Barffie’s Guide To DIY Hair Colour.

Yes. I am a true blue el cheapo. I don’t pay others to colour my hair. Well, maybe just about… 3 times?

I have to colour my hair, because I have white hair. Lots of them. It’s genetic, because my sisters have the exact same kind of problem. So I have to colour my hair every 3 months.

So, I colour my hair myself, at home, ever since DIY kits crawled out of obscurity (read: very long ago) and into mainstream stores like Watsons and Guardian Pharmacy. At first there were only a few choices here and there, and they were all placed behind locked glass shelves with the imposing words “Poison: speak to a pharmacist” or some crap.

Nowadays, it’s quite the jungle out there! Open for all (who are fellow el cheapos) to pick and choose. Some people hate to go through the mess themselves, but for less than S$18 a pack in general, I’d say it’s a good deal if you are not looking for elaborate streaks or highlights.

Here’s what I’ve learnt, but don’t sue me if you screw up your own hair dye job.

Permanent vs Semi-Permanent
DIY hair colour kits are usually made of permanent hair dyes. Means that they last longer and the chemicals used are much stronger. Those that the salons use are usually semi-permanent hair dyes. So they generally don’t last as long as those you can find from DIY kits.

I’ve had semi-permanent hair dyes staining towels and pillows even after 3 days and a couple of washes later. No such problem with permanent hair dyes so far.

Lifespan
Hair colour from DIY kits usually last me around 2 months before they fade to a dark brownish tint, which is fine by me. But the effect from hair salon colours usually fade within 3 weeks or so into a lighter shade of brown, sometimes leaving my hair looking like suspiciously like hay or some kind. This is because…

Bleach
There are different grades of hydrogen peroxide/bleach used in the different products for hair dye. As the bleach (the developing cream that you squeeze the colour tube into) used for DIY kits are usually not as strong (perhaps for safety reasons or because you’ll probably screw up your own bleaching job if it’s too strong - resulting in uneven patches and *gasp* hair falling out in clumps), means that your hair colour will not appear as vibrant as those done in the salons.

Basically, you’ll never achieve the level of evenness that a colourist can create for you in a hair salon, if you are looking for very light and vibrant shades like anime blue or jewel purples. Crouching over the sink at home for long hours isn’t the best thing for your posture either.

Hair “Virginity”
The “simulated colour effect” on the packaging is usually quite inaccurate, especially if you are a hair colour virgin (referring to most youngsters whose school prohibit “unnatural hair colours”: this means that your hair has not been chemically treated in any way) - the colour achieved by using DIY kits usually look more like “tints” instead of actually being very strong on the colour front.

Dryness
In the past, DIY kits tend to be very drying because the kits consist only of gloves, developing cream and the colour proper. But the fact is, because hair salons throw in “free” hair treatment after the colouring sessions, so you’ll actually feel that colouring jobs done in the salons are less “harmful” to your hair. Not really.

Nowadays DIY kits come with really powerful hair conditioners that you can’t get off the shelves. They usually come in a tiny little bottle or packet and they leave you wanting for more. You can actually ration them a little, they usually last about 3 washes for my long hair.

Smell
One thing that bothers me about DIY hair dyes is the smell. I love sniffing hair dye… but I’ll hate to share it The smells usually wears off about 2 washes later though.

Some other things that I learnt
1. Do not wash your hair with shampoo before the DIY colour job. This strips the hair of the natural oils that will protect your hair from getting too dry. “1 day old” hair is good enough without being too greasy or unmanageable.

2. Mix the liquids up and apply the mixture really quick. The stupid brushes and combs don’t work. Use the gloves provided in the kits and do the following: “Squirt. Smear. Spread.” It’s much faster, and less messy. See next point about why “quick” is of the essence.

3. The mixture is at its most potent when you first mix them together. Any longer, and the colour won’t “stick”. How to tell when the potency drops? When the mixture in the bottle turns into the colour that you are trying to achieve. I usually use purple or reddish dyes, so it’s pretty obvious when it turns from the initial cream colour to purple, for example.

This is why they don’t advise you to keep the mixture afterwards, it’s pretty much useless beyond 10 minutes or so.

4. 1 bottle is usually enough for long hair. Mine is almost waist length now, and so far my favourites are L’Oreal Excellence and Garnier 100%. The former has more than enough for me, the latter is just enough.

5. Pick the creamy dyes like the 2 I mentioned above. The watery ones like Feria sucks. They drip all over and they don’t cover white hair much. Bigen is rather drying (not to mention, aunty-ish). So I don’t recommend that brand either.

6. Wipe off all drips and stains on your forehead, your ears, and the neck with a wet cloth before you finish up the application.

7. Leave your hair colour to develop for around half an hour to 45 mins. I usually lose count and only wash off around 1 hour. It won’t make your hair die (haha, get the pun?) especially if your strands are thick and stubborn like mine. If it starts to itch - wash it off, soon!

8. You can use the hair dryer to go over your hair while it is being “developed”, the heat helps to seal in the colour more quickly. I usually just wrap with cling wrap - it’s neat, prevent drips, and keep in the heat that is being naturally emitted by me. I usually go about doing my own things, which is why I lose track of time

9. Wash off with warm water first, slightly rubbing your scalp in the process to remove stains, and until the water in the bathroom turns somewhat clear, then go through with cold water if you can be bothered.

Use the pack of powerful conditioner, just enough to coat all your hair, do not rub conditioner into your scalp unless you want an attack of dandruff. Rinse (you’ll see a little more colour being washed out) and repeat a second time. First time you apply it, it’ll get rid of residual dye too stubborn to be rinsed off by water. Second time you apply, it’s for the actual “moisturising” effect.

