#so to already STRUGGLE with that while shopping... and then to be told 'use poshmark instead... go to good will'

[nancypullen]

Black Market Blonde Hair

After yesterday’s post I received some very nice messages about my before hair, none about the after.  Where were you guys when I needed someone to stop me??  Just kidding, I needed a trim, I just didn’t need the shearing that I got.  Several of you said that you like my current hair color. Thankyouverymuch.  As you know, it’s a struggle and always a work in progress.  Let me fill you in on how I arrived at this particular shade.  I spent most of my life as a brunette, then Mother Nature decided to take me in a different direction.  Much like my maternal grandmother, our beloved Ethel, I went mostly white before I was 50.  I can’t even remember how many years before 50, but an unfair number. So I colored.  I did DIY color, I also paid big bucks at salons, and honestly - never saw a huge difference in anything but the price.  But boxed color isn’t always great quality, and you’re fairly limited in color range - so the logical next step is a beauty supply store, right?  That’s when Sally’s entered my life and we had a loving, long term relationship.  I usually used their Ion brand with decent results.  I could blend colors, tone, touch up and earn coupons at the same time. I was forever getting $5 off my purchase.  I’ll bet the Sally’s in Mt. Juliet is worried sick about me right now, I should have let them know that I was relocating.  When we moved to Denton I was saddened to learn that the closest Sally’s  (by the way, I know it’s actually Sally Beauty Supply, not Sally’s) is a good 30 minutes away.  Inconvenient, but not the end of the world.  I’d just have to stock up, right?  I was planning to do just that, went to the website and figured I’d fill a cart with my staples and go pick it up...only to find that they didn’t have any of my color in stock at that location.  Rut roh.  So I forgot about it for a while and then a while longer, and the white was growing in a half inch at a time (my hair grows like kudzu).  I told my sister that maybe I’d just let it go white again.  I’d done it during early lockdown and didn’t really care for it, but maybe this time I could live with it.  I tried, I really tried - it just started to feel a little too much like this.

Remember her? I also had to be honest with myself and admit that my always color-resistant gray/white was really not taking color well even before we’d moved up here and away from my favorite Sally’s.  What to do?  I could submit to the constant, expensive cycle of salon color...orrrrr I could get my hands on the products professionals use and do it myself.  I did loads of research and found out that what I probably needed was a Redken hair color dubbed CoverFusion.  It’s made just for stubborn gray and gets rave reviews from stylists.  At Sally’s you have to have an operator’s license or a stylist’s license or whatever it’s called to get the good stuff.  I don’t have that, just a lifetime of experience dealing with this hair.  That really should qualify me, though I suppose there are laws for a reason.  BUT, salons go out of business, product packaging changes and must be replaced on shelves, items are discontinued and must be sold before expiring, right?  Where does that stuff go?  Why, to the seedy underbelly of the beauty industry, of course - otherwise known as Ebay.  So I became a criminal. I shopped on Ebay and Poshmark for my color (9N) in Redken CoverFusion. Found it!  I ordered one tube as a test - checked the batch number when it arrived to make sure it wasn’t an expired product, made sure that it was factory sealed, then used the 20 developer I already had under the sink and turned my bathroom into a salon.  Previously, when using Ion products from Sally’s, my white would get coverage, but there was always a difference in the freshly colored white and the rest of my hair, no matter what method I used.  But lo and behold, the professional grade color worked like a charm!  The coverage was complete and even! On the left, my hair just taken out of a clip and getting ready to color. On the right, after coloring, rinsing, and spending a few minutes wrapped in a microfiber towel.  That was about a week ago, before the ugly cut.

I was so happy with the results that I immediately contacted my dealer (that’s right, I said dealer) and ordered a few more tubes.  I may have enough to get me through the rest of 2022.  Of course, I checked the batch number of every tube to make sure they weren’t expired. A tube of hair dye has a shelf life of about 3 years, so I’m good!  

I’m paying about $12 a tube to cover my white at home versus a minimum of $60 per visit at a salon.  Yes, I’m that cheap.   I never thought I’d be a blonde, but I’m apparently willing to break some laws to stay that way.  I wonder what the punishment is, surely not jail time?  Maybe community service - I’m okay with that.  If you see me picking up litter along the highway, honk and tell me my hair looks great. Stay safe, stay well, stay outta’ jail. XOXO, Nancy