Day 8: Curl-Up and Dye

Day 8.

Today’s focus was finding an alternative to getting my hair cut and coloured with not only financial but also environmental benefits. The first thing that sprung to mind was Mr. A.

Where Tim and I live we have a kind of mini flat below us, but it is a part of the same property. There are two gorgeous boys that live there: Mr. A and Mr. S. We were out with them a few weeks ago where one of the boys’ sisters told me that Mr. A did all 5 of his sisters’ hair. She was living proof that Mr. A could cut and colour hair. Cut and colour. The boys pay me $10 per week for electricity. I could substidise my hair upkeep with the amount paid for electricity!

The perfect opportunity to approach Mr. A with this half cooked plan presented itself as I was kindly invited downstairs to have brekky with the boys today. I took the plunge and asked Mr. A if he would do my hair, helping in my quest. He said he would! He will!!!... Mr. A did however refused to colour my hair.

That could be a problem.

Mr. A told me flat out “No”. Even though it was a no, it was followed with a lovely explanation that he (and Mr S both) loved my colour (“So natural, so well done. I couldn’t try to do the same for you”) and highly recommended to keep going to my hairdresser for this key component to my flowing locks.

I still thought I’d look into an alternative colour treatment so did what all good researchers do, I Google searched ‘natural hair products and hair dyes for blondes’. This is what I found:

Hair Color
Blonde Hair	12 drops lemon, 6 drops rosemary OR lavender, 2 drops chamomile
Red Hair	18 drops orange, 1 drop cinnamon, 1 drop ylang ylang
Dark Hair	15 drops sandalwood, 4 drops patchouli, 1 drop clove
Gray Hair	14 drops lavender, 3 drops sage, 3 drops rosemary

I’m all for natural alternatives, but seriously? The idea that 12 drops of lemon juice would blonde your hair surely went out in the 70’s if not 80’s. Admittedly I would give it a go, if I hadn’t already. At the tender age of 8, I overheard my mother talking about using the ol’ lemon trick (along with the stellar practice of soaking in body oil to tan on the hood of her car) in her youth. 

My mum was a platinum blonde. ‘Surely this could work!’ my impressionable self then thought. Yet, after 3hrs of sitting in the sun and having been through what must have been 10 lemons, I smelt lovely but no, I was still as brunette as a clover (without using the clove as ‘Dark Hair’ suggests).

So, rejecting this I researched the colour that I know my current hairdresser uses which is Aveda. In recent years I’ve gone to hairdressers that use Aveda because, well, I really like the smell. But looking further into how environmental they are was interesting (and thankfully a good outcome – yay! More smelly hair colour visits!). 

Firstly they minimize packaging but ensure it is recyclable, only working with suppliers who use renewable energy. This is really good but more importantly their products contain more natural ingredients than there are in my fridge! (See www.aveda.com/templates/products/glossary). Whoop! Hair both environmental and (semi-) financially viable … TICK!