invisible fire

japan is on a bullet train to the center of the sun. the heat scalds every inch of your skin, and sweat runs like tears. my shampoo is hot, my towel is hot, everything i touch is hot. the leftover bacon grease in the skillet stays melted, the chicken breasts practically hiss when they hit the air. the soles of my feet are so hot, i just have to stand on something to iron it. the only good thing is that warm eye drops are pretty nice.
in the steamy day-to-day, my long hair was torture. not only did it make my neck about 300 degrees, it also looked like a messy scribble in the humidity. i could only tolerate having it in pigtails, which had to be folded over into loops so the ends wouldn't touch my neck. finally, two minutes from a heat stroke, i decided to cut it. my mom is a hairstylist, so i've watched her spray, comb, part, and cut for as long as i've been alive. perhaps as a result, i'm totally uninhibited about DIY hair.

before: naturally, it looks pretty ok in this picture, much better than any other time.


divide and conquer: the first cut, no going back.


after.


dry.


well, once you get started, you might as well go the whole way. after you cut, you've gotta dye. it's been about four months since i last dyed my hair black, and i've been wanting something fresh. after some friends suggested it, i started thinking about red. i'm really loving allison scagliotti's hair lately, so i thought, "why not?"


in my super well-stocked drug store, there was only one box even resembling red at all, so there was no agonizing over what color to buy. i like dramatic color, so i was hoping for a head of flaming dark red hair. turns out the only obstacle was the black dye still at the ends of my hair. in the back i ended up with a lovely two-tone, but in the front, it's all but imperceptible and falls into the category i never aim for when dyeing my hair: natural-looking.
well, there's nothing to do but wait until the black grows off, but on a positive note, mom approves.



in the sunlight. just looks brown...