Resisting Temptation

[Ruhland]

People deal with symptoms of winter depression in many different ways. Some might find themselves locked up at home after work feeling isolated, because the world has turned upside down and the days have gone shorter. Others fight the depression and make themselves social by making frequent arrangements with friends or having weekly movie nights. I've also heard of people tanning to supplement sun light to make them feel better.

I, on the other hand, have always approached this depression with a more devistating vice. Every year, for the past four years, when the cold months of December or January rolled around I would find myself magnetically attracted to the hair-dye aisle in Wal*Mart. I would stand and stare at the boxes genetic recombonation and find myself reaching for the most toxic box of them all. Having been a blonde as a child I feel the insatiable need to remain that color and by the time I had left Wal*Mart those many times I would have secured myself a box of blonde hair dye thinking all the while how different my experience would be this year.

Cue the horror music. One would think I would learn after one terrible experience of box blonde, but no, for four years I repeated this same mistake. I dyed my hair with box blonde and it turned orange. In a frenzy of panic I would go to the store and buy bleach blonde and torture my hair further. One year I died my hair a total of four times in a matter of 12-24 hours. One year I went to a local salon to have them fix my err only to have them bleach it again and then buy brown dye on my way home.

When summer rolls around my trouble is far far away and my hair lightens out to a natural looking blonde, but lo and behold the summer heat is either to much or my hair is so dead I cut it off.

It has been a cruel four years my friends, and I am happy to say that so far my hair has escaped my worrisome antics. I have finally gotten rid of my need to change my appearance to get over my winter blues, but there are three more months to go and I fear I cannot trust myself. Please! PLEASE! Keep me accountable!

[Twil]

Remember! Blondes have more fun but no one suspects the brunettes :eyebrows:..............that icon is a bit of a creeper isn't he?;) That's better, he seems to be of the respectable sort.

[Nae]

Hmmm, that makes me think, most of the times I have done a serious chop to my hair has always been in January. I wonder if it really does have anything to do with the season. Very interesting theory.

[PorcelainHorror]

I was contemplating a short mohawk a while back. Glad I resisted and just dyed my bangs blue.. D;

[klcqtee]

Hmmm, that makes me think, most of the times I have done a serious chop to my hair has always been in January. I wonder if it really does have anything to do with the season. Very interesting theory.

I think it may be seasonal. I always ruin my hair with dye in the summer. My summers are like other people's winters: Long, stuck inside most the time (too hot), and a shift in the amount of day light (18 hours of day light leaves me antsy).

[Nightshade]

I never feel the need to mess with my hair, but my poor DH suffers at the hordes of houseplants I buy because I need to see something GREEN. :lol:

No blond dye for you! If you get the itch to do SOMETHING would perhaps a cassia treatment be an option?

[Bellalalala]

Do what I do, buy a few fun wigs and take yourself out for fancy cocktails!

[Xandergrammy]

Oh boy, I've been there myself!! Just remember if you get the urge to buy dye, run home and come here. We will try to keep you un-dyed!!!

[Ruhland]

Thank you everyone for your comments! Very fun! lol I will definitely come running home to my hair groupies to soak in some common sense.

[krisviola1]

I was contemplating a short mohawk a while back. Glad I resisted and just dyed my bangs blue.. D;


I bet that looked really cool. I've been growing my hair out from a mohawk for a lil over a year now.

[Konstifik]

Hmm... Maybe an LHC-camp for people with similar problems would be nice! I know I've had similar situations myself.

"Hi, I'm Konstifik, and I... I tried to bleach and dye my hair."
*everyone else in a monotone voice* "Hi Konstifik"
"But now, thanks to LHC, I've had virgin hair for over two weeks!"

[christi.adell]

I'm right there with you. I do the same things. I've been trying really hard to grow out natural hair but the other day I dyed my ends again and I hate the color so I'm trying to resist dying again for fear that I would mess up and get it on my roots.
And last night I was in a fit and swore today I was going to chop to a pixie. But I'm on LHC now.
Must. resist. stupid. haircut. urges.

[Rusalka]

You just wrote MY story for the past 4 years with slight adjustments! I am keeping away from the hair colour boxes too this winter. I account this desperate desire to change to winter blues (winter is brutal here in Ontario) as it happens every December. Hang in there!

[Anje]

I never feel the need to mess with my hair, but my poor DH suffers at the hordes of houseplants I buy because I need to see something GREEN. :lol:
Heh. Mine just has to deal with me running around turning on all the lights all the time. And getting the standard winter mopey-ness. And piles of seed catalogs. :)

Right now, I'm just hoping for some clear weather, though. I haven't seen the sun in at least 2 weeks, and I have binoculars I want to test out on a starry night!

No help on the hair-dyeing, though. It was January when I first decided to use henna, because my auburn hair looks way too brown in the winter. Now I keep seeking that elusive unoxidized-first-ever-henna flame.

[spidermom]

I recommend hibernation.

[SunshineHair]

Just find ways to keep your hands off those boxes of dyes!! I know what your going through! There is just something about that isle in every store that carries hair dye!

I think it gives people like us a sense of control! But we also fool ourselves long enough to forget reasoning, we stick to that little glimer of hope that changing our hair color to what we want will make life better!

Stick around here, so far the people here have helped me to love my hair when I used to hate it, and I have not cut out of depression and my hair is right where it normally is when I chop it all off!

Watching people here with their hair keeps me mellow because I wnat it long. It might help you also!!!

[akilina]

Dying my hair with box dye is definitely what I do. That is my one hair weakness. I always dye it. A month ago though I did do my last dye for quite some time. I've always maintained dark hair and my natural color is like a super super light ash blond. I imagine in the summer with the sun it would turn platinum. I have the kind of hair that some pay hundreds of dollars to achieve but I never have just let it grow. When I dyed last month i actually got it professionally done with some caramel and light brown highlights so I can let my roots come in and not feel weird about the dark to super light roots. i imagine it will save me money too :D

[feralnature]

Ruhland, if you want blonde hair, then go for it! Just go to the salon in the first place and let them to it! And go to a good salon. Do your homework on the internet and find a salon with an excellent rep for color.

Step away from the hair dye at Walmart!

There is nothing wrong with your hair desires, just don't do it yourself!

[Ally<3]

You know what? In the past 5 years the only time I have gotten any more of a chop than a trim, was to remove damage. I haven't had "long" hair in a while (longer than APL) so that tells you what bleach will do. I believe if you're going to be a bottle blonde you need to keep your hair around color bone length or shorter, a lot of the time hair gets to ratty after this point. Of course there are exceptions to this! Just remember that you want to grow your hair, and orange won't make you happy!

[LadyVictoria]

Don't do it!

After reading this post I realized that I too feel the need to make a change in my appearance this time of year. I don't know if it's the beginning of a new year (the fresh start complex) or being couped up inside around mirrors all the time. I usually channel that need by getting a new tattoo... Looking back I am now realizing that I got them all mid-Winter or early spring. Hmmmm.

[Paliele]

I cut all my hair off (to pixie) in...december? January, maybe? Winter sometime, anyway. I also experimented with henna for the first time in the wintertime. I think it's because the gloomy skys and not-enough-light makes me stir-crazy and I have to do something to shake things up.