Purple Haze

I made a big fat discovery while at the pharmacy yesterday.  Look! Purple hair dye!

Now, coupla things here:

1) I don’t generally color my hair. Why not? Why would I? When I have gone all paintshop on my head, I’ve favored colors outside the natural, you’re-born-with-this-hue selections.

Why? Why not? It’s fun!
Back in the late ‘70s, in college, my BFF Kevin and I would get all experimental. He’d mix a little Clairol Red Hot Red with Copper and Burgundy and we’d hope for something between Lucille Ball and Bozo the Clown Red. No, we never quite achieved our goal but, once a month for about six months, you could find us in the men’s room of his dorm or the art building with my head over a sink while he attempted a little alchemy.

My most recent fun-with-hair color efforts happened 15 years later, 20 years ago. 1994 was about Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Green Day. Crayola-ish hair colors weren’t so awfully unusual but you wouldn't see them on 55 year old grannies then either.

In '94 I was the production manager of a pressroom without much customer contact. What’d this mean? I could mostly do what I wanted and I wanted purple hair. I ended up going to a hippy/groovy salon to have a few fat streaks put in.

Loved it!

Dunno if I got bored with it, didn’t have the spare buckos for the colorist anymore or if that’s when I ran into a series of brain surgeries (so head was shaved and I couldn’t do the peroxide and bleach thing).

In any case, it’s been a long time and I SO feel like having some fun with the thin excuse for bunny fur that sits on my head.

Unlike 20 years ago, I can find the dye at any Walgreens or CVS AND I can do this myself. Alright, Jen’s going to help and we’ll do the deed on this coming Saturday when we’re off work.

The choices blew my mind! I could finally do that Bozo the Clown/Lucille Ball shade (Luscious Rapberries). I could try a cobalt-ish blue (Blue Envy), Neon Green, or Aqua Rush (for those last two colors, I think I’d need either a much more pale skin tone OR much darker and not so ruddy). There are THREE shades of purple to choose from! Reddish purples (Berry Blast or Lusty Lavendar) and blue-ish . I went with the blue-ish purple—Purple Desire. Thought it might go best with my complexion, maybe.

I am psyched! And yes, I’ll post pics after Jen and I do the deed.

Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just don't seem the same
Actin' funny, but I don't know why
'Scuse me while I kiss the sky
Purple Haze—Jimi Hendrix