April 14, 2012

Thoughts on...Getting Your Hair Did

I mentioned last week that I was thankful my self-highlighting job turned out well.

As I said, my hair is naturally a dark blonde color.  When I was really young it was blonde, then brown, then blonde..and it changed with the seasons it seemed.  I started highlighting it with blonde in about 9th grade.

In Pennsylvania, I have an cousin who does hair professionally.  She highlighted my hair for me a few times a year on the cheap.

When I moved to Alaska, I had to give that up.  Alaska was an eye-opening experience to the world of hair care.  I know girls here who spend up to $130 every two months to keep their locks in check.  "WTH?!" was my reaction when I discovered that.  "Are you freaking nuts???"  (I'm sure my honesty was appreciated.)

My routine in Alaska quickly became a trim every 2-3 months at a hair-cutting chain for about $15.  That was even pushing it for me.  (My friends would give me coupons for this chain when they got them in the mail because I was the only one who got my hair cut at "that place".  I'm not that cheap.  I just refuse to pay six times what a haircut is worth.)

I'd use the Herbal Essences streak-it-yourself highlight kit.  It was okay.  Then I found the kit with the plastic cap for about $11 (above).

The only problem was that it's actually kinda difficult to see the back of your head.  This is where being married is helpful.  My husband would pull my hair through the cap for me.

It kind of goes without saying that my hair highlighting schedule has had to be planned around his deployment and training schedule.

At the end of last July, mere hours before he got on a plane to Louisiana, I was highlighting my hair at one o'clock in the morning. 

Then, again in October.  The night before school picture day.

He deployed in December.  I was going home for Christmas so I had a chance for my cousin to do my hair.
It. was. glorious.
December 2011
And that brought me to the end of March/beginning of April.  Scott's R&R is supposed to be in June, but I couldn't wait that long (plus, how dare I deprive him of the chance to poke me in the hair with that little metal stick?).

So I went at it on my own last weekend. 

Beach hair.  via instagram

My usual waves
What do you do for your hair?  Do you splurge on it??  I'd rather buy purses than spend a ton of money on my hair. Or maybe it's because I know it's not THAT expensive (as they would have you believe) and truly not that hard to do on your own.  I throw up in my mouth a little bit when I think about paying someone $130+tip to do what I can do for $11.