Talk to me about hair.
 

As a bit of background, I'm 35, currently unemployed (probably for quite a while in this economy) and a full time student. I am looking for work, but since I'm in school the places I'm applying are generally retail/serving/similar part time jobs. Also, I live in Portland, OR where lawyers and doctors have facial piercings and extensive tattoos.

So, since I'm an unemployed college student, I'm thinking now is the best possible time to do something drastic with my hair. Previously, the most extreme thing I've done was go from my natural light brown to fire engine red. My hair is currently waist-length, colored dark auburn with natural henna, and naturally curly. I'm thinking I want to cut off about half the length and get purple highlights. I was thinking extensions since I've spent years believing that using chemical dyes over henna will melt your hair or make it fall out, but that's possibly not true? Does anyone have experience? Any suggestions? Think I should go with a different color? Expressions of horror that I'd consider such a thing at my age? Extensions seem safer, but also a lot more expensive. I am on a budget. Help me decide what to do!

Well, to meeeeeeeeee......lol....extensions seem an expensive way to go if you can actually grow your own hair?

The Henna effect washes out on a few weeks, so unless you just colored your hair, you should be just fine.

With your hair dark, you will have to bleach it white to dye it a pure purple, is that what you were thinking?

What about clip in extention-esque pieces of hair you can take in and out rather than actually getting anything sewed in?

Condition condition condition

and

35 is way young, have a blast with your hair! :)

GMTA! :)

so excited to meet you!!!!

Maybe the product I'm thinking of is actually a weave? Is there a difference between weaves and extensions? I'm thinking of getting pre-dyed pieces of fake hair added to my hair, rather than coloring my actual hair. I am not up on the lingo. So the colored parts would be the same length as the rest of my hair after the cut. I would want the color to be curly like the rest of my hair, though, and it looks like curly weaves/extensions/whatever they're called are even more expensive than straight ones. I am thinking of a vibrant, royal purple. Actually, what I'd really like to do is get all the colors of the rainbow, so my head is a pride flag and people will stop assuming I'm straight all the time, but I'm not sure I can pull that off. :)

I have looked at the clip in hair pieces, but I know myself. I would never be able to get them to look as good as a stylist, and then I'd never wear them.

My little sister (well, 5 years younger, but she'll always be little to me) just shaved her head bald a couple of weeks ago and inspired me. I briefly considered shaving mine, too, since she did it as a fundraiser for cancer research, but then I couldn't go through with it. Anything less drastic than that doesn't seem so drastic to me anymore.

Ohhhhhhhh ok i think i'm getting it. So you don't want to damage your hair by coloring it? Right? Therefore the extension idea or weave?

Yeah you do need a professional opinion and i'm sure someone knows what to advise.

I do know this....anytime in my life when i've wanted a change, the hair was always the best idea. I've had it short short and way long. Right now it's down about midway on my back. I love it that length because i can put it up in a high pony tail to get it off of me when i'm tired of it.

*thinks about the purple highlights

I really wish i had the courage to do that. It's a great idea to reach out and get opinions. Good for you!!!!

Exactly. I've been coloring my hair with henna for almost 10 years, so there's a lot of henna deposited in my hair (henna doesn't fade like dyes do). Depending on who you ask, dye might be fine or might make my hair fall out or melt. Also, I used to dye my sister's hair for her with Manic Panic, and the purple always faded out to a kind of pale lavender after a couple of weeks. I don't know if there's a way to dye my hair that won't fade and look terrible after a bit.

I think as long as it does not hurt your existing hair and you can afford it....go for it!

It sounds really cute!

We have this aqe thing in this country, like after a certain age we can't have fun with style, have fun with your hair and get a cool job to rock it.

Pics please.

I don't think I'll be cutting off quite enough for LoL, but my sister did donate hers when she shaved it all off.

I just had another idea. I could leave it a bit longer, cut layers, and then dye just the last couple of inches in little scattered clumps of royal purple and maybe Crayola red. That way, if I decide I hate it or I need to get rid of it, I can just cut my hair a little shorter. Also, I think it would look awesome.

So I took the plunge yesterday. I decided to go with dye, and just do the tips so that the part I messed with could be cut off if something terrible happened.

I also decided to go to a local community college cosmetology department salon. Mostly because I've just never been able to convince myself that it's okay to drop $200 to get my hair done.

The good:
I have now established with confidence that I *have* been using the right kind of henna. My hair took the bleach and the dye just fine, and it is not melted or fried.

Because of the way the salon hours work, I wound up having two appointments in one day. I went in the early afternoon for my cut with one student, and then in the evening for my color with another student. There was some confusion about when I was supposed to pay, and then my color took so long that they'd already closed the till when I was done. So I got the whole thing done for $7. So I can't really complain too much about the bad.

I'm going to, though.

The bad:
The student who did my color did not know what she was doing and would not listen to me. When I showed up for my appointment, I made sure my hair was not frizzy and was laying in defined curls. I explained that what I wanted was for her to take individual curls and dye just the last 3-4 inches of each one, so I'd have random patches of color all over. She said she understood and then immediately picked up a huge paddle brush and brushed out all of my curls in three strokes. She insisted that she understood what I wanted and it would turn out like I'd described, so I let her go. Once she was done piecing out bits of hair and applying the bleach, I had 20 pieces of foil in my hair. After 3 and a half hours in the salon, you can't even see any of the purple unless you go digging through my hair looking for it. It's a really bright, vibrant color. Just the shade I wanted. The bits are just so tiny and buried they're impossible to see.

So, now that I've established that the warnings I've heard about dying over henna are overblown, I'm going to get it redone differently. This time, I'm going for a couple of big, chunky purple streaks from root to ends. I'm going to wait a few weeks, though, so I don't damage my hair too much bleaching out parts of it twice in a row. And this time I'm going to just pay the money to go to a professional.

As someone who had his hair dyed completely blue from age 14 to 16, I totally support your endeavour :p But you really don't need to go to a professional for it... I used to do it at home and I'm not any kind of hair expert, lol. Unless you really don't want to dye your bathtub/shower curtain purple :p

There were instructors, but I rarely saw them. An instructor was there while I described what I wanted, but walked away before my hair was ever touched. Then the student left me sitting in the chair every 15 minutes or so to go off and ask the instructor a question. Then the instructor showed up again at the very end to tell me what a great job the student had done and how wonderful it looked. That was about it. She never even spoke to me until the very end.

I used to dye my own hair all the time, and I dyed my sister's hair for her when we were teenagers as she cycled through every color Manic Panic makes. I was never really happy with the results, though. I'm hoping going to a professional will mean higher quality dye that will last longer. That Manic Panic junk always faded out after a week.

You can piece your own hair and foil it yourself with bleach and developer, then the dye. Your best bet is to make friends with a hairdresser who will either do it for you on the cheap, or use her card at the beauty supply shop. My sister is a stylist (and she's flipping AMAZING) and has done that for me a time or two.

If you want the pieces to show, i suggest getting them done behind the ears and about 2" back from the forehead. If you put your hair up, the sides show up well, and if you do a part, the ones up top stand out.

I am relieved to hear that your you do not have melted hair Secret Agent!

Best with your hair quest!