"What possessed you"??? My sister Loren demanded to know...Good question!!! Well...it all started with 3 visits to 3 different drugstores. Each and every one was sold out of Clairol's Root Perfect in either Medium Brown or Medium Ash Brown. Madness! Did we all get skunky on the same day??? And then I spied a new product by Nice 'n Easy... Color Blend Foam. Simple one step, permanent color, with a dripless mousse consistency, that promised built in tones and highlights. What's the worst that could happen???, I mused naively. I was about to find out...
It's been well over a decade since I attempted to do at home hair coloring. I have read some amazing things in magazines and blogs about some of the newer offerings like Perfect 10. So many great advances have been achieved in skin care in the last ten years, why not hope for the best?
Indeed...At least I had the smarts to only leave it on for 15 minutes. A couple more and I could have weighed in as the 6th Kardashian. Ruh-Roh. Besides cancelling our evening plans, what to do??? Bright and early the next morning, I went to a 24 hour CVS to consider my options: buying something that would strip the color out or adding my own highlights to put some color back in. I chose the latter, and purchased L'Oreal's new Couleur Experte. With its grooved forefinger highlighting applicator, I have to admit it looked easy and well, fun. Besides, what's the worst that could happen??? Again, I was about to find out...
They honestly do make the mixing and application process, easier and neater than in the past. Couleur Experte finishes to a cornflower blue and stays that way once it's in you hair, so you know exactly where you placed it. I know something like 80% of the women who color their hair in the U.S. do it themselves and if you are one of them, I applaud your guts and dexterity. The trickiest part of the process is even application, particularly the back of your head. Add some grey into the mix and you can only hope for the best. This is not for sissies...
15 minutes into the process, I could see things were lightening up, but I was also panicking. The full measure of my insanity was seeping in and the more I mucked it up, the more correction it would entail. I might have been better off with another 5 minutes on, to achieve a more caramel color, but I had lost my confidence and hopped in the shower.
I approached my towel off moment with one eye open. I could see it was bad, but better bad, in a Sharon Osbourn sort of way... I made it to work the next day, sans babushka, (a Russian do-rag), but knew I had to make way over to Christopher my very kind and very talented colorist (of 13 years), at Warren Tricomi in Greenwich, babushka in hand. Ever the oasis of calm, grace and maturity, Christopher did not snicker, or hyperventilate. He evenly generously pronounced it, "not bad". Chris promised I had not done, "irreversible damage and that it could be fixed easily".
"Oh, terrific" I breathed. "So when should I come back"???
"Ummm, is tomorrow morning at 8:00 too early"???
Alrighty then...I guess I knew where I really stood.
2 hours later, after artful placement, two processes, steaming and glazing, I was once again a medium-dark brunette with the subtle expertly placed caramel highlights I love above. And "what have you learned
I have learned if I am ever cruising the CVS aisles and again have the
xox,
DD
"And what have you learned? " --Priceless!
ReplyDeleteSomethings Tamara are definitely better off left to the Pro's!...
ReplyDeletexo
DD