What's that smell? Ammonia or Insanity?

A few weeks ago Jessica was all,

“Dude, I have extra tickets to Rock the Runways on Saturday August 14th and you are coming!”

Since, we have already established that I should not argue with Jessica, and that I should always just do as she says, I had no choice but to agree. Well that and I desperately needed an adult night out. Have I mentioned I have a demonic force living in my house in the form of a 22 month old? Enough said.

So I allowed Jessica to twist my rubber arm and “talk me into” attending on one condition, she had to be my personal stylist for the event. If you’ve visited Jessica’s blog Fatshion Chic, then you will know she has great taste and is a whiz with hair and make up. So if I was going to attend an event focusing on fashion, with my fashionista friend, I wanted to look the part.

That is why we decided to dye my hair, to brighten me up a little. Get rid of the SAHM frump, and resurrect the sassy sex kitten within. I generally rock a ponytail and t-shirt any day I can get away with it. Sometimes I go without make up for weeks on end. So, I was 100% behind the change. I was ready to rock it up!

Thus the now infamous L’Oreal Excellence Light Auburn kit was applied, and my post Lather, Rinse Repeat was born. Which then led to D-Day, which led to… um…?

The disaster that followed started with a highlighting kit. Actually, three highlighting kits, but it might be better if we don’t count how much dye Jessica and I go through in this tale.

Jessica’s preliminary attack began by highlighting selected pieces of my dark maroonish-purple hair. The consensus being that keeping a few of my darker pieces would add a little fun and sass to my look. A little highlight, a little lowlight, brilliant! I mean who needs a professional colourist! We are capable, intelligent women. We’ve got EVERYTHING under control.

Or…

Once my head was done it was Jessica’s turn. She wanted to go blond for the big event. Here we are in all our glory.



We are sexy, no?

After baking for a bit, a mutual decision was made that maybe my darker pieces were too dark. Too much contrast, not so much sexy, as clown like. So, out came a second highlighter kit and more bleach was applied.

Finally, time to rinse. Into the bathroom I tromped, with shampoo, conditioner and towel in hand. Ready and eager to see my new glamorous look.

Hmmmmm, well...

It was definitely brighter. Sort of, well, actually, it was bright ORANGE to be exact.

My mind went into denial mode. It WAS closer to my natural colour. Maybe it was just a shock because it was so much lighter then the dark I had become used to. Ya, that’s it. And under the fluorescent lights of the bathroom who could judge? It would look more natural in the daytime. Yup, definitely. Well, almost definitely. No, DEFINITELY! No problem! I was all set. GOOD TO GO!! FEELING SEXY!!

When, Jessica came over on Friday morning my fears were confirmed. Her first words, “You hair is orange.”

Solution? More highlighter of course. What’s the definition of insanity again?

After carefully scrutinizing my hair Jessica decided it needed to go a bit lighter, and that would take care of the nasty bright orange and take me down to a more natural lighter orange.

When I woke up Saturday morning this was what my hair looked like…



In all fairness, my hair looked much more natural right after I washed it out on Friday, but since I didn’t shampoo it on Friday night; I guess the bleach just kept right on doing its job. Oops, lesson learned.

So now, it was about 10 hours from our big event. An event Jessica and I had been talking about all week like teenage girls giggling and squealing over prom, and I was looking WAY less then runway ready!

What’s a girl to do?

More dye of course! (I promise, Jessica and I aren’t as stupid as we sound in this post!)

This time we went to Sally’s Beauty Supply and got some professional help. After some hemming and hawing a Nutmeg brown was chosen.

Applied, set for 10 minutes (TOPS) and wash.

TADA!!! Natural redhead again, and in record time!



We completed my hair (and hers too) with enough time to pack the car, stop for some pre party Mickey D’s and head to the hotel where the real prep fun began!

That’s definitely a WHOLE other post!

Glad my hair didn’t get up and walk off my head in protest,

Mandy:)