Last Post Before I Hit the Road

So, I'm really anticipating getting on the road in a few days. I'll start off in Chicago on Thursday crashing with my friend Sara for 2 days, and hopefully seeing my old Peace Corps friend Emily. Then up to Milwaukee for a beer tour with my friend Colleen, and over to Madison to say hello to another Kate from Peace Corps Cameroon. I'm very excited to start seeing some new things. Not sure what I'll do in Chicago yet, since I've been there a ton of times, but I think maybe some good Chicago-style pizza? Ann Sathers? I don't know. It's all very exciting and up-in-the-air. I'll keep you updated.

Henna update: So I did it. I wore that shower cap all through the night, and I do notice a difference but it's very subtle. Here's the before photo:

All these were taken with artificial light, so the color won't be perfect, but I took them both in the same conditions... like, I said, really subtle.
















Here is the after shot:




















I took one photo in the shower cap too but thought before and after was sufficient. I've learned a few things about the process of doing henna for hair-

1. If you aren't using a powder, definitely shred the solid bar of henna ahead of time... I tried just cutting it into pieces and not only did I cut myself pretty badly (yeah, my own fault... stupid, stupid), but I could never get all the chunks out after over an hour of adding water and mixing. Shredding the bar with a cheese shredder ahead of time will make the pieces small enough that it should be much easier- I would guess... I'll try it next week when I do it again to make it darker.
2. Make it thin enough to be able to work it through your hair, but thick enough that it doesn't run. I never got it to the runny point, but because I was so afraid of that, my first application just kinda sat on top. I thinned it out a bit and it worked fine.
3. The process is MESSY! Try your best to keep it contained. Even after 2 shampoos to get all the stuff out, I still had little black things come out as I was blow drying. The goop got everywhere during application. Wear stuff you don't care about. I don't know if the stuff washes out or not.

So even though it's subtle, I like the change. It looks a bit more natural than hair dye (more so in natural light) because it doesn't make your hair completely mono-chromatic. If I re-up in one week instead of two, it should get a bit darker. Since dark hair tends to make my eyes look bluer, I think I'm going to do it again soon. Fun! Now all I need is a hair cut and I should be back to my pre-Peace Corps self... at least as far as hair goes.

Stay tuned for updates on my trip to Chicago this weekend. The blog will soon get back to being more about travel. Country road, here I come!