Preface: The response to my last post, wherein I start to share the story of my exit from law and move to Florida, has been extraordinary. The number of people who have read it, shared it, and reached out has filled my heart and, in its own way, bolstered my own move forward. If you have read it and it touched you please, PLEASE don’t hesitate to share it and to reach out. If you *have* reached out and I haven’t properly responded yet, please know that it’s because you were one of the messages that I wanted to give full time and attention and life hasn’t permitted that just yet. I have read every response, private message, and email, and every one has touched me.
So, all of that said, I have some processing to do before I revisit the heavier stuff and don’t want that to immobilize me in the meantime.
So let’s get very, very light and review some brilliantly Facebook advertised hair color.
Before I dig into this, I’ll acknowledge that I respect a smartly marketed product. I love my Squatty Potty and the rainbow pooping unicorn that talked me into trying it. So when Madison Reed got my attention with their clever time lapse videos, I knew I’d be giving it a whirl.
To be clear, short of the occasional highlights, I color my own hair – and I haven’t even been doing that much for long. My wedding hair stylist joked that I probably had the last head of virgin hair in Maryland’s tri-state area. Short of some experiments with black and strawberry blonde in my freshman year of college when I’d cut my hair boy-short and was messing around, my color has generally been au naturale.
Then I quit my corporate gig and had the freedom to put a little very temporary pink in it.
Then I went to D23 and cosplayed as Gamora. I #$%$ing love her. And her red hair.
Then back to brown…..but then I hit Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and my 4 year old was dead set on Spider-Man. Which was awesome. So I went as Black Widow. Red again.
My hair was tiiiiired. And I didn’t really want to grab a box of light brownish off the shelf. And Facebook kept running these eye catching ads with time lapse videos and everyday people shaking out their shiny hair. So I hit up Ulta and had a text message convo in the aisle.
I had Lucca (Light Golden Brown) in my hand before I even noticed the text message thing so I was convinced enough..
After the kids went to bed (and before returning to my Stranger Things 2 binge) I broke the box open.
Around this time was when I acknowledged to myself that something was squicking me out. And then I realized that Madison Reed was sounding like Ashley Madison to me. So I acknowledged that and moved on – perhaps with the knowledge that Madison isn’t a great part of a brand name just yet. #toosoon
You’re supposed to divide your hair into sections and then apply the color one section at a time. Ain’t nobody got time for that. I applied the barrier cream from the little packet and soldiered on. I should say, though, that it smelled AMAZING and had the loveliest consistency. I might have briefly wondered if it would work as a makeup primer.
After mixing the right chemicals and shaking them up, I started to work my way around my hair.There was no smell at all, which was nice. I managed to get everything well coated, though the formula was thick and I could see someone with a ton of hair needing two kits. In any event, I finished up and used the cleaning wipe to wipe around my hair line after donning the provided shower cap.
I then let it sit for 45ish minutes. This was the extended time for “stubborn greys”, which I don’t really have, but more is more so there you go. There was no smell at all, though over time my scalp did start to itch the tiniest bit under the hair cap.
At the end of the processing time, you’re supposed to throw on the second pair of provided gloves and hop in the shower to rinse completely. Then you wash and condition your hair with packets that were provided with the kit.
Then I got out and dried it.
I will say that in pictures the change is not overly dramatic (and I didn’t want dramatic), but overall the color is very vibrant and smoother – and my hair FEELS freaking AMAZING. I’m curious as to how that lasts, because I’m sure the provided shampoo and conditioner were intense treatments. Still, I just colored my hair like 30 minutes ago and it’s so freakishly soft and shiny and swingy that I can’t stop touching it.
So I’ll update. But in the meantime I really loved this stuff. And I needed to break the intensity for a minute. So I shared my shiny, swingy hair with you.
This is, of course, not endorsed. I just genuinely liked the stuff.
xoxx
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