I recently wrote an article on how to talk yourself out of cutting your hair. That was dear to my heart, because I too was tempted to go for a “cute, short Christmas haircut,” just to mix things up.

I did talk myself out of it, luckily. However, I decided on an ombre instead.

I was telling my coworker about my hair ideas when she mentioned her sister. “She’s in school now, so I bet you she’ll do it for cheap.”

Polite follow-up question: has she done it before?

Once I found out she had and that she was comfortable with it, we set the day and time, and the next day (I’m not a very patient person), I jumped in my car with a vague understanding of where their apartment was and started to drive.

One of these days, I’m bound to get lost, but that wasn’t the day, even though there was a huge detour.

Once there, she drove me to Sally’s to pick out the color of my choice. She got a great discount for me. Then it was back to her house.

Their apartment is insane, in a cool way, crammed with art supplies of every field. While there, I saw a painting aisle, sewing machine, beads, glue gun, markers, pencils, a mini wooden human model, and cups and cups of brushes and tools of every kind, all surrounded by pumpkin/black cat/skull Halloween decorations.

They love Halloween all year round.

She started with a lightener on my hair, using plastic wrap instead of foil for the sections so she could watch the transition carefully.

She used festive plastic wrap.

Then we marched up the stairs to the bathroom to rinse it out.

The bathroom was serial killer themed with bloody hand prints on the mirrors and red smears on the white bathroom curtain.

My coworker and her family are so cute and British. I definitely didn’t see this coming. They laughed sheepishly and admitted they had a little problem.

I’m happy to say I didn’t die.

They rinsed my hair in the bathtub, by my sitting on the floor and leaning my head over. Then it was time for coloring.

She took her time. She wanted it to come out nice, which I appreciated. Then it was back to the bloody bathroom for my last wash.

She offered to give me a little trim for free, which I gladly accepted, and she went to town blow drying.

The only thing is that it was a very long day. I don’t want to tell you how long it took. But the good news is it was a more than reasonable price for a hair coloring I like. I’ve gotten a lot of compliments too.

Thank you!