My Great Pink Hair Challenge of 2011...

Well, I thought I had this all worked out, and I was going to work it exactly like last year's challenge.  But now there's an unexpected twist at the last minute...

Me and my beautiful pink streaks from last year

What to do?

Let me start by telling you the original plan; how I worked it last year.  Last year I decided to put pink highlights or streaks in my hair as a fundraiser.  I (luckily, it turns out) thought to ask my employer if it was alright to wear my hair pink at work for a few months, and was told it was against the dress code.  Bummer!  Then I had an idea...  If I found wash out pink dye, I could just do it any and every time I wasn't as work.  So I looked in stores, and only found pink spiking gel.  Then I looked online, and found a company called "Streekers," which had temporary hot pink dye made just for streaking hair; just what I was looking for!!!  I decided to write a letter to the company explaining what I wanted to do and why, and ask if they would be willing to donate the hair dye.  They answered yes!!!  Woohoo!  So now I had the dye...

Next I wrote a letter to email and post on facebook announcing my challenge:  For 3 weeks I would be running a "pink hair challenge," where for every donation in that period of $35 or more I would have add 1 pink streak in my hair, and I would wear the streaks for 3 months everywhere I went, everyday, except to work.  It started out slow, but in the end I had 7 pink streaks and had raised over $500!!!  It was a wonderful success!   So I proudly wore my pink streaks till the middle of summer.  I was a little sad when my 3 months were up, I kinda liked the look.

This year, after I'd already emailed out my challenge letters and was about to post it on facebook,  I decided to go to my employer, and once again ask if it would be ok to do permanent pink streaks for my challenge.  I asked one of my bosses who last year told me it was ok with her if I did this, if I could use her name when talking with the human resource dept about it.  She said yes.  I then went to the woman who was above her on the chain of command, and asked the same thing.  She told me that the answer would not change this year, it would still be a no.  But she gave me an idea... She told me that if I wore a wig OVER my pink streaked hair to work, no one could tell me I couldn't do THAT.  What an idea!  So now I've got the wheels turning in my head...

Would I be willing to look like this for $1000?

So after I've already gotten "Streekers" to once again generously donate their hair dye that I fell in love with last year, and after I 've sent out the emails regarding the challenge, I've got a new twist.  But I know that pink highlights put in at a salon cost between $15-$20 per streak, which I just can't afford out of my own pocket.  And I definitely could not afford a real wig, from what I've heard they are extremely expensive.  So I've put the word out to a couple of people about finding a way to get the highlights donated by a salon, and if that comes through I may ask my mom, who is a breast cancer survivor, if she still has her wig from when she went though chemo, or ask around and see if anyone else has one I could use for a few months.  But if I am going to do it with permanent streaks, and have to wear a wig for months at work everyday, I think I will make the stakes higher, like I will make them permanent streaks if the challenge gets me over the $1000 donation milestone.  And then I think what if people are willing to donate enough that I make $1000 just from the challenge this year, and get me to over $1,300, so that I only have another $1000 to raise... Would I be willing to dye ALL my hair pink for that?  Would my husband still speak to me if I did?

Questions to be answered....
Answers to follow...