Throwback Thursday: The First Time I Dyed My Hair (Red, Of Course)

I don't know about you, but when I was younger, all I wanted to do was dye my hair. I just thought it was such a grownup thing to do. I must have begged my mom about 400 times to let me use Sun-In, get highlights, dye my hair every color under the sun ... but her rule was that I had to keep my hair color pure until I went to college. So what did I do? Began dyeing it my freshman year, of course!

At the time, I was all about box color. (Hello, L'Oreal Feria -- I'm looking at you.) I decided I wanted to start dyeing my hair red -- I've already told you about my obsession with red tresses -- and, of course, I wanted it to stand out. I finally decided upon a deep cherry red hue, which my best friend Katie helped me apply during her visit to IU that spring. (Shoutout to somehow sleeping together in a twin bed and not killing each other that weekend!)

As you can see from the photos above, I went from dark brown to deep red in a matter of minutes! But here are the images again in succession...

The before picture. Yes, I had a pixie cut. And brown hair, once upon a time.

During the process. I was obviously not excited at all. (Sorry for the washed out quality, but that's what you get from a disposable camera.)

The finished product! I was finally a redhead!

I was just SO EXCITED about finally having dyed my hair -- and finally being a redhead to boot! This definitely sent me down the hair color spiral that I'm still in today. And, let's face it -- that spiral isn't disappearing anytime soon.

And yes, I was wearing an oversized flannel shirt and mismatched flannel pants. Come on, it was 1999.