold water and the conditioner that was provided in the dye kit. I did as instructed and emerged from the bathroom with butterflies in my stomach. What had I done to my hair?!
I took a look in the mirror and was a little surprised to see that nothing had happened. I hadn’t known what to expect, but this was not it. I thought I would have had random blue patches throughout my hair or some sort of blue ombre, but all I got was what I started with.
The uneventful and colorless results were probably due to not enough hair dye used and washing out the dye too early, but I wasn’t too disappointed. To be completely honest, I was more relieved because I wasn’t completely sure I wanted blue hair. I did it more on a whim, so I didn’t know whether I would like it or not.
Looking Forward
Even though the only physical result I got was my hair bleeding blue in the shower for two weeks straight, I still enjoyed the overall experience. Spontaneously trying to dye my own hair blue was an adventure that I definitely won’t forget. Who knows? I might pay the blue hair dye another visit one day and see if we can make things work out in the future.