Hi all,
This is my first post, so please be kind. I'm a newbie Mustachian with a guilty secret. I just calculated that this year so far I have spent $1,720 (Canadian) in the hair salon on cuts/colours. Obviously this needs to stop, but I don't trust hair schools and I feel like hair dye from a store does more damage than good.
Here's the longwinded history - I'm wondering if anyone here can relate and just make me feel better about it all, as I decide how I'm going to get out of this expenditure!
-I have brown hair but have been going grey since I was 18 and have been dying my hair almost consistently ever since. I am now 38 years old.
- As a student in the UK, I just used boxes of hair dye and went to a cheap salon for cuts 1/2 times a year.
- In my 20s in Belgium, earning quite a lot, I started going to a salon. They said I had done damage to my hair with home dying. I don't have cost records, but these salon visits were less than current expenditure.
- As I hit my 30s in Vancouver, Canada, I found myself with less money and began going to a hair school for cheaper cuts/colours
- After a while, I decided to grow my hair out, without dying it, to see how grey I was. I was VERY, VERY grey.
- Exposing my grey during this time did not go well for my career, which relied on me being seen as "cool, young, and hip"
- So after a while I returned to the hair school for cheap cuts/colours again. This was fine UNTIL...
- One fateful day, a couple of years ago, the hair school student messed my hair up totally. They ran out of dye so the colour was all patchy, and the guy didn't know what he was doing with women's hair, so the haircut was a mess. I looked a total wreck. Unfortunately, I had to go to a Facebook conference with my boss in two days time.
- So the day before the conference, I happened to walk past a salon near my house. It was really expensive, but my partner suggested I go in and ask if they could help. The next day, they saved me, by adjusting my cut to hide the worst of the colour mess, so I looked OK for the conference.
- After the conference, I returned to the salon so they could fix up the colour properly. It took a couple of visits, but finally I had presentable hair again.
- Despite the fact that my job has now changed, and does not rely on me looking young, I have been loyal to this salon ever since. I find it difficult to trust anyone else with my hair because of my previous experiences.
So my question is, a) can anyone out there relate? and b) what do you recommend?
This is, I agree, an obscene amount to spend on hair and this money could go into savings instead. But I'm worried about trying the usual moneysaving methods of DIY or hair school, because I have been so badly burned in the past.
I guess - although I know it's not the fully Mustachian way - the first answer is to just find a cheaper salon. If anyone has recommendations in Vancouver, that would be good.
Finally, for the record, all this expenditure on hair might lead you to believe I am one of those glamorous people with impeccable fashion and personal presentation. I am not. My hair is the only personal grooming I spend any money on. I'm not into fashion, don't ever go shopping recreationally, usually get my clothes from thrift stores or clothing swaps, have far fewer shoes than my partner, have never had a manicure or pedicure, use a diva cup, use only soap, shampoo, and conditioner to wash with, and just have one simple moisturizer, one roll on deodorant, and one perfume... You get the idea.
Feel free to judge me - I'm judging myself pretty hard right now. And thanks for any of your helpful suggestions.