Call it what you will, vanity, existential crisis, rebellion, or something else all together but I’ve been dyeing my hair for the past 22 years. I started life out with stick straight white blond hair but by the time I was 15 (the last time I saw my natural hair at any length greater than 1″) it was a dull dishwater blonde. I hated it. My hair faded into nothing and I wanted it to shine. Perhaps because I wanted to shine.

Over the last two decades it’s been burgundy, black, orange, bright red, purple, bleach blond, bubbly blond, golden blond, chocolate-brown, auburn, and black again.

I’ve dyed it, my friends have dyed it, my stylists have dyed it. Once when I was still a teen my mom made me sit in a salon for 8 hours to have the dye stripped from my hair because she was so pissed at me for dyeing it black.

Since 10 years or so ago I’ve even dyed my brows and lashes (remember, I’m blond so my lashes and brows are too). In fact I usually know it’s time to dye my hair again when I have to pencil in my eyebrows. I had to do that the last couple of days. It’s annoying. It’s time-consuming. And it’s a pain to get right.

So this evening with the night all to myself after working a long day and making healthy dinner choices I decided it was time to dye my hair, eat some ice cream, and watch some tv. Simple, but a little indulgent. It should have been calm. Happy. Easy. A lovely series of moments with my feet up and my mind at ease. And it was until I made the one mistake that I’ve never made in all my years of dyeing.

Dye in the eye my friends, dye in the eye. Never take your contacts out while you’re tinting your brows. Trust me your life will be better for it.