Color 101, or 911?

Residents of the Arts Haus, known as a venue for creativity on campus, took artistic expression to another level on Friday _ giving free dye jobs and hair cuts to University students.

Under the guidance of house manager, senior Erin Dwyer, the 17 resident house decided that free hair dying and cutting would be entertaining, fun, and practical. After all, "green hair is post-modern," senior Arts Haus resident David Attanasio said.

For the event, the on-call stylists were sophomore Arts Haus residents Sadie and junior resident Sue, who were responsible for the evening's events. Sadie was confident in her self-taught abilities as a stylist/shaver. She came prepared with tools, and her short, spiky, platinum blonde hair gave her some credibility in the hair styling business.

On the other hand, Sue appeared a lot more hesitant. "I've never highlighted hair before," she said. Despite her inexperience and hesitation, Sue, nevertheless, looked professional in her latex gloves, amidst her arrangement of hair dye.

The students in attendance were mostly freshmen. Freshmen Sarah and Jason, decided to take part in the hair styling experiment because it was free. As it happens, Sarah, who is a veteran of hair dyes, showed up at the multi-colored extravaganza sporting short, dyed-red hair.

She chose not to go too crazy and just rejuvenated the red with a fresh one. The excitement began when she sat down at the table with Sue armed and ready behind her. The first squirt of dye was a mind-boggling blood red. "Don't be afraid, it's only hair," Sue said to reassure her client.

"If she messes up you can dye your whole head again," sophomore resident Whitney added. Sarah remained calm, cool, and collected throughout the procedure, and Sue did a successful job of revitalizing Sarah's exotic color.

After the triumphant effort with Sarah's hair, Sadie took on freshman Jason's hair. His straight black hair fell long around the face, and he declared that it was time for a trim. As the black garbage bag was placed over his shoulders and Sadie prepared the razor, a look of terror crossed Jason's face. Jason expressed frustration in not being given a mirror to see the back of his head during the "styling session."

Sadie stood behind Jason with razor in hand and proceeded to drag the razor over Jason's hair. Black packets fell to the ground, and when Sadie finished, Jason hurried to the bathroom to see the result. There was a moment of silence. "I like it," Jason said. "I'm not used to short hair, but I like it."

The trend of success was put to a halt towards the end of the evening. While permanent dye is fabulous if one wants long-lasting color, it can cause problems when the bright dye stains skin. Washing out the hair color proved to be more trouble than was expected.

"I have purple on my arms, my hands, and my face... everywhere except my hair," freshman Joanna said. Still, Joanna admitted that she couldn't pass up the opportunity to dye her hair an unnatural color, for free, and was pleased that purple was, at least, a "pretty" color.

"We're all about living on the edge," Attanasio said. At the very least, people took chances by trying something new _ the mark of a college experience. In the end, there was no great catastrophe, just some colorful people.