This is a particularly touching subject for me even these many years later.

During the week between my wedding and honeymoon back in early 2000, I decided to dye my waist length hair black (naturally, it's light brown). The store was out of my usual Level 1 dye, so I wondered what the harm would be in boosting it up to Level 2. Perhaps it would stay in longer. I didn't have a problem with that, really. Or so I thought...

So I brought home the Level 2 box and soon my hair was midnight black. I liked it that way for about a week, then I began to realize how dreadfully unnatural it looked and longed for my natural colour again. But alas, no matter how many times I washed, the black never came out.
    Because there was such a huge difference between the black and my natural colour, the black had taken permanently, ruining the waist length tresses that I'd spent at least 3 years growing forever. 

Not only that, but soon, my natural roots began to show, and I realized what a burden it would be to keep colouring the roots as they grew out. So after one more shot with a Level 2 (indigo black this time, which gave the midnight black a gorgeous moonlight sheen), I decided to just let the roots grow out and eventually take over.

So when they finally began to show again, I gathered my black tresses into a ponytail and handed my husband (at the time) the scissors.    He didn't want to do it, but I made him, and soon my waist length Morticia Addams hair was gone, severed at shoulder length, at a terrible angle.

After having my sister immediately recover my husband's horrendous hack job, I vowed to never again colour my hair, and to start growing it all over again. From square one. Giving it the best care possible along the way until it was back at my waist again.

Now, it was awkward walking around for about a year with funky 2-tone hair. Light on top, black on the bottom. But I didn't want to strip the black out and I most certainly didn't want to keep touching up the roots with a Level 1 colour. So I left it be, and when my light brown roots were 6" long, I took up one tiny little section of my hair at a time and simply cut the black off. I did this all over my head until all of the black was gone. God, what a relief!

Anyway, ever since then, it's been decent hair products (at least for the most part), regular trims, etc. etc. I began researching how to grow long, healthy hair and that is, of course, how I found this place.

After almost 7 years, one might think that I'd more than gotten my waist length stands back, but sadly, that couldn't be farther from the truth. When I was first growing my hair out, I used to get trims every 3 months religiously. Then every 6 months once it passed my shoulders. At times, I would be particularly daring and ask my Scissor Lady to take it back to shoulder length again. So...it's been a slow process. But we're getting there.

It's currently at 23" and I've been creeping up on my first short term goal of 2 feet for a long time now. The husband that I mentioned is no longer around and I've had plenty of other adventures between then and now, but my hair has been with me through it all and will continue to be. I like to think of it as one of my "steady constants" in life. Something that I know will always be there, that I can count on.

The journey continues...