fresh as a copper penny

Also - I've figured out what color my hair is. I kept wanting to think "Is it too orange? I think it's orange. Nah, it's not orange! but - it's not red, it's not blond, it's not brown". Finally, after looking at it in the sun, I've figure it out. My hair is copper. Almost like a freshminted penny, but darker. I'll admit - the roots are a wee bit orangy *sigh* but on the whole, it's copper. I like it. More and more, I like it. Give my hair a week or two for the roots to grow out a little more, and I'll most likely lurve it.

So, the hair's dried, and it's a weee bit lighter/brighter than it was yesterday. I think I like it, but I'm still not totally sure - I think it might be more WHOA! shock that I haven't gotten used to it yet - but I have to admit it looks very - funky. *grin* And that's funky in a good way - I just need somebody to look at me and say - yeah, that looks good. Someone I can trust - who's up for Maggies tonight??? *LOL* The hubby likes it - but he's a GUY! We all know he doesn't count. ;) But seriously - I LIKE it. It's jsut weird. *LOL* Like me, I guess. Now I wanna cut it - the color (to me) seems to highlight the funky 'layers' my hair has - and because the dying contracts my locs and makes them tighter (and skinnier) it's - just - different. but not BAD! *grin* yes, yes, I'm flipfloping. I'll take another picture tonight in the sun since it's dry....post it and see what ya'll think!

Okay.... so my hair is done! There was a scary moment in their for a second - but that was swiftly repaired this morning.


So - here is me with freshly tighted up hair (see how dark my roots are):



Now - the first thing I have to do, is bleach my hair (as I've tried to dye red on my natural hair and I end up with NOTHING!) So - I mix up a double serving of Manic Panic's Bleaching kit, and tossed it in my hair. I had snipped a loc from right above my rear hairline, and had tested it in the bleach so that I could be sure about how long it would take...I figured something along the lines of 90 minutes, based on the test loc.
Here I am, AFTER the bleach job:


Can I TELLL you how much I loved the blond??? Oh my god - my hair is DEFINITELY going to go blond at some point - HOT I'm telling you!! But..... I wanted to go for red this time.....so - I took the next step of dying. Now, for some dumb ass reason (I think it was beause I liked the blond so much, I didn't want to go TOOO red) I mixed the hiar dye together in different proportions for my hair than I had used on the test lock (which came out GOREGOUS). I also made the mistake of not leaving the dye on long enough (another straying from the test loc) and washed the dye out of my hair. I could IMMEADIATELY tell my hair was pink. I'm talking - it was a pale pretty pink - the red had just not been on long enough to REALLY take. I went 'EEEEKKKKKKKK!' ran downstairs, mixed up the remaining red hair dye, and sat my ass down for 90 more mintues with that on my hair. I rinsed it out - and while it was still kinda pale, it wasn't OBVIOUSLY pink, so - I figured I'd live with that for the night, and get another box of red hair dye Sunday morning.


This is me Sunday Morning:


Kinda hard to tell here, but my hair is still pretty pale - goldenpale under the red enough that it looks like a off dye job rather than a semi-natural color of hair.


I used a box of Feria in the red color that I wanted, mixed it up, left it on for MY usual 90 minutes, washed it out, conditoned it with their stuff, and ended up with this:

which I LOVE!! This picture was taken while it was still wet - it's got all ofthe gorgeous little golden blond strands going through it - I can't WAIT to see how it lightens up in the sun.


So....all together, I went from this to this:



Which, now that I look at them side by side, is more or less EXACTLY what I wanted - a rich red with blond highlight (I can't wait to see what colors the tips are going to turn - I think that the red is going to fade out and I'll have blond tips) AND - it's dark enough that as my roots grow out, it won't be toooo noticable.


*sigh* Now, it I can just figure out how to give my hair some volume (maybe I'll braid it before it completely dries) I'd be SET.



P.S. - This is dedicated to everyone who asked where I was in the picture request section - my hair was too icky to take pictures of......

bored, bored, bored.....

with my hair, that is. I've been picking apart locs here and there, (mostly in the back, and behind my ears) but
a) there's no way in hell I'd have the patience to do my whole head - esp. considering taking apart ONE loc takes about half an hour - and I have close to 200 freaking locs and
b) my unlocked hair is a good bit shorter than I thought it would be, and I LIKE having the long, tossable, ponytailable, easy as hell to manage hair, dammit.

So.....I haven't dyed my hair for well over a year - maybe a year & half, because I think the last time I dyed it was Nov 2003, and I think it's high time that I do so again.

I'm in the South, and I know that my hair will lighten up in the sun....so I'm thinking about bleaching it, then finally getting the red that I've been waiting for EONS. If it sucks, or looks utterly hideous, I can always cover it with a brownish shade again. So - tonight, I'm going to wash my hair, tighten up the roots (so that I don't end up with the extra light roots I usually have) and then go out to Sally's (ALLLL the way by damn work) and get some dye.

HMm.... I need to figure out which loc will be sacrificied for the hairdye test.....since I've picked all of the ones in my USUAL spot out. hmm.... maybe right above the hair line then....