My daughter F. has the most beautiful reddish-blonde hair. I believe my hair was that color when I was a child. As I got older it turned into the dishwater-dull blonde hair with which many northern European women are no doubt familiar: we are a mousy folk.

My first foray into color was in the mid-80′s, when my roommate (a stylist-in-training) convinced me that I should dye it red. It turned out pink. Dark pink, burgundy-pink —like cheap wine. But hey, it was the mid-80′s. My friend cut it with a razor, different lengths all around, and away I went.

Thus began the hair color odyssey that I still live today. I’ve had numerous salon dye jobs and salon bleach jobs and home dye jobs and home bleach jobs. I’ve been every shade of red (from orange to cherry), and many shades of blonde (platinum to ash). The salon has screwed up and turned it blue; I’ve screwed up and turned it blue (but at far less expense).

I’ve also tried every brand of color on the market, and I’ve come to the conclusion that, when it comes to hair color, there is very little difference in results from the expensive ($10) to the cheap ($3).

My current go-to brand is Revlon ColorSilk—basically, the cheapest color you can buy. The color result is much like my ol’ $10 box. The ColorSilk product itself is thinner and therefore a bit more likely to run than its expensive sister, and it also tends to be a mite more drying. But it does come with some decent conditioner; leave it on for a few minutes extra (the instructions say two minutes; let it go five). It has the usual obnoxious odor that hair color has. The blonde and red colors tend to be a bit bright for the first week, but after the initial fading takes place they are fairly natural-looking.

Overall, this is a great buy—one that will give my frugal, mousy sisters out there some satisfaction.