D'oh!

So, a little background info for those of you who haven't met me in person:

I got my first grey hair when I was 21. I remember vividly looking in my bathroom mirror in my crackerbox-sized apartment in Teeny Tiny Blink and You Miss it Town, Manitoba. I phoned my mom to tell her all about it. Eventually that little grey hair decided it was lonely and more of it's family and friends showed up on my head to keep it company. I decided to take action when I got sick of hearing "You're too young to have so much grey hair!" at work over and over. I got some cute blonde highlights that blended out the greys nicely.

A few years ago and a lot more grey hairs ago I reached a milestone in my stylist's chair. She had to double process my hair to cover everything. When I was single and childless, and even when I was a mother but working, dropping $100 (or more) at the salon was not such a big deal. Today, when I am a stay at home mom who just wrote a cheque to the plumber for $600, dropping $100 at a salon seems quite extravagant. That $100 won't even cover our weekly grocery bill.

That brings us to today. Every once in a while I try to stretch my salon colour with a home dye job. It never ends well. My greys are stubborn. Home hair colour usually washes right out of them in under a week. I decided to give it one more try. A couple of weeks ago I bought the stuff that said it was specifically for grey hair. It washed out in three shampoos. Frustrated, I dug to the back of my linen cupboard today and found a box of colour and while Matthew was napping decided to give it one more try. I mixed the little bottles, made a note of the time and then busied myself for the required 1/2 hour. While I was waiting I noticed that this particular brand of colour was not as stinky as others I had used. It actually smelled quite pleasant. I also didn't have the telltale stains around my hairline that I usually get when I apply dye. That should have tipped me off that something wasn't right. Of course, I was tired, a little frazzled and hoping to finish this up before Matthew woke up. When it was time to rinse and condition I picked up the last little tube left in the box. I looked at the label. I was holding the pigment in my hand. D'oh!! All this time I was walking around my house with a mixture of colour developer and conditioner on my head!!

I beat my head on my computer desk and complained to a sympathetic online friend. I then called the help line on the side of the box. A friendly lady with a lovely French accent took my call. It turns out I didn't do any damage, and if I had, in fact, mixed this stuff correctly I could have turned my fading highlights green!! The lady at the call center kindly explained to me what I need to do to colour correct my highlights before applying new colour, and recommended brands that would cover the greys better. I wrote everything down. (It involved mixing two different boxes of colour) I then decided that by making a small mistake instead of a bigger one The Universe was trying to tell me that I should just let the pros handle this.

My appointment with my capable and experienced colourist is on Wednesday.