Back in Black, for now.

For whatever reason, I am obsessed with finding the perfect not-quite-black-but-very-dark-brown hair color. My hair is naturally dark brown, but it developed a reddish undertone as I got older. Looking back at pictures of little Joannie, I noticed that my hair was almost black without any trace of red, just like my dad's.

So naturally, I became hell-bent on ridding my hair of its aquired auburness. I must mention that for a very brief period in high school, I colored my hair it's-obviously-fake-and-from-a-box burgundy...bad idea.

Initially, I tried every dark brown at home color out there, from Revlon to Clairol Nice and Easy. It didn't make much of a difference. Then, I went through what some might call an emo phase in my life and colored my hair black...Jet. Black. My parents weren't thrilled, partially because our shower now has a permanent black tint that always makes it look dirty, and partially because they couldn't understand what my facination with black hair was about. I also decided to hack it all off into a spiky do complete with long bangs.

Shortly after turning 21, I finally had it with unnatural black hair. I made an appointment with a trusted hair stylist to strip my hair of black dye. A few hours and a few hundred dollars later, my hair was the lightest shade of brown it had ever been. Well, close to the lightest, there was a caramel highlight phase after the emo one.

I've experimented with every variaton of brown since then, even thrown in a bit of blonde and purple,


which brings me to my current shade,

black.

That's right, I gave in again. I was inspired by Katy Perry,

But this time, I've found the "perfect" not-quite-black-but-very-dark-brown black. That's right, it's Perfect 10 Black. But not quite black, of course.