A lot of my childhood has been under the influence of old wives’ tales my mother brought with her from the Philippines. One such wives’ tale involves hair dye. According to my mom, hair dye causes cancer. The irony in this, is that my mother dyes her hair regularly and has over the years, achieved blonde hair. This past weekend, I tested this wives’ tale and dyed my virgin black hair. At a non-English speaking Korean salon.

What’s notable about this experience isn’t that I had my hair did in a Korean salon since it isn’t the first time. Also, really, there isn’t much of a difference between Korean salons and Western salons — just in price and the way Korean stylists want clients in and out as fast as possible. What’s notable was me dying my hair for the first time, of course.

Being the adventurous person that I am (but not really), I settled for a chestnut brown color with the goal of eventually warming up to a honey brown shade. Naturally, my stylist recommended to take my time with my hair as to not damage it. I obeyed, of course. Despite obeying, it took at least 3 hours to arrive at the finished product! My hair was that black. (Use the first picture as a reference.) Below is a picture of me and my newly dyed hair, awaiting further style-touches:

And lastly here’s me after the entire process, quite satisfied. Take a good look because I don’t look like this everyday. People will tell you otherwise, but really, I don’t:

Overall, I like it and I’m committed to taking my hair to the next lighter step when the time comes. I don’t know why it took me this long, but I’m happy with my hair. Also, as far as I know, I don’t have cancer. (Knock on wood.)