I don’t want to overwork the contest thing until you all are so sick of reading about it you faint and then die, but Bikini and I were trying to think of a way that those of us who are a little on the nosykins side can see what everyone GOTS. Plus, maybe some of us would like to enter more contests.
So what about this: IF YOU WANT TO, when you receive your giftie and take a photo of it and post your own Pay it Forward contest, email the link of that contest to swistle at gmail dot com. I won’t make a big tiresome deal of out every single contest (I’d do one single big-deal post, but all the contests will be starting/ending at different times so that won’t work), but I’ll tack them on to the ends of posts for awhile. Just until the post-holiday blues fade.
And remember, tomorrow is the day you should email me if you haven’t been able to contact your contest-winner.
Well. Last night I colored my hair an ill-advised color, and are you noticing what an excellent term “ill-advised” is? It implies that it was not MY independent decision to use a color called “Tempted Peach” when I know perfectly well that anything in the apricot/peach range clashes with my skin tone, which is “Rosy Non-Peach.” No, it was my well-paid ADVISERS who screwed up.
And sure enough, thanks to those idiots my hair is now the exact color that too-dark-for-blonde hair turns when you try to dye it blonde: a golden orangey-yellowy color, the kind that looks damaged even when it isn’t. The word “trashy” “brassy” springs immediately to mind. Furthermore, my eyebrows are the exact color of “too nervous about permanent blindness to color them.” Which is also the color my roots will soon be. There is really nothing like that combination of cool-toned light-brown hair with warm golden orangey-yellow.
It is a senseless waste of time to post a hair report without including a photo. I know whenever I see anyone trying to pull that crap, I immediately start the whining and nagging, and I keep it up until I get to see a photo. So I tried to get a good picture of my golden orangey-yellow hair, but the pictures kept coming out too forgiving. “Gee, maybe it’s not as bad as I think,” I’d say to myself, looking as the photos downloaded from the camera. Then I’d look in the mirror again.
This is the best I could get: the foreground of the photo, where you can see the back of my head, gives a moderately accurate idea of the color; and then you can also see a sample of the “too forgiving” effect on the me in the mirror. Also: rueful expression.
Nerts – I hate a bad dye job. But! Roots do give you an excuse for cute headbands.
Of course, cute headbands always give me a headache.
I think it looks fun and summery! But even if you don’t like it, I am sure that it will grow out soon – then you can pick a new color if you want!
The too-forgiving color in the mirror looks fine. The foreground color, I think, is just the flash being unforgiving. Maybe it really isn’t as bad as you think. Just avoid mirrors for a few days and all will be forgotten.
I once tried one of those at-home highlight jobs. Oh no. It was horrible, not to mention, ORANGE.
It really is not as bad as you so cleverly and woefully describe it. In fact, one might argue that your picture is CUTE.
On the other hand, I know exactly what it is to go from Just Fine to trashy/brassy. Last summer, I made the regretful decision to go blonde. Which, actually, the regretful part was going to an idiot to do it, and it turned out HORRIBLE. Just trust me when I tell you that (for my own protection, I don’t think there were any pictures taken).
I have extremely curly hair. After 2 days of crying and referring to myself as a Trashy Poodle, I went back for her to “fix it”. My hair has still not totally recovered.
The End.
I am going to borrow your rueful expression for the day. Kthanks.
I kind of like it. But then my hair actually IS that color. ALL THE TIME. But then, it goes with my paler than an Icelander at Disney World complexion. Which it doesn’t appear you have. So I can understand the problem. :)
Oh I can’t TELL. I can’t TELL. It’s so hard to judge color in photos! I’ve had hot pink hair that comes out moderately red in photos, so if it is that bad, I believe you.
Love the rueful expression!
Do you want a fix for your hair? I’m going to assume you said “yes.” All you need to do it color it with an ASH brown. Or Neutral brown. Or Cool brown. They’re all synonyms for ASH. Anyhow, ASH is the complete absence of brassy and/or red tones.
Can you tell I’ve had orange hair once or twice?
As a veteran of many a bad dye job (blonde to brown = green??!!) I can only recommend going out and finding a slightly darker shade -possibly a semi-permanent one and redoing the hair. I know they say you shouldn’t dye lightened hair until a week has passed but I could never wait that long and despite everything my hair never fell out so there.
I feel your pain
Sorry about the hair color, but I LOVE your expression in this picture. It’s a great picture. I’m glad you posted it.
This photo is awesome! I love that you can post photos now! And I agree with the others that it is hard to tell if it’s as bad as you say from the photo. But if it is, I hope it grows out soon!
Erica- I have two boxes of light ash brown in my cupboard! I keep it in stock for when I screw up my hair! You’re right: it’s the ONLY fix.
