For most people, a salon hair-dye job is the last thing to go when tightening a budget. Those of us with varied forms of Vanity Disorder (VD) would rather give up a daily coffee than a monthly visit to the hair-doctor. When I was 20, I had a new shade of pink hair every month. I wrote a song called Cut and Color about how brilliant my stylist was. Better than therapy. But these days I have car payments and school loans; so last year I started dying my own hair. I was terrified to try it, but I am pleasantly surprised by the results. And I saved over $450 in a year.

Always on the green and healthy side, I recommend Natrutint (from Spain) and Herbatint (From England) which are non-henna vegetable dyes in a plethora of colors. For a punky look, bleach your hair then apply something like Manic Panic hair colors are bright, easy to use, vegan and mostly natural ingredients. These days I am using Naturtint’s 3N Dark Chestnut. The lovely thing about these natural hair colors is that though they may say they are ‘œpermanent’ they actually do fade. However, they fade so gradually and with such beautiful highlights that I can actually go much longer between colorings without ‘œroots’ than I could with permanent salon color.

Speaking of bleaching, if you are going to attempt this one at home, those in the know suggest putting a package of sweet and low in the bleach mix which somehow lessens the sting on the scalp. Yes, bleaching is going to sting (burn) your scalp whether you are in a salon or at home. It should only be done with the help of a friend so that you are less likely to accidentally bleach parts of your skin, clothing, furniture, etc. It does sound scary, but can be done safely as I can attest to having been through it many times as a young lesbian – my butchy girlfriends wanted spikey bleach-blonde hair, of course. A bleach kit like the one this cutie used here costs between seven and fifteen dollars. A bleach service at a salon to get your hair as light as you want might cost between $70 and $150.

Blondes, redheads and lighter browns can also experiment with highlighting, streaking and frosting ‘œkits’ but I would not try to create this look without the helpful tools and directions in a kit. If you must have this high-maintanence look, make sure you don’t do it alone. Ask an artistic friend to do the job for you. Often the sales people at a large beauty supply store can really help you find the right supplies and teach you tricks on getting a certain look.

For a ‘œcrunchy granola’ way to cover grey, which I think is tre’ lesbian, you might try one of the natural herbal suggestions here, like ground sage or walnut shell. Good luck finding ground walnut shells and let me know if it works. As hippie as I might be, I do not suggest using henna-based hair colors. The outcome color of henna is extremely hard to control. Darker hairs might get red highlights, but lighter hair may wind up various shades of orange.

A box of hair color at the drug store might cost as low $6.00 or as high as $18.00. These days I can not see a colorist charging any less than $65.00 at the salon. I used to spend upwards of $100 on just the one all-over color. Now I buy boxes of my natural hair color for $11.00 a pop when it goes on sale at my local health food co-op. When I go in to see my fancy stylist for a cut, she complements me on the great condition and natrual-looking color of my hair.

Are you ready to take this plunge into savings? You can say you paid a fortune, if you want to.

*When coloring at home, always do a patch skin-test prior to usage to avoid allergic reaction. Follow the directions carefull, especially about timing and start first at the roots, especially if covering dark hair with a peroxide formula. For longer hair, the longer parts need very little time with the color on it, if you have repeatedly died it that same color.