Thursday, August 07, 2008

Josie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Hair Days, Pt. 2

My daddy loved redheads, and he passed that love of red hair onto me. I've always been told that I had a lovely shade of hair, but inside, I've always longed for the perfect shade of auburn. Sadly, there was a time when I foolish enough to try to achieve it.

The lovely haircut that Susan had magically transformed from a mullet was now growing out to a longer style, and I had just seen Spiderman. Kirsten Dunst, as Mary Jane, had the prettiest red hair, and I said to myself that it was, in fact, the perfect shade, and I needed it. Richie and Trey had a travel ball tournament, and Cathy had let Cathryn spend the weekend. I saw my opportunity, and bought a home-coloring kit that I thought matched Mary Jane's hue.

I don't know what went wrong. I followed the instructions to the letter. However, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I started to cry again. I had patches of pink, patches of garnet, and some patches that were completely untouched. I did what any girl would do--I called my sister. Of course, she did what she had to do--she brought a darker shade of hair color, and her camera. Naturally, she took several pictures of my patchwork hair, laughing the entire time. When she was done laughing, she began working on my hair, not letting me look in the mirror. (Those of you who know me know that this was absolute torture for me. I like looking at myself.)

Tracey did a good job making the hair a uniform color. Unfortunately, the hair was Gamecock Garnet. Don't get me wrong--I love me some Gamecocks, and it was football season. However, I don't love them so much that I want my hair to look like I just came from a pep rally. Tracey took another picture. When Richie came back home, he was shocked. Trey laughed, and all Cathy could do was put her hand over her mouth and ask me what I was going to do.

My first phone call was to Susan. She merely sighed and laughed, and told me to come in as soon as she opened the door the next morning. My next call was to work, and how Cathryn had come down with something and I had to take her to the doctor. The next morning, I wore a Gamecocks baseball cap (oh, the irony!) and you should have heard the laughter from Susan and Bridget when I walked through the door.

Folks, it took three hours to get my hair to a wearable state. Susan had to work me in between her scheduled clients. She had to bleach all the color out of my hair, give me something called a "soap cap", and then re-dye my hair the original color. She even put me to work brushing out and drying my hair while she did a perm for another lady. Y'all, that girl put in a lot of work on my hair, and she didn't fuss or complain the first time. Plus, my hair ended up looking very, very nice, even if everything my hair had been through left it a little dry and brittle. I had to condition every day for like a month or more.

When I got to work around lunchtime, all the ladies that I worked with immediately noticed the change. The men in the office were oblivious, but they were courteous enough to ask about Cathryn and how she was feeling.

Needless to say, I haven't let anyone else, myself included, touch my hair but Susan. I've also learned to be happier with the hair God gave me.

Toodles!

2 comments:

Kim Eckhardt said...

OMG. Where are the pictures? And, I am partial to red hair myself. ;)

Josie Thames said...

My sister still has them, I'm sure. You know, if she ever needs them. If I could find them, and get myself to a scanner, I would post them, for sure!

The first time I met you, I thought, "Red hair! It's lovely!" I was sooo jealous!