I was going for the Snow White look, but I think I got the wicked stepmother instead.

For 15 years I have mostly been a red head. I had a few weeks, maybe three, with dark brown almost black hair. I also had a few months with blonde (or blonde-pink) hair.

Before that my hair was blonde (birth through age 6) and getting darker every year. My brother's hair is now almost black, which is the color mine would be if I didn't dye it and if I weren't almost entirely gray on the top of my head.

So, because I am the kind of person who likes to move the furniture (and so is my husband), I decided to dye my hair. It's been a nice bright red this summer since giving over the brown-auburn the stylist wanted me to have. I told her I wouldn't change the color during the school year and I didn't.

I went and looked at the colors last week. I figured dark ash brown was the closest to my natural color, but it looked a shade too light in the picture. Because of that, I chose soft black, which looked like a nice dark black. But not the darkest color there was. My husband thought soft black sounded too light. He didn't look at the boxes.

Today I went and purchased a box of hair coloring. Again I was tempted by dark ash brown, but I don't like the name. (Silly me.)

I purchased soft black. I put it on my head. I let it sit for 25 minutes, pretending I did not have any recalcitrant gray. I figured I was better off if I didn't let the gray bond with the black as much. It gives your hair highlights that way. Now, almost an hour later, I have rinsed it and conditioned it. Towel dried it. Stared at the black black hair. Rinsed it out again. Shampooed it. Conditioned it. It's still very black. My girlfriend is half-Japanese and has naturally black hair. Mine is darker.

I was going to surprise my husband with the color change when he got home tonight. Instead I've blogged it. He'll have a chance to prepare. Unless I just save it as a draft.

No, after saving it as a draft for half an hour and looking at my hair some more, it is a must to post and give him time to prepare.

Next time I think I'll try dark ash brown, even if I don't like the name.