Coloring Your Hair in India - February 20

Okay, if either my former (now retired) wonderful hair stylist, Anita, or my current, also wonderful stylist, Belinda, are reading this post, they are probably clutching their hearts and whimpering, “Oh, Donna, please don’t do it. Remember your experiments of the past. Be strong, DON’T DO IT.” Anita, in particular, remembers when the annual gathering of the Patricias (all the females on Dad’s side of the family), liquor (I think it was our attempt to recreate Banana Kahlua Coladas), and the idea that “let’s have fun coloring Donna’s hair” aligned. The result was that I, who had been content with my rapidly graying hair, became the New Donna, the With-It Donna, the Happening Donna” – yeah, right. My favorite memory is Anita, looking aghast at what I had done, whispering, “At least, could you have found a color that occurred in nature?”

Well, I now love having brown hair but it does mean the monthly appointment to do “the roots.” Then came India – gone 10 weeks. You do the math – not a pretty picture. Belinda and I spent quite a few appointments discussing possibilities and decided to do a hair weave of several colors into the inch of roots I had at the time of my last appointment. We hoped the new growth would kind of blend in with the older growth that was woven.

Good idea. Didn’t quite work. My hair is now so white that I am beginning to have that skunk look – 1/2 inch of pure white, 1 inch of woven white and then a brown/gold highlight mixture for the remaining 2 inches or so. Up until last weekend, I thought I could do it. I tried comb-overs a la “The Donald” to hide the part (it shows the skunk-line the most), tried brushing it straight back – not working. So, yesterday, at the new “supermarket” I found some hair coloring. Okay, it’s made in Thailand and China but I’m sure they make fine products there too (note to Donna: remember to check ingredients for lead). One of the Ashram friends held the bars of color on the boxes against my head as I leaned over so she could find the best match. Needless to say, we got more than the usual stares.

Tonight was the big night.

Goal: color just the roots in the part line and at the crown. Don’t color every hair – create a blend.

Challenges:
No comb – but do have Q tips
One small mirror
The directions are in Hindi (no, just kidding – also in English on the back!)

Advantages
Strong light
The box came with a little plastic cape to protect your clothes – thought it was a nice touch. Clairol, are you listening?

For the first time in my life I actually did the “practice on a piece of hair in an inconspicuous place” procedure the box always suggests – it looked okay AND the hair didn’t fall out.

So I plunged in. Cleaned the inside of the top of my plastic hand cream container. Squeezed some color into it. Dipped in one Q-tip and lightly stroked the color onto my roots around the part and the crown. Waited 30 minutes; rinsed it out in my new, kind-of-tepid shower; dried it with my trusty Indian hair dryer – and you know what? It doesn’t look bad. If you look closely, you can still see the band – but the white is much softer; it’s brown-ish. I feel happier. Of course, so little dye came off when I rinsed that I may grow a mustache. The things we do for beauty.