Crazy Hair

Wednesday was crazy hair day at AWANA. I have had 4 cans of colored hairspray (blue, red, purple, and orange) for 2 years now; and after carrying them across town in our recent move, I was looking to get rid of them. Nathan chose red, and I emptied the can on his head. Ephraim chose blue, and I used nearly all of it on his hair. Matthew said he would pass.

Two cans left: orange and purple. Hmmm... I am an AWANA leader, so I decided to show a little spirit and have crazy hair too. I tossed the orange can... frankly, I have no idea why I bought orange hairspray in the first place because NO ONE in my house would put orange on their heads. (Sorry, Auburn fans!) So, I sprayed purple hairspray all over my hair.

AWANA was fine... the kids got a kick out of my hair... I came home and finished typing a report Matthew had written for school and didn't get around to washing my hair until about 9:30. I washed my hair a couple of times and thought I had gotten it all because the water ran clear... got out of the shower and looked in the mirror...

My hair was a light shade of magenta. You know, like the dog on Blues Clues that had to get glasses back around 2001? Magenta.

I didn't panic. I had used my high-dollar shampoo that I use to keep my "low-lights" from fading. I groaned inwardly, thinking about my recently added low-lights. I knew I would lose all of my brown streaks if I used regular shampoo... but I had to get rid of the magenta. Reluctantly, I reached for the Pert and called for Charles to help me.

Charles is a good husband. He washed my hair first with the expensive stuff; a second time with Pert; and a third time with clarifying shampoo strong enough to clean your kitchen floor.

My hair was still magenta.

I decided maybe I should check the hairspray bottle for possible warnings. Aha! It said, "Warning: Do not use on bleached hair. May not wash out."

Bleached hair describes half of my head, because I have highlights. I dried my hair and surveyed the damage. It wasn't entirely bad... some girls do this kind of thing on purpose...

I no longer had blonde highlights. Instead, I had light brown hair with beautiful streaks of magenta. It looked like a professional job. Well, except for the magenta part.

By this time, it was 10:30. I was scheduled to work the next day as a substitute teacher!

Did I mention Charles is a good husband? He went to Wal-mart and scoured the hair-coloring isle and got me a nice box of brown to try and cover the magenta. He called me from his cell phone and called out names of different colors.

I asked him how "ash brown" looked on the box. This question was apparently too much. His answer was short and to the point. "Brown," he said.

I said, "All right, that sounds good, just get that one."

I got up early this morning and applied the brown coloring. It looks a lot better; now my hair is a pretty brown color with a purple hue towards the bottom.

Nathan watched my hair all the way to school. He seemed impressed by the way the purple highlights changed hues depending on the amount of sunlight entering my side of the car.

Matthew reassured me that it was nothing to be ashamed of. He said, "After all, no one ever reads the directions."