Shorter, but Sweet.

So if you missed it, January was a pretty crap month for me. Near the end, I just kind of snapped. I had a day where I almost stayed in bed all day and cried, and one day where I actually did, and then I had a couple of really loopy days where I kind of accepted the fact that I was screwed no matter what I did and just said "To hell with it! I'm wearing heels with my pajamas, eating chocolate for dinner, and cracking rude jokes at inopportune moments because I just don't care anymore!" And then I came back to reality slightly refreshed and ready to take the next round of cosmic ass-kicking.
On one of my saner days, I decided that as a pick me up I was going to dye my hair, because having fresh hair color always makes me feel really good. I didn't do anything wild and crazy (even though I really, really wanted my peacock blue streaks back); just used "my" color as usual.

Someone out there is probably cringing at the idea of home box color. You go to your salon, get your fancy hair cuts and your expensive color jobs. My shoestring doesn't stretch that far, especially right now (see above link). For now, $7 home color that I got for free is the best I can do, and I've always had good results with it.

Don't get excited; when I say free, I'm not saying that I got some kind of promotional offer. The last time I went to my mom and dad's house, Mom gave me a ton of food, and two boxes of "our" color: Garnier Nutrisse #452 "Chocolate Cherry." This is a color that can be hard to find, so every time she sees it, she always buys two boxes. There's a secret stash in the linen closet. I think she had about six boxes when I was there. If there's one person I want to ride out the apocalypse with, it's my mom. She has enough canned goods to get through the entire book of Revelations, and you can bet that she won't be doing it with her grey showing!

My went just below my shoulder blades, and one box of this color was just barely enough to get all of it. I have medium to fine hair that is unusually dry right now. After I colored it, the texture was so much nicer and softer; my hair always feels refreshed when it's newly dyed.

The one thing I don't like is that the conditioner that comes with the dye isn't available on it's own. I've had such a hard time finding a conditioner that is great for my hair and doesn't make me break out. Once I figured out that I was allergic to my regular Garnier conditioner, I freaked out and started reading the ingredients on the dye--no apricot oil, and no reaction to the fragrances or chemicals in the past, so I should be good (no problems this time around, either. Whew!). Why isn't this stuff available by the bottle? It's made with avacado, shea, and olive oils (Funny story: so last week I got so desperate for a good conditioner that wouldn't kill me I tried using straight up olive oil. Didn't turn out so well).

So I ran around with my new haircolor for a few days, but my hair still wasn't back where I wanted it. It was frustrating. In the last eight months, I've had to purge or re-evaluate all of my hair products thanks to my allergies. It's really hard for me to find something that works that doesn't make me break out, and right now I can't afford to  buy a bunch of new product in the hopes that it meets those criteria.

Here is what my hair looked like about 4 days after the dye job. I think can see at least part of the problem:

That is dry, newly washed hair, and it looks like it hasn't been washed in weeks. I also look like a convict.

So I started with a clean slate.

I apologize. I haven't been home much during daylight hours lately, and that makes photos...challenging. Particularly of myself.