Leave It To The Professionals.

Brief Background: Two months ago, I was feeling slightly gothic, so I decided to splurge on a box of Nice 'N Easy Black hair color. $6.97 at Wal-Mart. Went home, hit the bathroom and came out a newly topped girl. Shiny black hair. I liked it. It was a change from my blah-dark-brown and considering the mood I was in, it was fitting.

Fast Forward: Yesterday, 8 weeks after my goth hair color change, I decided that I wanted to go back to brown for the spring and again, splurged on a $6.97 box of #129B Brown. 25 minutes in a towel smelling like a chemical spill, I washed out the color and began the process of blow drying...because that's when you can REALLY see what you've done.

After blow drying upside-down, I excitedly flipped it all over and looked in the mirror. Oh. My. God. No. I. Didn't. What was supposed to be a new me, ended up be a shocked me. I had light brown roots and jet black hair. I looked like I had a new crown of light roots. No angle looked good. Not even a ponytail. I was freaking out.

Naturally, I texted Ryan and expressed my feelings. None were good. I was mortified that I had done this to myself. He insisted that I call Tony, my normal stylist, and schedule an appointment to get it fixed. I couldn't bring myself to do it though. I was so embarrassed that I was too cheap to go to him in the first place and pay the $65-95 he charges for color. But then Ryan said it:

"Get it fixed because I don't want to hear you complain about it." (In his most loving tone.)

Insistent that I wanted to save the money, I told him it was okay and that I would just deal with it until we moved...but as we were so close to the shopping center of the salon, I reluctantly walked towards it, internally excited and desperately hoping that Tony could fit me in sometime in the next couple days.

At 10 a.m. today, I walked in, sporting my ponytail and scared to see the man who would have to fix my hair. He gently played with it, reassuring me that I wasn't the first one to come in with this issue and that it wasn't "really that bad" and that he "had seen worse."

$149 later (not counting the gratuity), I left with a beautiful set of highlights and a new haircut. I'm happy. And, I learned a lesson...just because you are trying to save money doesn't mean that you actually WILL, especially when it comes to hair. This is just one of those times you have to leave it to the professionals.