BAD Hair Day

What's the worst part of moving away from your hometown? FINDING A HAIR STYLIST.

Ok, ok, maybe I'm looking at this a little out of perspective...but that has been a pretty stressful part of moving far far away from home.

Yes, you have to find new doctors and churches and banks and insurance agents...but I have people I can talk to about that...and recommendations that I can use.

I THOUGHT I would just look around at the girls at work and find one with cute hair and find out where she gets it done. Well, that would mean girls at work have cute hair...not so. The only one with cute hair (that I've seen so far) is my friend Monica who is in the same boat I am (she just moved to KS, too).

I ended up visiting a couple salons where I talked to stylists and checked out their prices (which are way more than I paid in CA -- what??!), and I chose a salon about 5 minutes from my house with a stylist who assured me that she could replicate the formula for my color that my last stylist (I LOVE you and miss you Krista!) had written down for me.

So, last night was my appointment...you already know the outcome by the title of this posting. But, just for fun, here are the details...

Just a side note -- I'm starting to question my decision making skills...I chose the wrong moving company, I chose the wrong hair dresser, I'm not exactly creating a good track record here.

My stylist, call her A to protect her identity (why? because I'm not THAT cruel), looked at the formula, and went to mix color. I have 2 colors weaved into my hair - a red and blonde. The red didn't look quite right in the bowl, but it was a different brand, so I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. First of all, she put the color on a little differently, but she started at the back of my head (where I couldn't see what she was doing), so I decided (hmm, decision making skills again) to keep my mouth shut.

As she got around to the side where I could see, I realized that she wasn't pulling the red all the way through to the ends. Now, since it's a different brand of color, it's not exactly the same color as I have on my hair - not to mention that red fades FAST, so it's not really red she's coloring over, it's blondish/brown...so what impact will that have? Still, I keep my mouth shut. When she's all done (which, by the way, she seemed to start rushing at the end, and I got even more nervous), she says she needs to color my ends, so she goes to get more red. What?? She then grabs all the ends that SHE THINKS have red at the roots (since the roots are in foil, how does she know?) and starts putting red on them, and I can tell she isn't using as much dye as she used on the roots.

Ok, then I sit and process for 30 minutes while she cuts some guy's hair, then she washes me out and goes to get the toner for my roots. I had told her the toner Krista used was to brighten up my roots, so the new growth wasn't as obvious. Well, I don't know what she put on my hair, but she put it all over, and my roots ARE NOT brighter.

Next, she cut it, and I think she did fine except a "trim" to me is about 1/2", not 1"...but whatever.

When she was just about finished styling it, my soon-to-be new SIL called to tell me that she and B's brother had gotten engaged on Monday, so I was a little distracted, and didn't check out the finished look very closely.

After I got home, I went to put my hair up so I could take a bath...and that's when I noticed just how bad it is... The red at my roots is MUCH darker than the ends, there are a BUNCH of places where the blonde and red are mixed together on the SAME strand. AND (yes, there's more) she didn't get all the way to the roots on some of it -- mainly at the front (which is my BIGGEST pet peeve)! I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT!

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that my neck is ALL RED from the dye. Well, after making all these findings, I had to have a glass of wine with my bath. AND THEN, while I was in the bathtub trying to rub off the red dye on my neck, I dropped my book in the water.

So, after work I will be stopping by to see A (and maybe the salon owner if necessary) to see when and how they will be fixing my hair. I'm seriously contemplating paying for Krista to fly out and do my hair from now on...