I have a friend who is going through a rather acrimonious divorce. To cheer herself up (and in an unconscious attempt to make her ex jealous), she decided to dye her hair blond. And she decided to do it herself.
I tried to talk her out of it and told her not to do it when in a “down” mood. Also, I really wasn’t sure that she would be suited to having blond hair.
As it happens, her home D.I.Y. coloring turned out rather well. She did a good job, especially for a first time, and she looked surprisingly good.
But there was only one problem—she hated it.
All her friends who thought it would be disastrous were surprised at how well she looked, but she, who was determined to do it, was very unhappy.
Some friends suggested that she “live with it” for a while, thinking that it might grow on her. But she decided on a whim to dye it black.
She had never had black hair either, but felt it would be easy enough to dye blond hair black. Her actual hair color was brown-beginning-to-go-gray.
Well, this time it really was a disaster. It looked completely unnatural and was a shock to the eye. She had to do something, so she attempted to dye it back to her real color without the gray.
Never having dyed my hair, I know nothing about the process. I don’t know if this was the expected result, but my friend’s hair came out a rather mousey color and what’s worse, it started falling out.
Finally she went to a professional who re-dyed it light brown and, in an attempt to stop it from falling out, cut it very short.
So her story did have a happy ending. After wearing her hair long for most of her life, she’s thrilled with her new short haircut and can “live with” her hair color.
And under strict orders not to do anything to her hair except wash it with a mild shampoo, it has mostly stopped falling out.
I think the moral of the story is, as I’ve always said, never do anything drastic to your hair when you’re sad or depressed.
Miriam Silverberg is a freelance journalist and owner of Miriam Silverberg Associates, a boutique publicity firm in Manhattan. She may be reached at [email protected]
(*Photo of woman via Shutterstock)
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