They Should Screen For Emotional Stability

I admit it it -- like so many women my age, I color my hair.  In my book, aging gracefully does not require you to forgo such modern wonders as hair coloring.  So three times a year, I have blonde highlights done and once a year I have brown lowlights done.  Other than the first time when I was shocked to be a blonde (my natural hair color is light brown/light auburn), this system has been working for me.

Last week was my yearly round of lowlights. Last week was also unfortunately a very stressful, emotionally trying week.  Mama managed to fall on Thursday and wouldn't go to the hospital.  Finally Daddy and my saint of a sister Bobbi got her there on Friday where they discovered she had internal bleeding.  Her lung collapsed Friday night and things looked rather touch and go.

Saturday found me in the colorist's chair trying not to think about the fact that I might be packing to go visit my dying mother that afternoon (she did pull through and is much improved).  It was in that state that I said okay to adding a bit of auburn to the lowlights.   I didn't know it but apparently colorists don't add a bit of anything.  They add a lot.  When the cap came off, I had red hair.  Really red hair.  Lots of red hair.  I admit that I freaked out just a bit. Okay, maybe more than a bit. In fact, I was so freaked out that the wonderful woman who does my hair finished the cut and styling with me facing away from the mirror so I wouldn't see the color again until everything was done.   When she was done, she turned me back around and of course all I could see was the red hair.  She told me to wash it a few times and come back this week if I still hated it and she would make it blonde again.

So I went home and washed, rinsed and repeated several times and things got better.  In fact, it now looks a lot like how my hair looked before I was forced by the emergence of gray to join the ranks of the blondes.  My husband loves it, my coworkers have made numerous positive comments.  So why do I still not like it?  Is it because the hair looks like the twenty-something me but the face (and the neck -- Oh My God what did I do to the skin on my neck that caused it to look like a Gecko?) is still the fifty-something me?  Is it just the shock of such a drastic change?  I don't know.  What I do know is that colorists should screen their clients for emotional stability prior to making any hair color changes.  Kind of like how you aren't allowed to ride intense roller coasters if you are pregnant or have high-blood pressure.  Maybe there should be a sign:  If you have a close family member in the hospital or deployed in the military or you are undergoing a divorce or are otherwise emotionally unstable, please reschedule your appointment. 

Hair color prior to colorist adventure

Hair color prior to going gray (I'm not taking a picture of current color but it is close to this)