Converting Silver into Gold & Bronze: My Frugal Olympic Hair Event

I've converted silver into gold and bronze, with henna: a frugal and safe hair coloring. It's part of my ongoing effort to cope with the widening silver band in the middle of my dark hair.

My silver streak -- the main one -- is like a fat, silver ribbon through my hair. I've been told that it looks pretty. I've been told that it's a witch's streak. (Something like Lily Monster.) I've been told to just deal with it or make peace with being middle-aged. Apart from my hair, I look as if I'm in my 30s, but I just turned 50. Clearly, I'm conflicted about my hair and my age. "You're obviously having trouble with the aging process," my 10-year-old daughter told me last night. She disapproves of my efforts to color my hair.

But I'm just not feeling the salt-and-pepper hair (on me). All-dark hair is fine; all-silver hair would be cool. I'm just not there yet. But I'm not willing to submit to the health risk or the high-costs of commercial hair dyes.

So henna treatments --all natural vegetable dye without additives or preservatives -- are my solution. Last month, I applied a dark -- almost black henna -- to my hair. Great results with one problem: When the dark henna faded, my silver streak looked green. (The black dye is really dark green plant leaves). So my hair faded into salt-pepper & mint-green shades. No, thanks!

Today, I gave myself highlights for a total cost of about $5. My technique: I applied Rainbow's "Persian Light Brown" to the fat gray streak near my temple. Mixed with hot brewed coffee and assorted brown herbal teas, the light brown henna covered the silver streak.

The winning hues: Gold and bronze ribbons through my dark hair. When I grow up, I'll aim for the silver. I'm just not there yet.

In the meantime, here are a few more tips for anyone using all-natural henna to color hair:

How to Color Hair with Henna:

1. Blend carefully. Mix the henna with hot teas, coffees and other natural ingredients for extra color, shine and conditioning.

2. Experiment with color. The all-black henna was a little to "goth" for me and I wasn't fond of the mint-green highlights when the black henna faded from my gray hair. Solution: Apply a light brown color for highlights and also mix that shade into the dark henna for more depth and tones. I will experiment with more custom colors. Next time, I'll add a warm red and a dark brown to the henna mix. Each container costs $$6.99 and is good for a few applications.

3. Be neat. Major disclaimer: Applying henna is a messy, messy job. It's like taking a mud bath. Cover surfaces and clean as you go. Place the mixing bowl in the bathtub or cover the sink area with plastic or newspaper. Wear a tee-shirt that you hate.

4. Keep the gloves on. Henna stains hands and nails. Therefore, until you have washed the last little bit of henna out of your hair, the gloves should stay on. Otherwise, your hands and nails will look as if you have not had a bath in two years. In fact, my hands are quite stained and untidy as I type this. My manicure is ruined and my nails look very dirty because I took the gloves off too soon.

5. Protect your face and hair line. Coat your face, ears, neck and shoulders with olive oil and Vaseline. Green, black or metallic henna-colored-skin is not so pretty when it's not by design.

Related article:

How to Save Money on Hair Coloring (Sorry Jamie Lee!!)

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How to Save Money on Hair Coloring (Sorry Jamie Lee!!)

My hair did not get the anti-aging memo and I'm not like the fabulous Jamie Lee Curtis , (AARP cover girl), with her blissed-out view toward her graying hair.

Honestly: I don't like my gray strands and it's not a black-and-white issue. I like gray hair on men. So hot! I admire women with all-silver hair. So hot! It's a silver-fox look that I hope to grow into, but in the here-and-now, I don't like my own washed-out mix of Elvira streaks and salt-and-pepper strands.

But how to color my head without going into debt or exposure to potentially cancer-causing dyes? How to wash out the gray without buying into the regular routine of harsh chemical touch ups, salon visits and expensive treatments? According to one magazine, one woman calculated that she has spent $65,000 on salon color hair treatments during a 25-year period. Imagine if she had used that money to finance a business or to pay off her debt.

In search of frugal, green-living solutions, I have tried coloring my hair with brewed coffee, which works fine, but does not provide long-lasting coverage of gray strands.

Money-Saving Option: Henna Hair Color

As a natural dye, I recently colored my hair with a black henna and I am pleased with the results. For less than $4.50 a treatment, I've restored my hair color. That price tag includes half a jar of Rainbow Research Henna (Persian Black), which cost $6.99, an ounce of apple cider vinegar and a bit of olive oil. I followed the directions and also added black brewed coffee to the henna mix (which was a muddy dark green). The directions include color tips for blonds and redheads using other formulas, herbs and hennas.

