Beauty

My hair started going grey a handful of a years ago.

Actually, I lie. 

I found my first grey hair the night of the Christmas dance my senior year in high school.  There I was primping in the bathroom waiting for my date to show up, when I found a silver hair on my wee baby 17-year-old head.

I’m afraid its only been downhill from there.  I’ve spent the intervening years plucking a handful of grey hairs at a time from the crown of my head.  That worked out okay until the grey decided to spread out and make itself at home, at which point I started dyeing my hair with box color every 6 weeks.

After a little trial and error I found the right brand and color for me: Clairol Nice n’ Easy dark brown.  Now I buy two boxes at a time whenever it’s on sale and dye my hair in the comfort of my own bathroom, and today I’m going to tell you how to dye your hair at home with all the little tricks I’ve learned the hard way.

Here’s what you need to dye your hair at home:

• box of hair dye
• grubby old t-shirt and a pair of old sweats
• stained old towel
• wet washcloth
• bathroom or kitchen sink

tip: dye dirty hair that’s hasn’t been shampooed for at least a day, it will help the color absorb better

Pick your color, bring it home and open up the box.  Spread out the contents.  You should have some instructions, a pair of rubber gloves, a color formula and a bottle of activator.  Put on your grubby old clothes and grab the old towel and washcloth.

tip: buy 2 boxes of hair dye if your hair is extra thick and/or extra long to make sure you have enough dye for full coverage

• Step 1: Put the rubber gloves on and uncap the activator.
• Step 2: Uncap the color formula and dump it into the color activator bottle.  Put your rubber gloved finger over the top and shake until they’re both combined.

tip: pull your hair back into different sections so the dye can penetrate each section separately

tip: drape old towel over your shoulders so the dye won’t drip onto your shoulders

• Step 3: Smooth Vaseline or hair conditioner along your hairline, around your ears, and along the nape of your neck.  This will help prevent the dye from staining your skin.  Spread the dye into each section of hair from root to tip until thoroughly saturated.
• Step 4: Use a Q-tip to remove any leftover smudges of hair dye along the hairline and tips of the ears.
• Step 5: Once your hair is completely covered in dye leave it on for 20-25 minutes.  Use a wet washcloth to clean any errant globs of dye that have found their way onto your: counter, mirror, sink, face, floor, neck.  Trust me on this one.
• Step 6: Once the time is up, put your head over a sink or tub and use lukewarm water to rinse the dye from your hair completely.  Once the water runs clear squeeze out all the remaining water and wrap hair in a towel.

That’s it!  The dye I use comes with a deep conditioner so I apply it straight onto my hair while it’s wet and leave it on overnight.  The first few times I wash my hair a bunch of color washes out, but pretty soon it looks smoking hot and stays that way for about 4-6 weeks.  You too can have all this for the low, low price of $5.99 a box.

Use all the cash you save to buy some sassy makeup and shoes. 

I won’t tell a soul.

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