Thrifty with a capital T

I've always prided myself in being thrifty. I've also also always prided my self in being pretty low maintenance. Some may argue that I should probably take more pride in my appearance but, Whatever. So being the thrifty, low maintenance girl that I am, I almost always color my own hair. I say almost because there have been a few times I've ran to the salon to fix the ghastly orange color my hair had become. I have NEVER once been fully satisfied with my home hair coloring sessions but, hey, I refuse to pay $50-80 to get it done at a salon. I would cut my own hair if I could! Last time I colored was one of those times I ran to get it fixed. It was in November and we were going in for family pictures and so in an attempt to hide those grays I colored my own hair. I went to Sally's and told them I wanted to be dark blond/light brown and that I always pull brassy tones. The girl hooked me up and sent me on my way. Well, it was orange and I ran to get it fixed since pictures were the next day. Come to think of it, I've had three emergency "fix my hair" sessions at salons, all the day before pictures. I'm starting to see a pattern! So like I said before, I have NEVER been satisfied with my home hair coloring. HOWEVER, being the thrifty, low maintenance gal I am, I only get it FIXED if I'm getting my picture taken. The rest of the time I just walk around with slightly orange, slightly spotted, or 4 inches of root hair. Part of the problem is that Adam prefers me blond. I prefer brunette. My actual hair color is light/medium brown so I usually compromise with dark blond. I really wish that we all had Polly Pocket heads and we could just slip on which color and style fits us that day. What I'd settle for is finding my natural color and doing gray coverage ever six weeks. Yes, that dreaded gray. If I didn't have it I would just go au-natural. So, anyway, here is my story. The other day I'm noticing the roots and gray is getting pretty bad. So, while at Walgreens I pick up a box a Clairol (on clearance for $2.19! See, pretty thrifty!) I know Adam is going to be less than happy since it's medium ash brown. Time to be realistic. Yesterday before he arrived home I quickly decide to color my hair to "suprise" him. I've done this hundreds of times so I skip the directions and go to work. 25 min later I look at my hair. Odd...it looks the same. So, I rinse it out to get a better look. No really, it looks the same! So I'm looking in the garbage, pulling everything out when I realize I had mixed the developer with the conditioner. No wonder it didn't seem to go as far as I thought it should. And I did find it a little odd that it was white and not brown. Stupid, stupid, stupid. But hey it was only $2.19 so I head back to Walgreens. So, today, I make sure I mix the color with the developer and I saturate my hair. I'm feeling pretty good as I rinse it out and look in the mirror. I'm liking the color as I blow it out. Then I look a little closer. Hmmm, still some gray. Hmmm, is that some blond? Wait a second...It that a lot of blonde? and STRIPES???? Yep, my hair is a modge podge of a mess! But...I refuse to pay $50-80 to get it fixed. I figure since I never leave my house anyway, no one will notice right? Just don't laugh the next time you see me. Just remember, I'm a thrifty, low maintenance gal OK?

These pictures really don't do it justice! Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of the back of your head? I think my sis is right, it's either wear a pontytail everday for the next 6 weeks or head back to Walgreens...I'm chosing the latter...Wish me luck!