When we first decided to live in an RV, one of my first thoughts was: how the heck will I maintain my hair color? Not that I’m a high maintenance brunette, but I’m too vain to let those pesky gray roots show through yet, so I zap ’em with hair dye once a month.

I’ve always done my color. But, since going on the road, I’ve gone to hair salons. But each time, the stylist left me with hair that was too light, or too dark.

I kept getting irritated that the hair colorists couldn’t get it right. So recently, I surrendered and decided to do it myself.

Thank goddess for Sally Beauty Supply. I stocked up on my color, and applicator bottle and gloves, and set out to do my hair. But I wasn’t going to do it in the rig. Hair dye makes a mess, no matter how good you are. So I took the sage advice of fulltime women from RV.net forums, gathered up my supplies and a sudoko book, and headed straight to the ladies room in this park.

It wasn’t so bad. Nobody walked in when I had the restroom reeking like peroxide for almost an hour, and I had a comfy bench to sit on. I kept rehearsing in my head what I would say to someone if they did walk in, but nobody did. Later when I was done, I rinsed my hair in their shower and tried not to leave a mess.

I feel good about doing my own hair again. I spent $11 and got two month’s worth of hair color, versus $60 or more at a salon (yes, L.A. sisters, I know that’s cheap!). And it’s a huge relief on our budget not to have to pay upwards of $50 each month.