Big Red

Lately I've felt a little bit bogged down in the day-to-day routine of my life. Between stressing out about classes, missing home, and some personal problems, I feel like I've become rather boring. So to fix that and get me out of my rut, I decided to do something semi-crazy the other night: I dyed my hair. I've dyed my hair off and on since my sophomore year of high school, but it's been a while since I've tried it. And of course, I went with red. 

I wasn't crazy enough to go with permanent dye, so I chose to use Clairol Natural Instincts in Medium Auburn Brown. (Just FYI, I'm not receiving any money or free hair dye from them for this...although that would be pretty awesome!)

There are 4 easy steps to this...

1. Pour the color into the developer and shake

2. Put color on your hair and let sit for 10 minutes

3. Rinse out completely then apply conditioner

4. Use color refresh packet about 2 weeks to revive the red

The kit included a big sheet of precautions and instructions (does anyone actually do the allergy test? Maybe I should...oops), and even two pairs of gloves so you don't get dye all over your hands! Make sure to wear an old shirt and if you have carpet in your bathroom be sure to put old towels down...this dye will come off of your skin but not out of fabric!

At first I was uneasy, because the dye was purple. That'll make a girl nervous. But I applied it all over my head anyway, saturating the entire thing. I used a whole bottle but I have pretty long hair. If your hair is short you probably won't end up using that much.

(excuse me looking gross with no makeup on!)

Then I let it sit for 10 minutes while I cleaned my bathroom counters and mirrors. After my time was up I rinsed it all out (making my bathtub look a little like a murder scene) and applied the conditioner. I let that sit for a couple of minutes then rinsed it out too. 

Aaaaand tada! Red hair. I didn't expect it to be so bright, but I'm happy with how it turned out. It was the perfect pick-me-up going into the weekend. And since it's only semi-permanent (fades out after about 28 washes) I won't have to worry about constantly re-dying it to cover my roots. 

If you want to dye your hair but aren't ready for completely permanent color, I would suggest this box. It came in a lot of different colors at Target (there were like 4 different reds...it took me 10 minutes of standing at the shelves holding boxes up to my head to decide), and was on sale this week for $5.99. I'm going to go enjoy my fiery locks now. Have a great weekend!