I See Red

I finally got sick of my tri-colored hair and did something about it. I'd been growing out the last dye job (blonde) and had gotten down to where there was only about five or so inches of blonde left in my hair. It used to be naturally blonde when I was younger, and then it darkened to a mousy dishwater blonde/light brown. This time when it grew out, I had tri-colored hair: mousy brown, grey, (which actually wasn't truly grey--it was colorless hair. No pigment of any kind whatsoever, not even white) and the last of the blonde dye on the ends. I've gone "green" in so many areas of my life, I've no intention of using chemical dyes on my hair ever again. But that grey/colorless/whatever had to go, so I used henna. I've used it before, but hadn't done so since I was about 26. It makes a great red color, especially if you do it right. When I went to Ireland in 1992, I had henna-dyed hair, and was mistaken for a native--by a native. This time I used a slightly different technique to prepare the paste, and the hair came out a really nice red and not too brassy. It's still darkening even now, and will for the next three days. It probably won't end up auburn, but just a nice shade of red, like fall leaves. I was ready for pretty much anything, just as long as grey was no longer in the picture, so I'm really pleased with this.

The book is going decently, too. I'm about halfway through that troublesome magical battle scene, and I think it's going to be fine. The scene directly following it is one from a POV we see only four times in the whole book, but the character's culture is so different from the other characters' that stepping into her mind is a really great writing exercise and great fun to do. When I finish that, I'll be at Chapter 12. So...onward.