Hair Coloring 101

I don’t consider myself a vain person at all.  Most of you who know me would not call me a fashion icon or a style trendsetter.  However, I do like to keep my hair cut and managed and Lord knows I am not ready to go “all gray” yet. *SPOILER ALERT:  I color my hair!!!*

A few years ago, I had said, “After Katie gets married, I may let my hair grow out…stop the coloring.”  Well, Katie & Anthony have been married almost eight years and I am still coloring my hair, every four weeks.

When I say, “I am still coloring my hair” I am referring to my longtime hair stylist, Nancie.  This girl was my first stylist in Cincinnati…over 30 years ago.  I’ll never forget going to her the first time when she asked, “Do you color your own hair?”  I didn’t exactly lie, but clearly, it was not a professional job.  In fact, it was hair color by Greg Houser.  We would setup newspapers on the living room floor, turn on Dallas on the TV and Greg would color my hair.  No, he would glob the color on my head and comb it through.  It worked, although anyone who looked at me could see the visible line where the color had grown out.

So when Nancie said, “Do you color your own hair?” I said, “Well, not exactly, my husband does it for me!”  Fast forward 30+ years, from eight weeks apart to the current four weeks apart, Nancie has colored my hair.  We have bonded over these years…she’s watched Katie grow up and I’ve watched her kids grow up.  We’ve talked about husbands and then she was my sounding board when I needed someone during my divorce.  She has squeezed me in when she was headed on vacation and she’s answered the phone when I was freaking out because my color was fading or was taking on a bronze look.  I’m sure many of you can relate to having the best hair stylist ever! 

Then came the pandemic!  There are several funny memes and gifs about cutting your bangs, the grown-out roots and the concerns about what we will all look like when this is over. 

A few years ago, Nancie introduced me to root cover-up, which I refer to as my spray paint!  When I’m getting close to an appointment, I always have those pesky roots showing so I use this spray paint to hide the gray and honestly, it’s pretty good.  However, this pandemic threw me into a tail spin.  Knowing I was due for an appointment I had a full can of spray paint, but had no idea that I’d be using it for several weeks.

Then last week, as if my fairy Godmother had seen my worry, I received a text message from Nancie, offering to provide my hair color kit, as a “drive-thru” pick up item.  This is when it turned into a sneaky operation.

Now, I’m not familiar with drug deals, but if I were, I think this is what it would look like.  I received a text in the morning asking what time I wanted to come by for “the pickup.”  I indicated the time and she sent me her address.  She told me it would be waiting on the porch and I was to slip the $$ under the mat. 

We would not make contact at all.  I drove to her house, left my car running, picked up the bag from the front porch and slipped an unmarked envelope under the mat.  I quickly returned to my car and sent a text to Nancie…mission accomplished!

Now, in this bag were 2 gloves, a paintbrush, and two containers with the ingredients used to make my perfect color.  Although I was a little nervous to perform this transformation alone, Nancie had provided a video so the instructions were simple and easy to follow.

That night, I decided to give it a shot!  I mixed the formulas, whipped it with the paintbrush, until it looked like cake batter.  Then, I began to apply it to my roots. I was quite pleased with myself and once it was applied, I set the timer for 30 minutes and waited it out.  I cleaned up my mess and soon, it was time to rinse. 

Normally at the salon, I would lay my head back into a shampoo bowl and the rinsing would commence.  This time, in order to rinse, I decided I needed to take a shower!  So I rinsed and rinsed and then shampooed and voila!  My gray roots were gone! 

It seemed that I did miss one little spot…towards the front, so the spray paint may have to be used occasionally…but I did it!

There are many heroes out there during this time and I know this sounds super petty, but I can’t help it…Nancie was my hero last week and I appreciate her!!