When I was 12, I made a grave mistake. I gave in to the allure of buying shampoo since there was a two-for-one deal going on. Now, I didn’t know this back then, but I’ve learned not to place my trust in strangely cheap shampoo deals. This is where my first lesson in haircare came in.
- Don’t skimp on shampoo, it can make or break your hair’s health!
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In my case, I paid for my cheapskate ways with the integrity of my then pure and unsullied hair. What happened on using the cheap shampoo was that my hair started to turn white. No, not in the way you’d normally expect this to happen – with hair turning grey and then slowly fading to white – in my case, my hair started to turn fully white. Now, I tried to ignore it and not let it bother me, and tried to convince myself it looked cool. Unfortunately, at the tender age of 12, not everyone may think the same and so people made fun of my hair. This is where I learned my next lesson in haircare.
- Preteens are terrible at taking care of their hair, and must always approach a professional before making any hasty decisions.
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It’s safe to say that I most decidedly did not take this advice and proceeded to take the issue of my white hair into my own hands. My solution to the problem was simple – dyeing my hair! While all this may seem well and good, I seemed to have forgotten that I lived in India where it’s strange to see children with dyed hair. This is why I was encouraged to dye my hair using henna instead of normal box dye. Now, this is where the next crucial lesson came in.
- If you’ve got white/grey hair, please do not dye your hair with henna!
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Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way, since the henna left my hair a strange mix of orange, golden and brown. I was stuck with this freakish mix of colours until I turned 13, which was when I had my first foray with boxed hair dye. Sadly, at this point, I was left with no option to consult with the only user of hair dye I knew – my dad. Here is where my next lesson in haircare came in.
- Try out what works best for you! Whatever works for others may not always be right for you.
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I decided to borrow my dad’s organic black hair dye – which to be honest, did not look bad at all. It, however, left me with another issue, namely a dry scalp and dandruff (how I overcame dandruff though, is a story for another day). After the disastrous effect the dye had on my hair, I decided to let my hair breathe for a while, which is one of the most important things I learned.
- Continuously dyeing your hair is not good for you! Let your hair breathe!
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After this, I immersed myself completely in the pursuit of finding the perfect hair dye for me. The first colour I decided to experiment with was burgundy – since I was informed by my wise classmates that burgundy was effective at covering white hair. This is where I really should have applied Lesson #2. To this day, I’m still unsure of what colour burgundy is – on dyeing my hair with it all the sections with white hair turned a strange shade of purple, and the rest of my hair stayed the same.
- Burgundy as hair colour is a scam, and doesn’t really do anything for your hair unless you’re greying and are looking for somewhat purple hair.
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It was at this point that I realised that I was no longer looking for hair dye to cover up the white hair, and was just doing it for fun. With this acceptance of my hair, hair dyeing now became a hobby more than a necessity for me. Since then, I:
i) Dyed my entire head a shade of caramel – which turned out disastrously since I dyed only the top of my hair, leaving my head looking like a pudding cup in a bizarre case of a reverse dip dye.
ii) Attempted caramel blonde highlights – an endeavour which successfully dyed exactly 1 strand of my hair, from which I discovered the utility of aluminium foil in dyeing hair.
iii) Once again attempted highlights, this time honey blonde – which through my newfound knowledge of professional hair dyeing techniques (read: aluminium foil usage) resulted in a successful 2 strands of dyed hair!
iv) Once again dyed the top of my head caramel – since at that point my original hair grew back, making the top of my head oddly striped in two colours.
v) Finally went to a professional salon at the age of 18, and dip-dyed my hair blonde – which I can’t really complain about since for once my hair was dyed successfully!
vi) Got bored during the lockdown, and bleached the tips of my hair and attempted to dye it purple (not burgundy!). This, however, resulted in a strange grey-blue colour.
vii) Decided that there were way too many colours in my hair to be healthy, because of which I cut off all of it, leaving me with fully uncoloured hair for the first time in five years.
viii) And finally, got bored of having plain black hair, and once again dyed the top of my head a light brown, bringing back the pudding cup look from 2017.
As tumultuous and disastrous as my journey with hair dye has been, it has been a journey of self-discovery and has resulted in a new hobby and several new looks for me. With that, the final lesson I learned in haircare is as follows:
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Do not change your hair for anyone! Experiment, and try out different things with your hair, and most importantly learn to love yourself and your hair while you’re at it!