Hair coloring woes

You can't always get it right, friends. And don't I know it.

Periodically, I get bright ideas for things I can do to my hair. This has been a syndrome that has affected me since I was a teenager. Although in those days the options were far less, I could still use the few options I had and royally screw them up. One time, I decided to cut my hair. The next year was spent looking like a boy. Then, I decided to highlight it at home. Either the hair color was wrong, or my technique was, but I ended sporting more stripes than a zebra. And at least zebras can carry those off!

Coming back to the present, I recently decided to dip dye my hair at home. The thought struck me as mum and I were walking around the city and we passed by a beauty supply store. Beauty supply stores are sort of like middle men and carry products used by most salons. In there, I found a red that looked pretty bright and some developer. I jumped excitedly at the thought of the results and ran home (more like walked very fast) to do the needful. The results, were not too great. It doesn't look bad, and I don't look weird so that's a silver lining. Definitely. But I was hoping for it to be brighter.

Since I can now call myself an experienced hair-color-defaulter here are a few things you should NOT do while coloring your hair:

1. Make sudden decisions.
It might feel impulsive and exciting to suddenly decide to change up your hair, but it's always best to do your research before purchasing and trying out hair colors. I did my research, and still didn't do a good job. Think of what havoc minds more ignorant than mine can create.

2. Believe whatever the hair color box says.
Most boxes show you what the end result will be, according to your hair color. But, they aren't too accurate. Here's where your research comes in hand. There are millions of videos, blogs and sites where people share their experiences. Watch, read and be aware.

3. Be lazy and skip steps.
Always, always do a strand test. Take a few hairs from the back of your head and mix drops of all the components to see the results. This way, if the results aren't satisfactory, you can make the necessary changes.

4. Leave the color in too long (especially in highlight kits).
Many people who shared their hair color experiences talked about leaving in the color longer to get better results, but experience tells me that it doesn't work. So don't do it!

5. Repeatedly color your hair for better results.
Another thing people do is repeatedly color their hair for brighter color. Although this might work for most people, it does a lot of damage. A better idea is to strand test and get the color right before going for it. Saves you a lot of hair trauma.

I'm going to give it a rest for a while, but I'm sure very soon I'll be trying something else (To be honest, I already have another idea in my head. Oh no!). But I now know what not to do, and so do you.