Dying My Hair

Emma Bousie

Going into the cupboard, I know what I'm looking for, the old pink towel which isn't pink anymore. It's covered in black, brown, purple, red, pink and blue hair dye. I can see it, folded neatly in the back corner, waiting for me. It's been in there for years. I use it, my mum uses it and on occasion so does my sister. I use it the most by far.

I'm ready to go: I've got my hair dye, the dye mixture mixed, the plastic gloves on and my hair dye cloths and towel to avoid stains. I can never get used to the strong smell of the dye. It feels as though my nostrils are burning, even though they're not. Lathering it on my hair, it feels cold through the thin plastic gloves that come with the dye. I feel my dry hair becoming coated in the thick strong smelling gloopy liquid. I hate putting it on. No matter how careful I am it always seems to get somewhere I don't want it to go, like the floor or the sink or worst of all my skin. It is a nightmare to get off once it has been on for even a few minutes. But I know it's worth it. Eventually the bottle is empty. Now its time to wait...

Remembering the first time I dyed my hair, I was only about 9 years old. It was the wash in, wash out packet. But I was so excited, knowing my hair was going to be a different colour. The dye was Deep Red. Mum offered to do it for me. I wasn't trusted to do it on my own at such a young age. She did it for me at the weekend, so I could go to school on Monday morning and show it off to all my friends.

I remember my hair had to be damp to apply the dye. Mum washed my hair for me with the mild shampoo then towel dried it. We weren't allowed to use conditioner because the dye wouldn't go on my hair it would just slide off. She began to apply the dye to my almost dry shoulder length hair. I couldn't sit still. I loved my mum's burgundy red coloured hair. I knew mine could look like and I couldn't wait. The dye was cold on my scalp, it felt slightly similar to shampoo but this didn't smell as nice. I had to leave it on for 15 minutes. And I did. I tilted my hair forward over into the bath, and then started to rinse the dye out. The water was bright pink. I knew that wasn't going to be the colour of my hair, the dye never is the same colour. The water seemed to stay pink for ages. We had to keep rinsing until the water ran clear. It took about 10 minutes.

My hair turned red alright! Bright red. Because my hair was a medium brown it showed up really well. I loved it.

That was to be the beginning. Dying my hair every few months or so. A different colour each time. Gradually increasing the hair dyes from wash in, wash out to semi-permanent, and now to permanent. Although I have noticed that as the hair dyes move up the stages from wash in, wash out to permanent, the variation of colours increase. There are loads more better colours for me to choose from. My first permanent hair colour was Cyber Purple. It was really cool. Every time the sunlight caught my hair, it showed up really bright purple. My hair has been so many different colours I can't remember them all!

I love to have randomly coloured hair, It's me now. I can barely remember what my colour was anymore.

I can't not dye my hair now. I wouldn't feel like me if my hair wasn't dyed some weird, unnatural hair colour. Even when I dyed my hair dark brown and black I had either red or pink or blue or green streak in it. My hair has never been dyed a boring colour, It matches my random clothes style and my brightly coloured neon rainbow eye shadow. It's who I am.

Time's almost up. Almost time to rinse the dye out of my hair to reveal my new hair colour. The warm water running down the back of my neck as I'm rinsing off the dye. I have wait until the water runs clear before I can apply the colour protecting conditioner. It always smells great. It is usually a peach colour and it smells really fruity.

Drying my hair is the best bit after dying it. Watching my hair change from its dark, wet state to produce my new dry hair colour. It takes a while to dry it completely though. I can eventually see it, the bright purple streaks against my jet black hair, with the bright red tips already showing. It looks awesome as always. Adding a bit of hairspray and I'm ready to go. Out into the world to show off the new me. Again.