If I do a semi-perm (darker) on my hair and don't like it, are there any non damaging ways to fade it a bit? My hair tends to keep the colors up well but I never really stray too far from my shade unless I go purple. I am tempted to go a darker but less red shade, just to see...

Oh, oh! I've been there! Very cool, and much less touristy than some areas.

That's so cool, Brenda.

Got your card, and it was very glittery!

woo! I went for cards that seemed to explode with glitter.

Excellent. A friend's wife is from near there (Quetzaltenango was the big town). They'll take good care of you -- I'm guessing you're staying with a family.

yep, doing the homestay thing. I'm a little afeared of being in permanent guest-mode for a month, but still excited.

When we went down we hiked on an ecotour through the jungle to Tikal. Every day we'd climb some ruins to look out over the trees to see the temples at Tikal getting closer. And every night the lion monkeys would throw things at us while we tried to sleep. It was amazing.

I *really* want to do some hiking while I'm there.

Neat thing about Xela (SHAY-la) - the nickname actually predates the name Quetzaltenango - it's a short form of the long-ass name the town was called pre-Conquistadores.

I was wondering about that! When a friend who'd been there before started calling it that, I was trying to figure out where on earth the name could have come from.

I feel very stupid. I got a card from SA yesterday, and thought, "ooh, something from SA, I must open it right away", and then the cat threw up, and it's still sitting on my table.

Well, that's a good reason, honey.

omg sleep.

But I've opened it now!

Thanks, Sweetie!

So good to hear good news from Cashmere!

It's good to "see" you here Cashmere. Much stay-put~ma to the little one.

Please don't be letting me get the flu that is going around. I was just out doing some Christmas errands, and I suddenly felt like I was going to pass out. Good thing I was with Mom and didn't have to drive home.

I was just out doing some Christmas errands, and I suddenly felt like I was going to pass out.

The same thing happened to me this afternoon, but I'm pretty sure it's because there were way too many humans shopping in a small space. Note to self: Buy everything online next year.

It didn't feel like the too much humans things, but I could just be over-reacting because my stepfather has been really sick all week.

This is a picture from the annual Brown/Radcliffe Women's Rugby Prom Dress Game.

Hee. I'll betcha a lot of the women at that game would never normally wear a dress...fun!

If I do a semi-perm (darker) on my hair and don't like it, are there any non damaging ways to fade it a bit?

I was just wondering this myself--the last time I dyed my hair, it was a bit more golden red than I'd expected (it was supposed to be light brown). So the roots were getting a little crazy, and I just dyed it brown yesterday, and it's a bit darker than I'd like (apparently, light brown is "golden red" and medium brown is "dark brown". Oy).

With semi perm, I've had decent success with a good strong clarifying shampoo to lighten the darkness. With permanent, nsm. I definitely learned the Color Will Not Lighten Color rule the hard way. That was the first and last time I've ever had to strip the color out of my hair. Knock on wood.

Prell is supposed to be a good color-stripping shampoo. Just use a nice strong conditioner afterwards.