You’ll find your hair much softer after the 2nd application of the conditioner after the residual dye is washed off. L’Oreal Excellence gives you a small bottle good for at least another 2 more washes (No, this is NOT an advertorial.)

10. Do not use shampoo to wash your hair after using the powerful conditioner. Leave it and let hair to air dry. Bear with the smell. And then you are done

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Hope my guide helps. Meanwhile, I have burgundy tinted hair to love for now

Protected: All is well… :).

To My Cat Boy.

It’s not so easy loving me
It gets so complicated
All the things you’ve gotta be

Everything’s changing…
But you’re the truth…
I’m amazed by all your patience
Everything I put you through

When I’m about to fall somehow you’re always waiting with your open arms to catch me…
You’re gonna save me from myself…

~ “Save Me From Myself” by Christina Aguilera

Time To Lose Some Sleep.

There’s a new project, and the progress hasn’t been exactly great. As usual, the grappling with “what they want” and “what they don’t want”, the guesswork that is involved with the former AND the latter… is the biggest headache.

I just wished I could have known what kind of execution they have in mind, before the brief was even written. After bouncing back and forth scripts and questions several times, I am still a little lost with how to proceed.

There isn’t any theme, which frankly to me, if there is one, it would definitely help me channel the creativity a little better to the “correct” lane. I am now just trying all sorts of approaches to hopefully better grasp the concept, or even to define it further.

Hard-sell vs. Soft-sell?

The most tiring part isn’t the video editing per se, it’s the script-writing process that baffles my confused soul and clouds whatever judgement I should have had.

Back to work. He’s away at camp again and I miss him already.

OCD is For Free! OCD is For You and Me!.

I am slightly obsessive compulsive over certain things, during certain times of the year/month/week, but most often than not, sometimes that OCDness never happens at all… and The Nua Machine takes over. And like I’ve mentioned before, The Nua Machine is powerful. Do not mock The Nua Machine’s prowess.

When the OCDness happens, I am somewhat too eager to clean things up.

Be it wiping the dust off the shelves (it’s happening a little less often as the other kinds of clutter in my life build up), or arranging the spare room so that it doesn’t look like a tornado just went through it (I have lots of stuff from my CWS involvement), or rearranging my browser’s Bookmarks folder… there’s just too much clutter in my life to clear up.

One of the darn places that the clutter builds up most efficiently would be the strategically placed dining table in the living room. It’s got a good size, it’s right smack in the middle of everything… the kitchen, the TV, the cats’ litter boxes, the power socket…

It’s just nice for my laptop, and some CWS paperwork, and some new mail (opened and unopened ones), and some envelopes that I salvaged from all the stupid paper snail mail (especially bills) I get, and then some articles of clothing, and some cables here and there, and… yes, clutter is most efficient when you can’t catch up with it.

So one weekend I rearranged the layout of the spare room, before we fostered Oreo and Pocky - there was barely space to walk. Shifted the sofa bed, the heavy Ikea cupboard’s position, cleaned out some boxes of junk, shifted the computer tables… and voila! Walking space! Suddenly the room opened up its spaciousness quite nicely.

Another weekend I sat down and stuffed CWS paperwork in one of the hardest to use clear folder in history - and that was bought in Toyogo. The pockets were stuck together and there’s almost no way of opening the pockets except to use some brute strength and sheer stubbornness. So I managed to stuff many many sets of printed material into the clear folder, sorted out lots of pieces of other paper stuff into the plastic document cupboard (also from Toyogo)… and I realised that with all the paper and plastic in that room - I am not that environmentally-friendly after all. Dammit.

One of the most productive weekends was spent clearing out our storeroom, even though it wasn’t to be Chinese New Year in a long time. Satisfaction aside, we managed to de-clutter, clear out space to make more space for big bags of cat litter. Yay.

So yesterday, my OCDness happened. And I transferred the CWS shared folder from our original host (not everyone is FTP savvy and all, so it’s hard to upload stuff even though downloading stuff was OK) to DropBox which offers a really nifty piece of freeware for you to sync files offline and online. They also offer a generous 2GB of storage which was much better than others out there, but most important of all, its interface is rather intuitive.

Anyway, so I transferred the files over, and then did quite a bit of an overhaul. I am the do-er sort. Not the talk and talk and nothing happens sort. So DO I did. I deleted duplicate files, rearranged files into folders, renamed some of the confusing filenames, sent invites out to the committee and hope people respond…

It was good. At least something was actually done. And not sitting there waiting for something to happen. I hope this would boost our efficiency a little bit more. Phew!

Apart from that… I de-clutter my dining table every once in a while, especially when the tabletop disappears from sight… and that would be my cue to fight The Nua Machine and start packing.

*looks at the giant pile of laundry waiting to be folded* But that would have to wait. Until tonight, maybe.

As She Turns 6….

I realised I am getting reaaaaally old.

Niece #2 is going into Primary 1 next year.
Niece #1 is going to Secondary 1 next year and doing her PSLE this year.

Fwoah. And as they shifted to their new home 2 months ago, they found a handwritten note from me to my newborn Niece #1 that was given to her about 10 years ago. Niece #2 was fuming because I didn’t write a similar note to her saying things like, “Hi my niece and even though you may not know what I am talking about, I am sure my sis (your mum) will let you read this when you are older!”

Fwoah. Reading that note, obviously in my very silly, curly (not cursive, curly) handwriting with a silly drawing of a baby… reminded me of how long it has been since I first became an Aunt.

And it certainly made things a little fuzzy from then on, even though I had never been really close to them.