Here are the pros and cons of my DIY, vegetable-based hair color:

The Positives:

1. Authentic henna dyes are not harmful or expensive. (Watch out for the fakes or hennas with potentially dangerous additives.)

2. The color washes out or fades in a month.

3. You don't have to re-touch the roots.

4. Henna is an excellent conditioner for the hair.

The Negatives:

1. The process was very, very messy.

2. I had to leave the henna on my hair for 90-minutes. For better color, one woman recommends keeping the henna paste on your hair for up to six hours.

3. It was hard to wash the mixture out of my long, kinky-curly, coarse hair. I had powdered green plant bits in my hair for a long time.

But overall, I highly recommend a henna dye for anyone seeking a natural and safe alternative to commercial hair dyes. Not all of my gray was colored, which was fine because the process left me with a natural look that saved money and looked great.

Here are a few helpful articles on using natural henna to cover gray hair:

How to Color Gray Hair With Henna

New Technique Covers 100% Gray Hair - with Henna - PR.com

How to Color and Condition with Rainbow Henna

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How to Demand Less, Live Better: A Financial Salute to My Natural Hair

We laugh about the long wish lists from kids. But we all have the gimmies: Give me a new car, a new home and new hair. The Fix: "Let Go of Wanting." It's a formula I spotted last night in a pass-along copy of Bottom Line Personal.

In her publisher's note, (May 1, 2007 issue) Marjory Abrams outlines a four-step process that is based on the Sedona Method. I tried it and it works. And I'll continue to use the system for dealing with my personal wish list. The process applies to assorted gimmies, including material possessions, professional quests, personal obsessions and irrational fears.

Here's out it works:

1. Identify your feelings. My hair example: Why did I straighten my hair for years at an estimated cost of about $1,500 to $2,000 a year for salon visits, plus tips. Bottom Line offers this menu of emotional options: "Fear? Anger? Shame? Envy? Some other emotion?"

My story: Straight hair is fine. But my need to chemically straighten my hair (with lye!) during the 1980s and early 1990s, did not come from a good place. Over a 15-year period, I spent about $30,000 (excluding interest, tax and tips) to alter my appearance because of negative feelings about my naturally nappy/curly hair.

2. Which "feeling" does the "gimmie" tap into: Am I looking for 1) approval from others, 2) control or 3) a way of changing things that are beyond my control?

Hair example: In my case, I think I was caught in Box No. 1: (approval from others). I actually liked my afro hair when I was in high school. But during the college years and 1980s, I bought into the idea that I needed to fix my hair so that it was long, straight and shiny. (That's a great look, but it's not really me).

Lesson: I let myself be lured into the billion-dollar-beauty industry-marketing-machine aimed at women, especially African-American women. The product pitch: You're not pretty the way you are. Spend, spend, spend to fix your cosmetic flaws. I totally bought into that pitch. My bad!

If I invested the money I spent on my hair, with a 10 percent annual return, I would now have about $46,000 in additional cash.

3. The reality check: I can let go of wanting, wishing, obsessing....but do I really want to? (It's a trick question posed by http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/)

Hair example: I have very sensitive skin and the chemicals used to straighten my hair often burned my skin.

The reality check: I could have walked out of the beauty salons at any time or I could have requested another service. But no, I paid for that abuse.

4. Can you Let Go Now? Finally, one day after an awful hair straightening session in Miami, I just cut off my hair. It was a total buzz cut. My hair has since grown back and is almost waist length and it's nappy/happy hair.

The Bottom Line Publisher's Summary:

"The more I work with this technique, the more it works for me," wrote Marjory Abrams, publisher.

Coached by actor Larry Conroy, Abrams used that four-step process to let go of stage fears after she was hired to do on-air business segments for NBC. (You can watch the segments by going to http://www.bottomlinesecrets.com/ and hitting the WNBC menu option.

The Sedona method: It was developed by a physicist (Lester Levenson), who was given a medical death sentence in 1952: only a few months to live. Levenson did not accept that verdict and used the above four-step process to let go of negative feelings, including those linked to the "gimmies." He lived for an additional 42 years.

Beyond the feel-good medical story, business coaches and career consultants often discuss how negative feelings sour careers, business deals and other financial agendas. As for me, I've liberated my hair, my purse and my self-esteem. I'm now working on other gimmie-targets and I plan to tap into that four-step tool.

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Sharon Harvey Rosenberg is the author of The Frugal Duchess of South Beach: How to Live Well and Save Money... Anywhere!, which will be published in May of 2008 by DPL Press.

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Say Sorry and Save Money: How I'm Shedding Emotional Debt in 2008
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