Going Semi-Blond

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Yesterday night, I made up my mind to a big decision! I decided, after watching a Japanese TV show on NHK, that I will dye my hair!

Actually, I've been wanting to dye my hair since... since primary school. No kidding. And whenever there's a holiday, I dyed my hair. Using the temporary kind of dye, I had brown hair and even red hair.

It's no surprise that my teachers told me to dye it back to black (duh, it's Bina Bangsa School). Everyone in school had one goal in mind when they will finally, one day, graduate: DYE THEIR HAIR!!!

Alas! It's very weird indeed, that when we finally graduated, no one dyed their hair at all! ...Except Angelita who graduated before us :D

Even I have lost my desire for another hair colour. But thanks to the TV show yesterday, it has revived! And finally... finally... I shall dye my hair.

I decided on the typical Japanese head:

That night of my sudden decision, I decided to tell my friends about my plan. I logged into MSN Messenger. Ah but... before telling my friends the actual truth, I, as usual, filled them with lies first for my very own entertainment.

I told Kenny that I was going to cut my hair short to the shoulders, and spike the bottom part. Then, I will dye it blond and give it blue highlights. And he believed me.

I told Susan I was going to dye my hair blonde. And she believed me.

So funny that people actually believe me so easily and yet they used to call me a 'bad liar'. O__o Maybe my facial expression gave it away? Nah, I was on webcam with Susan.

Finally I told them the truth and laughed about how they actually believed I was going blond. Blond. I'm not that daring yet. Even dyeing it brown takes some courage. Little did I know that... oh, you will know what.

So this morning, I was ready for war. In the car, I made sure I took loads of pictures of myself since it would be the very last time (maybe) that I will be a... blackhead...?

At the salon, I remembered the saying that if you have black hair and plan to dye it a lighter colour, make sure to pick a dye that's shades lighter than the desired colour. Therefore I kept that in mind as I browsed the hair samples. I chose the colour that's a liiiitle bit lighter than the one I wanted.

It actually took such a short time to dye my hair! I was surprised! Two hours only. Less, even. I did it in May May Salon. Smoothing took me some crazy three hours. After 50 minutes, I could see a difference in hair colour. I was somewhat shocked because it seemed lighter than I expected. But I ignored it, telling myself 'it's not washed yet'.

Then the salon guy put on some more gooey liquid on my hair. This time, he made sure he covered my whole scalp.

And that hurt like hell. To the roots. I felt as if my head was burning or there were needles prickling. People I know didn't experience the pain when they dyed their hair. I asked the hairdresser if this was normal and he said it's probably the pigments going into the pores of my scalp.

I expected an answer with the word 'allergy' in it.

I also asked him if the hair colour I was going for would contrast with my black eyebrows and he said if I wanted, he could dye my brows then and there with the same dye with no charge. Delighted, as I had thought it would require some additional fees, I told him to dye my brows too. He did that, left, and I sat there watching my brows lose the black colour and gradually change to brown. Very interesting for me who have never done that before.

After a while, they washed my hair and wiped the dye from my brows. Then they seated me down again. I immediately looked at the mirror. And what I saw...

was HORRIFIC.

My hair was shades lighter than I wanted, and my brows were so light, for an instant I thought they had shed in the process. I was petrified. I thought looked like... okay, a whore. My mom came, saw, and said it was nice. I couldn't believe it. But I tried to. I told myself that it must look like that because it's still wet. It looked much better when it's dry, but I was still miserable. I looked so damn... different. And I was far from being used to it. Every mirror I pass, I would surprise myself by the reflection.

Need I say more? I looked like a completely different person. I looked as if I aged by a few years.

On the ride home, I was fearing what my father would say. He must be damn shocked when he sees me. So when I reached home, it turns out my dad's not there yet. But seconds later, the doorbell rang. Instinctively, I ran to the toilet and locked myself there. Don't know why.

My dad was looking for me and he asked my mom where I was. She told him she didn't know, upstairs maybe (good mum =D, I was actually downstairs and she knew). So with that, he went up the stairs, and searched every room. I was laughing to myself in the toilet everytime he complained about how tired he is and how he can't find me anywhere.

Finally, he went down to the first floor and he realised the toilet lights were on. I was spotted! :D But I wouldn't open the door. Suddenly, my dad stopped yapping and it was quiet outside. I knew this tactic. They assumed I would think that they have left the vicinity and then I would come out of the toilet. But I knew that already, so I stayed inside. Finally, They gave up waiting and turned off the lights in the toilet. WHICH MADE IT FRIKIN DARK AND SCARY.

So I immediately came out of there -.-, covering my head.

But my dad gave me an unexpected response. He exclaimed a compliment. And my mom said 'I told you so'.

Oh they can say all that, but I'm still very shocked every time I see my reflection. I guess it just takes some getting used to. After all, like my brother said, enjoy your youth and don't be afraid to try everything. If my hair turned out ugly after dyeing, then be it. Ugly's ugly, so what. At least I had a chance to experience being half-blond right?? :D

So if you actually want to dye your hair but is afraid of how it turns out... Well, just try it out. There's no harm in it.

And now, the long-awaited photos after a looooong chunk of text:

My expression in the BEFORE picture looks miserable. :s It wasn't on purpose btw.

^The original hair colour in real life without the photoshop brightness and contrast editing.

^Nothing, just making stupid ugly faces.

I realised that my hair resembled A LOT like these random girls whose hair I used to obsess about:

They also inspired me to buy that red trucker hat, which I soon did (this happened years ago). It looks damn good with that hair colour too. Little did I know that I would actually have their hair colour O_o

So I immediately wore that hat :p