What's your worst bad hair day memory?

I need a hair cut. Bad. AND my grey roots are showing. So it's time for me to hit the salon. I have just one problem. FEAR.

Last time I went to get my hair done I had the worst salon experience of my life. The woman who has done my hair for quite some time left the business due to some health complications. So, I was forced to try out someone new. BIG MISTAKE.

Can you say orange clown hair?

It was bad. Not just the color, but also the way my stylist responded to the atrocity on my head was not helpful.

Usually my hair is sorta medium brown with some blond highlights. I was getting bored with it. So I told her I wanted just A LITTLE BIT of red mixed in. I made it VERY CLEAR that I did not want red hair. I just wanted the same basic color with a BIT of red mixed in to jazz it up a little. I also said that I did not want burgundy or any fake looking color. I wanted hair that looked like it might actually occur in nature.

So putting my full trust in her skills with chemical concoctions I blissfully zoned out while she mixed up some gook that was painted onto my head, first left to do it's magic just on the roots and then later pulled through on strands all over my head. Then to keep it fun I had a handful of foil highlights added in.

Everything was copacetic, right?

WRONG.

When I finally hit the shampoo bowl the catastrophe was unmasked.

I had about a 2 inch wide STRIPE of orange clown hair color where she had painted my roots and the rest of it was a mousy brown. IT WAS BAD.

She took one look at me and said "Well, I wonder why it did that?" HUH???

When I got to the mirror I freaked. There was no stinking way I was walking out the door looking like that. FIX THIS I insisted. So she put something else on. It did NOT tone down the orange clown hair but did make the rest of my hair look worse. After that I was in tears. Finally the owner of the salon came out with a broad smile chattering something about how this was a wonderful "teaching opportunity" for her new stylist. And I got my hair dyed a THIRD TIME to rectify the mess that had been made. By the time all was said and done it actually came out ok (after over three hours at the salon blowing my whole morning and way too much chemical processing...ugh!)

You can bet your bottom dollar I will NOT be going to that salon again.

But the problem is, now I'm chicken to go anywhere else. I really need to get my hair done. I have walked into and walked out of two different places. I have made and cancelled appointments. I just don't feel any trust about letting someone new put their hands on my hair. SHUDDER!

I've got to bite the bullet and take a leap of faith. I know this. Still, it makes me really nervous now to even think about what may happen next time I'm in the chair.

That got me to thinking about how we can sometimes let fear hold us back from taking steps that are necessary in other areas of our lives. Clearly, a lot of things require a certain amount of risk. We would never learn a new skill or take a chance on love if we were not willing to reach out into the unknown at some point.

I have a card someone gave me back in my college days that says: "The most unfortunate thing that happens to a person who fears failure is that he limits himself by becoming afraid to try anything new. GIVE YOURSELF A CHANCE."

Especially for someone who has had their heart broken, had a business fail, a dream crushed or any kind of major disappointment in life it can feel incredibly dangerous to put yourself back into the line of fire again. But there is one thing I absolutely know for sure. Success in life is not about how many times or how far you fall. It's about how consistently we are willing to get back up.

I'm getting my hair done. And I'm going to take a few chances in some other things.
If things don't work out right away the way I might like them too, I'll just go right on trying.

I'm going to hold onto the words of my hero Thomas Edison who said "Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."