Flashback Friday: Sun-In

I used to use Sun-In a lot on my super dark Asian black hair. You remember that product that reacts under the sun's heat to bleach your tresses? Quel Genius! It lightened it a bit, and if I sprayed it intensively on the front lock of hair, I was able to achieve that oh-so-coveted Kirstie Alley blonde streak circa 1998. I don't want the photo to taint this page so the link is here if you wanted a reference. And in case you were wondering, the answer is no. Kirstie Alley, even at the height of her popularity, when she was still on Cheers and/or playing John Travolta's girlfriend in Look Who's Talking, was not a hair icon. There were no teenagers who wanted to look like Kirstie Alley. Some people talk about their misguided youth, their days of drugs and skipping school and chewing gum as loudly as possible. My misguided youth is mainly about bad hair. The time I dyed my hair blue. The time I dyed my hair red. The time I cut all my hair off and my mom showed pictures of me and my brothers to her friends and ask, "Guess which one's the girl?" The time I got really cheap hair extensions that someone told me might have come from dead girls in China. And of course, the time I Sun-In-ed my hair to look like Kirstie Alley.

I also, for the record, had braces AND glasses at the same time.

It was really exciting, then, to hear my colleague share with me that her beautiful blonde daughter had recently had a run-in with Sun-In. It turned her hair green. Luckily, she has a mother who sensibly took her to the salon promptly to have her locks restored.

I, it should be noted, currently sport a bleached streak in the back of my hair. My hairdresser decided that it should be green. And who was I to protest? I guess some things you never learn. But now I pay professionals to rationalise my bad decisions. I'm going in for a touch-up this weekend. Who knows what disaster will come next?