THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 18, 1995 TAG: 9511170035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Larry Maddry
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
I'LL BE DIPPED.
For quite a few years now I have paid attention to those TV commercials for Grecian Formula.
Just comb in a few drops every day and your hair color will be restored to its original hue, is the pitch.
Then women will swoon over you; colleagues will say you look better. Blah. Blah. Blah.
What if your hair looked bad when you were young? What if it needs an entire overhaul?
While I was thinking in this vein I shared my concern about graying hair with Lorraine Eaton, the newspaper's Teen editor. She said if you want to look younger, you have to get in touch with young people about hair.
So that's what I did.
I phoned Alicia Luma, the Teen columnist for the newspaper. Alicia is 15 and, as luck would have it, an expert on hair coloring. She has colored her hair since she was 12, not counting her Crayon period.
She said she had been thinking about changing her own hair coloring, so we have a lot in common besides column writing.
``What color is your hair now?'' I wondered.
``At this moment?''
``Right.''
She sighed. ``Well, right now it is green, pink, purple, orange, red and black. . . . That's on one side. ``On the other side it is brown and black.''
Apparently Alica is growing tired of having her head look like a paint chart for Sherwin-Williams. She said she had decided to do a hair dye makeover that very night. ``Something more traditional. Blue and orange.''
Alicia suggested that I might want to try beginning with Kool-Aid. She said teens were using Kool-Aid for some very interesting effects. It's cheap and the color tends to disappear after a month, she said.
Alicia told me exactly what to do. ``Only use a small amount of water instead of a quart. . . maybe two or three cups of water to a pack of Kool-Aid. Mix it until it is like a thick paste. Then put it in the microwave and boil it. It has to be hot when it goes on.''
I asked her whether I should microwave it before or after applying it to my head.
``Before! Before!'' she said. And there were additional warnings. ``NEVER USE THE KIND WITH SUGAR ALREADY IN IT! IT MAKES YOUR HAIR STICKY AND STRINGY AND NASTY!!''
(See how important it is to confer with an expert before doing anything about your personal appearance?)
Color selection is very important, too, she said. Should match the skin tone. Alicia said she she looks washed out wearing green Kool-Aid hair.
``I think you'd look good with a dark raven kind of blue. Or maybe lilac. I think lilac is you.''
Alicia said that if I was looking for a more dramatic effect in lilac I might want to consider liberty spikes, like those adorning the head of the Statue of Liberty. She said the look always seems to be in good taste in teen circles.
But she advised using an industrial strength gelatin like Knox to create the spikes rather than Kool-Aid. Green Kool-Aid might leave my head looking like a dish of spinach fettucini, she warned.
``There is also a lot of head shaving going around,'' she said. She said I wouldn't have to limit myself to a Mohawk because hand prints are very big now.
``I like a green hand print,'' she said. ``It just looks like somebody put a hand on the back of your head and shaved everything else except where the hand is.''
She thought it might work for me but believes the green hand print is too far out for her, even though she plans to be either a rock musician or a newspaper person when she's an adult.
``I mean I couldn't see myself going to church wearing something like that,'' she said.
Me, either. Unless it was, maybe, Palm Sunday. by CNB