Once upon a time not too long ago I was a shopaholic. Any of you that have seen Confessions of a Shopaholic with Isla Fisher would understand and laugh to know that similar to her I used to hide all of my bills and statements under my bed and only on the rare Friday night while trying to calm my nerves at the thought with a glass of wine would I attempt to total up the damage I was accumulating. Even on these nights I would just then continue to have a few more glasses of wine and justify every single spend I was making and quickly put the bills back under the bed but leave out and tend to only the ones that said something like "FINAL NOTICE: Failure to respond will result in referral to debt collection" or from weird places I had never heard of but realised they were Debt Collection agengcies! Oooops!!!
Then I got together and fell in love with Troy and 3 months later I was pregnant with Hudson. Ok time to fess up to Troy and fix this FAST! I very quickly and honestly examined every expense in my life and cracked down in a big way to try and eliminate as much debt as possible before I finished work to be a stay-at-home mummy to Hudson. As much as Troy was going to become the sole income earner I didn't want him to have to be responsible for my debt.
One very big expense in my life was my hair. Even though I went to this awesome place with the most amazing hairdressers who were considerably less expensive than most on the Gold Coast where I was living at the time. The truth was I was going every 5-6 weeks and always having at least, a tint, half a head of foils, a cut and a blowdry. Sometimes a treatment too. And oh, I was quite the experimenter when it came to my hair. I would try most colours. I'd go from blonde to brunette to red and back to blonde again numerous times in a year and as for my haircuts I would not be afraid to try something new. On quite a few appointments I would just have the time slot booked but get in there and simply go to my hairdresser "What do you think? Just go for it." I got bored of my hair very easily and loved a look change.
However, when working out my expenses and looking at where I could cut back at first a little tear came to my eye thinking about becoming a DIY girl!
Here were my numbers on my hair:
Average cost of the salon visit: $140 (every 6 weeks on average)
Products: $70 (5 times a year)
TOTAL PER YEAR: Approximately $1600!
I had decided that since I had just become engaged I was going to grow my hair long for the wedding. (Even though we didn't and still don't have an exact date) So there was the 'cut' issue solved. I would just get a basic trim every 4 months to keep the ends healthy. As for the colour I had decided I was just going to keep it blonde. I'm a dark mousy blonde naturally so it tends to suit me best. Now here was the challenge. Find an inexpensive way to do my own colour without any blonde disasters that may cost more in long run repairing!
I looked around quite a bit and after talking to my stepmum Suz who does her own colour, admittedly she is brunette but she used this Colour Royale brand that she purchased from Hairhouse Warehouse and it works out even less expensive than most packet haircolours at the supermarket which I was quite weary of using anyway. Oh and just briefly backing up a touch, I had never thought I would be one that would be concerned about colouring my hair when I was pregnant but I did wait until I was 18 weeks before I did and throughout my pregnancy stretched out between applications that instead of every 5-6 weeks I would wait about 8-9. (Worked out I coloured it 3 times when I was pregnant)
So I went to Hairhouse Warehouse and had a good lengthy chat to the hairdresser there and got myself a tube of Professional Hair Colour Conditioning Creme 60mL for $13.95 and a one litre bottle of 40 Vol Creme Peroxide also $13.95. Plus I got myself a sachet of Napro Live Color Silver Toner for $4.70 to cut any excess yellow/gold if need be. (I'd been using this one for years!) Total spent: $32.60.
Now here is the great part- the 60mL tube.....I get 2 applications out of.
The 1L bottle I use 60mL per application, so about 16 goes out of that bad boy.
I use one whole sachet of toner each time...so a standard $4.70 there.
Total spend per application- $12.55!........PRICELESS!
The ratio of 40vol to tube of tint is 2:1 and I like to be exact....so I enlist my digital scales I use for cooking (the hair products go into a measuring cup I use only for my hair stuff so the scales do not come into direct contact with the chemicals) for the process of measuring and have a bowl, measuring cup and brush specifically for my hair.
So I started being a DIY girl in March last year. Touch wood no disasters and always very happy with the results. With 3 trips to the salon for only a trim, and a switch to some still good quality but less expensive hair products my total hair cost for the year has come down to .....$245! .....a whopping $1355 saved and put towards repayments instead. A bonus to DIY is that some nights like last night, once I got my colour on I set up the ironing board in my bedroom and got organised for the week ahead. By the time I was due to hop into the shower to rinse it out and put the toner on, the ironing basket was empty....ahhhhhhh.
Please note: Like anything I write about on this blog, it is simply my experience and I am more than aware is not the be-all-and-end-all way to go. I am very much about natural health and being as healthy as possible but these hair products I have suggested do contain ammonia and some other bad-ies that some people may like to avoid but I don't have any allergies to such products and therefore not phased. I do however ensure I colour my hair in my ensuite with the exhaust fan on at night once Hudson has gone to bed (he sleeps in his own room) so that the fumes from me colouring my hair are away from him.
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