Fiona- That’s exactly it: the color itself is beautiful, and it exactly matches what is shown on the box. But the woman on the box has pale skin and golden freckles and apricot eyebrows. Whereas I…do not. It’s a CLASH issue more than a COLOR issue.
Rueful expression. Heh.
Once, when I worked at a school, I had a little too much time lapse in-between coloring appointments. Anyway, one little girl on the playground, goes, ‘Mrs. TNG? Why do you have THREE DIFFERENT COLORS in your hair?’ Hmmm.
I’ve never colored my hair… YET. Oh man, how I would mess that up if I tried. I think if (ok WHEN) I do decide the GRAYS are taking up too much real estate, I’d better just buck up and have it done professionally. At least at first.
I do like the color- it’s pretty. But if you see “clash!” every time you look in the mirror, then a remedy must be had! MUST! Because dude. Life is too short. =)
Oh — the expression! I may need to keep that handy on the computer to make me smile throughout the day. Too much!
We have all these desserts left over from parties this weekend (including the most moist brownies ever), were that I could send you some to help keep the hair in perspective!
Love your rueful look, heh. Revlon makes a “color remover” but it’s $10, cheaper to cover the color mistake with a box of brown. As for the eyebrows, when I first started, I was petrified of blindness so I protected my eyes with post-it notes. hee! Now, I just take the dye foam from my head with a q-tip (so it’s not drippy) and apply to my eyebrows.
Yikes. I have also had the orange-y hair. The only solution is to color it RIGHT NOW! For your own peace of mind. Screw waiting a week.
And maybe make some brownies to eat while you are waiting for the timer to go off.
hahaaaaa. oh, i have so done this. except i also managed to get PURPLE UNDERTONES, even with a brassy orange. erica is so right, though – ash to the rescue. hee. i’m sorry to laugh at your misfortune. but i’m laughing WITH you, see?
Wow. It is certainly ‘peachy’.
And I have a feeling I will be emailing you about my contest winner tomorrow…
All I can think is that you look SO YOUNG!!!
Oh you poor thing. Nothing i say about it looking nice will make you change your mind and I know how much it sucks to have a hair color that mortifies you. I always feel like I need to wear a shirt acknowledging the awefulness that is my head lest people think that this was what i was shooting for. Because Lord No.
I myself am sporting a “brassy” orange right now myself. My hairstylist insists on calling it golden but no. it’s orange. i am the great pumpkin. sonofa..
best wishes in your future dying endeavors.
HAHAHAHAHA! I love this picture.
You are so awesome, Swistle.
I agree, that it doesn’t look as bad as you say, but I will believe you.
It could be the flash reflecting off of the mirror, but honestly, it doesn’t look too ill-advised in the photo.
But it’s not my hair, so who am I to say?
I just had orange-y hair a few weeks ago! I heard a lot of “it’s not TOO bad,” all while getting looks like “EW.”
This calls for my own ill-advised hair coloring story: a few years ago, I was both short on cash AND in dire need of a color change, so I went to the SCHOOL that fed into my hair studio place dealio. The cut they gave me was fine, but the color… oh the color. I chose a flashy RED (also so ill-advised) and the girl not only did the color wrong (flashy RED became FIRE ENGINE TOMATO RED), but she also got the color all down on my ears, forehead, scalp… oh the humanity. It was awful. And of course this was the day before I went to a work conference where they took PHOTOS so that I could remember the bad hair incident FOREVER.
The end.
Seriously, I don’t think it looks bad. However, I agree with a few others, if you hate, re-color it with an ashy brown. That has saved me from several orange hair fiascoes.
Thanks. Now you have me second-guessing my decision to start coloring my hair myself. :)
P.S. You hair color looks lovely.
Thanks. Now you have me second-guessing my decision to start coloring my hair myself. :)
P.S. You hair color looks lovely.
Thanks. Now you have me second-guessing my decision to start coloring my hair myself. :)
P.S. You hair color looks lovely.
I LOVE the facial expression! Priceless!
Yikes! I recently did something very similar, also being too dark to try blond – but having a different skin tone than you. The results were also piss poor.
On the upside, it always grows out. Or, if you’re as melodramatic as I am, you can always contemplate shaving it. Bandannas are IN I hear.
The rueful expression is the best part! Luckily, we love you anyway!
My rule is that the only foodstuffs acceptable in hair dye names are chocolate and coffee related.
No cherries, peaches, or aubergines for me thankyou…
You’re right, the color itself isn’t that bad. It doesn’t even look horrific on you…just a little bit….off.
I’ve been tempted to dye my hair lately. I should probably not do that because even if it looks good, I will convince myself it looks terrible.
I do like the color, but you are right-it doesnt really do your skin tone any justice. Hmmmmm. I hate when it comes out wrong!!
You gotta splurge and let someone color it for you at a salon! Aveda all the way, worth every penny.
I LOVE your expression!