To Color or Not to Color

Today's post is about living leaner and trimming my spending habits, the hardest part for me of this adventure.

I got my hair cut on Saturday and resisted the very strong temptation to get highlights. Good job Sarah! As a reward I bought myself some Bumble and Bumble thickening spray. ($40 haircut+$8 tip+$24 styling product = $72... ugh) Okay maybe I shouldn't have rewarded myself for saving money by spending money. Baby steps.

I used to color my hair, starting at age 28 when I found my first gray hair. I'll never forget it. I was in graduate school and I was sitting in class one night twirling my hair around my finger. I glanced down to see one really light, really scraggly hair, and realized it was my first gray. The room spun and I yanked it out of my head. I thought I am waaay to young to be going gray so I went straight to the hair salon. Coloring is expensive, and once you're on that path you have to keep it up. Because roots are not cute, ever. And I was getting two processes: darkening part, and highlighting part. After a couple years of forking out lots of dough (close to $200/visit?), and not knowing how much gray I really had, I decided to phase it out. I got fewer highlights over two visits just to transition the grow-out. And finally after a couple years growing it out I am back to my natural color. There's a few grays in there, but not noticible unless you're up close looking for them. I'm okay with that.

But, now I just think my natural color is this dark blonde blaahhh. I really want to start highlighting again. Really bad! But it's a total waste of money! I'm not doing it myself, that just seems like a disaster waiting to happen. And call me a snob, but I can spot a drug store job a mile away. How can I justify spending money on something so unnecessary? Maybe I can focus on harm reduction instead of all out abstinance. Yesterday I was looking on the Aveda Institute website (www.avedapdx.com) to see how much they charge. In a desperate moment I got my brows waxed there once and the student did a great job and was closely supervised by her instructor. Getting highlights there would be $35+. That's so cheap! That too could be a disaster waiting to happen, but hopefully the instructor would be closely supervising again. But the biggest thing I'm worried about is CHEATING on my hair stylist! Is that ridiculous? I'd feel utterly guilt-ridden the next time I went in for a haircut. Ugh. Guess I'll let it perculate a bit longer.