[Kara] A Thai Dye Job

I think I'm young, but my hair tells a different story.  It betrays my age every five weeks or so, when my roots grow out . . . and we're now six weeks into our trip.

Last week, we were staying on Koh Phi Phi Don, an island off the coast of Phuket in Thailand.  There isn't much on this island, and we weren't staying near the main town, but I did, however, find some packets that gave me hope next to the shampoo in a convenience store next door to our hotel.

I could tell that they were for dark brown hair . . . but I wasn't sure if this was hair dye, or shampoo.  It doesn't look anything like hair dye in the US, it seems to have not enough volume to be hair dye, and it cost too little (less than a dollar).  But this image was on the side of the box that contained the packets.  It looks sort of like hair dye instructions, right?  

So I turned to the Internet where I found this very nice man's YouTube video. (I don't encourage you to watch it unless you have nothing better to do.)  He demonstrates how to use a similar product, and although the video is in Thai, it has English subtitles.

Grace warned that I should be prepared to have an orange scalp and roots, but I was optimistic and bought two packets.

Here's a picture of the front and back of the dye packets.  All of the instructions are in Thai.

The white thing taped onto the back turned out to be a pair of disposable plastic gloves.  Perfect!  The hotel bathroom provided a comb and a shower cap, so I was ready.

Once I cut the packet open, it contained two interior pockets and I had to mix the color and the developer together.  The guy in the YouTube video did this in his hand, but I could tell that was going to be a messy disaster, so I grabbed the glass cup on the bathroom counter.  I dumped the contents of both packets into the cup, stirred it with the handle of a toothbrush the hotel bathroom also provided, and I was ready to apply it.

Without any sort of application tool,  I scooped up the dye in my hands and plopped it onto my head, then I combed it through with the comb.  It was runnier than the hair dye I'm accustomed to, and it foamed quite a bit.  I put on the shower cap and waited.

After just a few minutes passed, I was optimistic it was permanent dye because I couldn't scrub the residue off of my skin. Ha!  (I'd rubbed conditioner around my hair line before I started, but this stuff was pretty runny and dripped in several places.)

In the end, it turned out great.  I've bought myself another five weeks of time before my roots are an issue again.  And, to make the process easy on myself, I went back and bought another four packets of this same hair dye to take along on our travels.  The four packets together cost me $2.50 and are the size of four packets of hot chocolate.  Travel victory!