Monday is Hair Day: The Box is Not the Bottle

As fall is approaching, I thought it might be a good idea to switch my hair over from my recorrected blonde hair with about 3 inches of exposed roots to something more dignified and resigned: Brown.

I’ve never been a fan of brown hair; it looks great on horses but on humans it just makes me a little sad, since it lacks a certain amount of oomph that I experience with blonde or red hair (and even the woeful foray into a black).  Brown is boring and for blending in with thee rest of the masses.

That said, I knew it was time to blend. The exposed roots didn’t seem to hold any certain color that could be sorted out; it just mocked me with a “blah”. And when in blah, go brown. I don’t have the physical ability right now to spend time carefully adding highlights or lowlights, my foot is broken and can’t bear weight, and the other leg only tolerates a flamingo stance for so long before it revolts. So, brown was the easiest to take care of what I need for the next few months.

Because I couldn’t actually get to the store to stand there for an hour staring aimlessly at all the boxes, I had plenty of time to read online about what colors were available and find something that would be easy for my husband to spot in the store, grab, and hurry out of the store.

I settled on Feria, since I’ve used it in the past with no problems; now it was time to sort through the subtlety of my monitors variations of brown and guess which would work. I finally settled on Brazilian Brown. The box’s model and the color’s name had been changed, and my husband understood he was to look for the dye number first and not worry so much about the model on the box or whatever name was given. Depending on the store you buy from, there could be a product that has had its name changed within the past year or even twice in one year to hip it up a bit. Mostly it results in confusion for buyers who want to “brand” their hair with a certain dye. But what is Autumn Sable one day is Chai Swirl the next.

My helpful husband returned from the store and just as I had predicted, the model on the box looked nothing like the one on the box from L’Oreal’s official website, and the name was slightly changed, though I can’t recall the new (or old) one. The dye number was correct though, so it was time. I did look at the side of the box with the pictures indicating how the shade would appear, my “blah” was going to become a dark caramel, I assumed.

Forty-five minutes later, there didn’t seem to be a trace of brown at all, and instead a dark flaming red greeted me, haunting me with memories of clowns known to be evil. I’ll live with it for now, and after a few washes, it has definitely toned down. My point is that I really never know what’s going to happen with my hair when I decide to dye at home; I have experienced mutitudes of diasters, and I know that when it gets really bad, I can always head to a real salon and pay to get it corrected!

Friday is Makeup Day: Livable Lashes

I have incredibly sparse and short eyelashes. I sleep with a beauty mask over my eyes, and on many occasions, in the morning my lashes are already twisted in some bizarre way due to the way I slept the night before. I do use a basic Revlon eyelash curler, but it doesn’t seem to have much of an effect at all. My only hope is a decent masacra to fix things up.

And for about twenty years now, I’ve been using the same mascara, because it has the only wand that understands how to grab the tiniest of my lashes and give them life: L’Oreal Paris Voluminous Full Definition Mascara. The wand’s bristles are spaced closely together, so there’s no chance of “skipping” a tiny lash stranded alone, which means I’m not double or triple coating the little guys. Sparse lashes look fat from the mascara itself after only one coat, and any more than that gives it a very trashy look.

The other thing I need from a mascara is the ability to be gentle to my eyes. There’s no sense in putting it on if my eyes are going to start tearing a minute later! It’s also why I am always very hesitant to try new mascara; how can I test it without feeling like I wasted money? I’ve found it impossible to do, which is why I will probably stick with the same mascara brand and brush I’ve been using for the past twenty years; at least until they stop making it!