changing my hair: before and after

A few months back, there was a post here on the creation of beauty is art. about my hair turning grey. I've sort of been mourning the slow loss of my natural hair colour over the last little while. Despite not wanting to make a change, it was time, because the greys had started to overpower all the rest. Today, I wanted to share a before and after (though there was a bit of a sneak peak in my St. Patrick's Day post) and talk about my experience before, during, and after the salon visit. 

So there you have it...the before and after. There are things that I like and things that I don't like. In terms of the salon experience, it is not something I can imagine getting used to. I know some people view hair appointments as a form of pampering, but for me, they are anxiety producing. I hate being touched and looked at. I hate worrying about the end result. I hate it all, honestly! The process took several hours and multiple people were slapping hair dye on me at one point. All of it made me feel super uncomfortable. I might have to turn to at-home dye, at least every now and then, because I can't imagine dealing with this on a fairly regular basis. There is also the cost to consider. It was more than $300 CDN to have my hair cut and dyed. Yikes! I didn't like the process and I didn't like the cost, but what about the actual colour? That is a bit hit and miss.

When I went to the hair salon, I brought a photo that had darker brown hair with a bright contrasting red. The people at the salon were not too keen to do that and encouraged me to do something much subtler. It wasn't really what I wanted, to be honest. Unfortunately, I am not necessarily the best at advocating for myself in general. It seemed like they didn't want to spend all that time on my hair, so they were pushing for something that had less steps. Or at least that is how it felt to me. In the end, I felt sort of guilty and like a burden...so there is a much subtler red throughout than what I anticipated. On the plus side, the darker brown is something that I like. I can see myself sticking with this kind of colour in the future. 

I am already missing the days when my hair was brown all on its own. Hopefully I will get used to this new normal.