GIT YUR HURR DID
I have very white skin.
Pale, alabaster, albino, fair…whatever you want to call it, the fact is, I am a very white person.
So in keeping with the theme, many years ago, I decided to start dying my hair white too.
As you do.
Well, truth be told, it was really more of a progression from teenage ‘highlights’ that couldn’t be maintained while backpacking and in a last attempt to eliminate my horrid regrowth, I resorted to a pack dye in South America. This didn’t go as well as expected, considering no one in South America has blonde hair, so their supplies for that type of thing are limited. My hair went grey and my roots went red and you know it’s bad when the staff at a hostel in rural Bolivia laugh in your face after one look at your recently dyed locks.
Luckily, it has been an uphill road since then, and I can safely say that my hair has now remained quiet in turn with the skin tone ever since.
Now being a student and affording hair this color, well affording to dye your hair in general is a tricky task. Let’s be honest, most girls with ‘sandy blonde’ hair naturally, really just have no pigment and it’s a nothing color. So we choose from a young age whether to go dark or light from this middle point. This means year of hairdresser appointments, money and killing your scalp in the name of beauty.
We ain’t going to stop, so we might as well embrace it and figure out a way to make this pastime most economically viable.
My solution:
Hairdressing schools.
Now this is not as alarming as one might initially think.
You ‘model’ aka be the guinea pig for student hairdressers and get the same results for a third of the price.
A student hairdresser doesn’t mean that you are the first person they let this budding stylist get their hands on. It usually means that they are a few months away from being a real hairdresser, so the quality is the same but the price is significantly less.
ARROJO is a hair dressing studio in New York that functions as a school and salon and is pumping out some amazing work.
I had the fortune to be paired up with a colorist who has now tamed my bleached locks for over a year now.
At the studio, if you volunteer to help out the students, you get a cut or color for $30 flat, no matter how complicated or expensive it normally would be. The results are the same or even better than professional work and when the person graduates and becomes a ‘real’ hairdresser at the salon, you automatically get 50% off their fee for being an ex-model.
For someone whose hair would normally cost $150 – $200 every 6 weeks, to get the same results for $30 is a huge blessing.
Like all of you, I was obviously scared at first to leave my hair in the hands of a student, but I can safetly report back, that there is nothing to worry about.
So next time those roots get unbearable and you can no longer hide the fact that you may not be ‘a natural blonde’ despite telling people for years, give these kids a try. They can fry your skull for you and still have change left over!
(All images from arrojo.com)
