There are so many reasons to not try highlighting your hair at home. Almost every woman out there has a story about a horrible incident with her hair. I am one of these women and here is my story of my worst hairstyle yet. It's also clear evidence of one of the many reasons to not try highlighting your hair at home.
I was in the tenth grade at the time, as was my friend, who shall remain nameless for she is guilty in this story too. We were at the store with my mom and we came upon the cosmetic section with all the hair dye. I don’t remember if it was my idea or my friend’s but we got a box of blonde highlights. Before going any further, I am a brunette and I have had blonde highlights in the past done at a hair salon. To save money, my friend and I decided on the self-application approach. This was our first mistake.
We got to my house and went into the master bathroom to apply the highlights. We opened the box and were greatly confused on what to do, which should have been an immediate sign that we should go no further. One of the contents of the box was a shower cap with a bunch of holes in it along with a long, plastic hook. I assumed that all I needed was a brush with the dye and to apply it wherever I wanted on my head. My friend observed the instructions and found a picture of what to do with the cap and hook. What should have been an easy task became more complicated and painful.
The method was to wear the cap and pull bits of your hair through the holes of the cap with the hook. So we did that but in a very stupid way. Instead of having my hair stay down while wearing the cap, we bunched it all up inside the cap and it became tangled. Imagine the pain when my friend was trying to pull my hair through the holes with all the tangles. After a good half hour struggling with the cap, I gave up and, not thinking clearly due to the pain, I decided to just dye all of my hair completely with the highlight dye.
So my friend and my brother’s girlfriend, who stepped in at some point in my agonizing pain with the cap, helped me with this task. Then I did the usual procedure of washing it with shampoo and conditioner that comes with the box and waited for it to dry. It was quite horrible. My hair was orange… ORANGE! I had bright orange hair with dark brunette eyebrows so I looked bizarre. I was hating myself.
However, there was a silver lining. I don’t know why it took me so long but after a few good months, I dyed my hair back to brunette. After a few weeks, the brunette coloring was fading at the ends of my hair, revealing a subtle blonde color. In the end, I had a natural ombre look. Girls at school were complimenting me about the new do. I was blessed with awesome hair after the whole ordeal.
To finish, the moral of the story is to never do highlights at home unless you or someone present who 100% knows what to do with highlights. And above all else, never bundle up your hair in a cap for this procedure. Save yourself.