Vanity, Oh VANITY!

You all know that I color my hair, right?

Vain creature that I am, that practice began in my early forties after the few strands of gray in my shoulder length and longer hair got to me.  I searched for a box of hair color at the local Walgreen's that would match my natural shade.  My older, wiser sister* had always identified my hair color as "Mousy Brown".  Oddly enough, I couldn't find that shade among the multiple brands of home coloring products, so I purchased a box of "Medium Brown" L'Oréal because I was "worth it."(Younger readers may not recognize my reference to that commercial.)

Dan, 61, with his cougar babe of 60.

When I turned 60, I stopped coloring my hair for awhile, but the gray made me look like a "cougar" when Captain Dan and I were out and about.  So I decided to continue to cover my gray until his gray comes in.  (If his hair's like his mother's, that means I'll be coloring until I'm in my nineties!)






Why am I writing about this on a blog that is largely devoted to adventures on our sailboat Exit Strategy?  

Good question, read on!

This afternoon the Captain had just finished showering and announced in his sweetest "Honey-Do" voice that the shower head was once again working perfectly.  I was in my head (bathroom) in the middle of touching up my very gray roots using Garnier's Nutrisse #60-Light Natural Brown. (BTW, I still cannot find a "Mousy Brown" shade.)  I thanked him lavishly for fixing it, once again. He was beaming with delight and proceeded to rinse his hands at the sink.  But NOTHING came out of the faucet!




At the time, we had two- count them 2- water pumps located under the sink in the aft head, but neither was working.  What that means is that although there was plenty of water in our tanks, not a drop was being pumped into the water pipes, so nothing came out of any faucet.  Not good news when you are midway through timing your color for 20-25 minutes before rinsing well with fresh water.



Well, you can imagine the flurry of action and exclamations that followed.  I timidly offered a few suggestions for the fix that were not received with gratitude.  I began wondering what would happen to my hair if I were forced to rinse it in salt water.  Would it turn a strange color?  Would it fall out or break off? 

Lucky for me, Captain Dan got one of the pumps to operate in less than five minutes.  His ingenuity has saved me/us countless times and I that is one more reason why I am forever his First & Last Mate.


*Lee, maybe when I'm still coloring in my 90's I'll use pink or blue like those old ladies that used to crack us up at church.  :)