First, a disclaimer: I am not vain about my hair. My hair is long, thick, and curly. Put another way, it is entirely its own entity, an entity which enjoys riding around on top of my head. Every couple of days I wash it, put some stuff in it, and hope for the best. I don't bother with stylish cuts or colors, and I don't go talking to people about it much. Nonetheless, Ima talk about my hair for a minute.
Last night I had an overwhelming urge to dye it some flagrantly unnatural color like I used to do yearsnyears ago. Not too much; just one streak so I could look down from time to time and see, well, a flagrantly unnatural color. I planned to pull a lock from the underside, where it would be easily camouflaged by the vast volume of hair on top of it. I went out this morning and bought a jar of Manic Panic (Rock 'n' Roll Red, to be precise). I got home, pulled a lock from the underside, bleached it just a little, then applied the dye. Two hours later I rinsed it out, leaving a lovely hot magenta streak.
I've just now discovered that it was not a lock on the underside. Nope, it was a lock that streams down from the crown of my head, and that bright streak is right out there for all the world to see. Moreover, it is topped by about 5" of my natural color. Now I have to decide whether to just leave it that way, or dye the rest of it and risk feeling like an idiot until it fades out in 6-8 weeks. I totally failed to dye my hair in a competent manner. My dye fu has abandoned me. Lame.
OTOH, for the first time ever, I managed to apply and remove Manic Panic without a) dying any skin at all and b) making it look like someone slaughtered a goat in my bathroom, so overall I call this experience a win.