Off to the Laboratory

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world–the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life–comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17

When the pup was a bit younger, his groomer had a family emergency and would be out of town for a while. Since she preferred that I have a certain amount done for her, she must not have thought it too much of a stretch for me to fully groom him. It was a situation I had been putting off, but it was the push I needed to just do it. There was a learning curve, but I now successfully keep him groomed myself.

With my guys, it was more about convenience for them that I got roped into cutting their hair. It was pretty easy when they insisted I just buzz it off. The youngest tries to tell me to make it all one length because he wants to sit there for the least amount of time possible. I try to respect their wishes, but in this instance, I highly suggests that he sits a little bit longer to get a somewhat faded look.

I dreaded doing my oldest son’s hair because he wanted to go above my expertise. Does he think this is a barber shop? The last couple times I couldn’t send him anywhere, so studying online was my best option. The only problem was me being super slow, but he liked it. I think I have a new client.

It looks like the dog, the hubby, and the two boys are taken care of. That leaves me. Salons aren’t open. Oh, how this could’ve been a problem. First off, I wasn’t getting anyone in my house to give me a haircut, that’s for sure. I have longer hair, so it isn’t a necessity right now. That is not a job I want to turn over to the guys in my family.

My problem for my hair was the pretty colors that were making an appearance and reminding me of my grandma. I love Grandma, but I’m not quite ready to go to that extreme. My hubby and I have remedied this problem before…many years ago. Surely, we could do it again. I figured that I’d even attempt highlights.

After looking for the dye, I started to get concerned. I couldn’t find any. Finally, a friend saved me by sending a link to a normal color. I wasn’t going to have to go blue after all! It got here faster than I expected, and I took my hubby up on the offer to help. Off to the laboratory we went.  Wait, what?

Apprehension settled in when I saw how excited my hubby became. Let me be honest, he was practically vibrating with energy. As he started mumbling about mixing and chemistry experiments, I grew concerned. When he went to get more “professional” gloves than what was provided and the crazy scientist look came out, I was ready to run and hide. This didn’t seem to bode well for me.

Finally, I suggested that he find something to do and I’d call him if I needed help. He actually dropped his head, rounded his shoulders, and acted like I severely wounded him. There might have been a pout or two thrown in. Listen, I know how a successful lab works. Fear to try many things is not an option because throughout all the failures, the great creation happens. We only had one shot at this!

I wrapped a towel around my shoulders, put Vaseline around my hairline so the dye wouldn’t get stuck there, and took off my glasses. Wouldn’t you know, I couldn’t see. I resigned myself to call the hubby from the bench and put him back in the game. After a little prayer that all my hair didn’t fall out, I told him the “good” news. Having quickly made it clear that I was not an experiment and he was my helper, I read the directions. Seemed easy enough.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t actually put the dye in my hair because I couldn’t see what I was doing. I had to rely on the helper. I think he did a little wiggle as if he ran the ball into the end zone. I was confused. Was he a chemist or a football player? I kept telling myself he was neither; he was my helper. It seemed to be going fairly well according to the comments being made behind me.

I understood it taking a while because I have a lot of hair, but I was afraid it was taking a little too long. I asked what the hold up was. Remember, I can’t see what he’s doing. He assured me everything was going fine, but I knew that we were taking too long. I asked why he wasn’t using the little cap that contained a brush they provided. He informed me he was following the directions that I told him.

Call me a little controlling, but I needed to step in. I put the new endcap over the bottle and started to slide it through the hair, except it wasn’t moving. It was stuck. In my hair. Why? Because I was matted like a poodle who hasn’t been brushed in two months! What in the world? With a slight panic in my voice, I asked what he did. He told me that the instructions said to massage it into the hair, and that’s what he did. I couldn’t argue with that.

We faced a dilemma. Massaging to him meant twisting the hair to spread the dye. I grabbed a comb and started to force it through the knotted mess. My hubby began panicking because he thought we’d have to cut all my hair off. Whoa! Let’s not get ahead of ourselves please. Getting on the phone, this project became a team effort. He was talking, I was combing, the people on the phone were advising, I was emailing, and the hubby couldn’t run and hide because I still couldn’t see what I was doing!

I admit it wasn’t our finest moment, but we got the dye in, and it turned out successful. Although the highlights are still sitting in the bathroom until the trauma wears off a little, you never know when I’ll feel adventurous again.

There was one problem later on. When walking out onto our sun porch the next day, there were brown spots all over the carpet. I asked what happened. Apparently, when he was taking the remaining dye out to throw away, it dripped. At least it wasn’t on our cream carpet. He looked at me and said, “I’ll never complain about how much it costs to get your hair done.”

Isn’t it a good time to evaluate what we’re doing and why? We can’t let our decisions be based on what works for others. No comparisons are needed!

We shouldn’t be afraid to try new things. This is the season that it’s becoming quite necessary. We can except our experiments or reject them, but not until we’ve tried. It might be several tries later before we become eager to continue, but does the outcome outweigh the uncomfortable? For grooming the pup, pretty much. For cutting my hubby and youngest son’s hair, yes. For cutting my oldest son’s hair, I’m getting there. For dying and cutting mine at home, no way! Could we? Yes. Should we? No.

What’s something new you’ve been forced to try? What might work long-term that the outcome means more than the difficult process? Are you being forced to look at how you’re spending money? Is it homeschooling? Is it how you’re spending your free time? Is it your appreciation of your job? Is it realizing you want your job to go in a different direction? Is it the way your family interacts with one another? Let’s stop judging by what the world says is important.

It might be out of necessity that we start something, but it’s by choice if we continue it.

I challenge you to take a break from what others are showing the world and concentrate on what can be learned from this time, when by necessity, we’re forced to do things a little differently. I know that we’ll succeed in reevaluating our lives and be better for it!