The Drapes Don't Match Anything

I've been dying my hair for over 10 years. Well, my wife has.

I grew up with a rather boring haircolor, but it never occurred to me to dye it. When I met my wife in 1998, though, I started dying it and haven't ever stopped. She's the one who does the actual work, though...one time she was away for business and I tried to surprise her by updating my color. I picked her up at the airport and she studied me as we rode the mobile lounge back to the main terminal. "Meredith," she said, "did you dye your own hair?" I was so pleased she had noticed, but then she started laughing! Apparently I had done a really terrible job, and it was all streaky throughout the length. (I have very long hair.) So ever since then she has been the one to do the dye job, so it doesn't look horrendous.

For close to a year now, I've been working on covering up a very bad mistake. I wanted to try a really bright color, so I bought a brand called Splat in the drugstore. It left the entire bathroom pink, ruined the jeans my wife was wearing, and was generally a complete disaster. Ever since then, I have ended up with three-color hair every so often. Closest to the head is my natural color; a bit past that is whatever color I dyed it most recently; a couple of inches beyond that, all the way to the end, is the remnants of the Splat. It just won't quit. So we dye my entire head every single time, so I can have just ONE color of hair. We are able to laugh about it now, but it was a really big mistake!

The accessories seen in this picture are the remains of today's dye job, which is Garnier Nutrisse #56, "Sangria" (medium reddish brown). It's darker than I usually go, I think...shouldn't be lightening my hair too much.