Purple Hair

I confess I am vain enough to want to cover the grey sprinkled through my hair - I may be old enough to be my small daughter's grandmother, but I'd rather not look like it. I don't like paying out the cost of having my hair dyed at a salon so I do it myself at home. I also don't like committing to a particular colour or running the risk of getting stuck with a colour I hate for too long, so I use a semi-permanent dye which is supposed to last for six weeks. In practice this gives a lot of scope for experimenting with different colours and I am now in a position to offer a piece of hair colouring advice.

Do not choose hair dye because you like the flavour.

More specifically, avoid "blackcurrant" unless you have thought it through and actually want purple hair. You would think I could work this out before putting the stuff on, but somehow I still succumbed to the fruitiness without properly considering the outcome. After all, it didn't look too purple on the packet. And "plum" and "dark cherrry" came out ok. On the other hand I should have learned from "dark chocolate" (oh, I love dark chocolate!), which was extremely dark and not very chocolate.

From now on, I am looking at the colour on the box and not the name! The purple is on its way out as I type and "chocolate truffle" is doing its stuff. Not that I have anything against chocolate truffles, but I put them out of my mind while choosing. Unfortunately I just noticed a large blob of dye which had landed on my wrist and washed it off too late. It now looks as though I have a large and slightly oddly coloured bruise. Maybe I have found a better use for "blackcurrant". Stage makeup?