Hair Coloring

Blue hair dye, phone bill, lamp switch, odor remover

Published: Saturday, 10 March 2007 00:12:00
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Q: I'm curious. Do you know why older ladies dye their hair blue?

- Sylvia Zapata

A: It's not intentional.

Gray hair, which lacks the melanin that produces hair color, might turn a warm (red or yellow) tone from curling irons, heat, etc. Blue counteracts these tones, says Lindsey Buckingham, a stylist and colorist at James Allan: The Salon, 4406 Burnet Road. Some folks overcompensate because they perceive the yellow tint to be more pronounced than it is. (As the eye ages, color perception might change somewhat.) Bingo! Blue hair.

Trust a professional to correct your hair color, Buckingham advises. Generally, using a blue or purple tint shampoo rather than a rinse controls the unwanted tones in gray hair without producing the Marge Simpson mop.

Q: Would you please explain for all of us the charges we blindly pay on our phone bills each month?

- D. Arbuckle

A: Using the copy you sent me, here is a brief explanation of the surcharges and fees (and where the money goes) from the Public Utility Commission:

Federal subscriber line charge: costs associated with the local loop connecting customers to the network (local companies).

911 service fee: funds emergency telecommunications (regional agencies).

Federal universal service fee: funds the telecommunications network of rural schools, libraries, etc. (federal government).

Texas universal service: funds Relay Texas, special programs for the hearing disabled and low-income customers, and affordable service for high-cost rural customers (local companies).

Expanded local calling service: assists rural customers to call community services without a long-distance fee (local companies).

Texas rate group class surcharge: recovery of charges for local rates based on the amount of numbers a customer can access (AT&T).

Municipal charge: the funds paid to municipalities for use of public rights-of-way (local companies).

TIF (telecommunications infrastructure fund) reimbursement and recovery: funds the telecommunication network of Texas schools, hospitals, etc. (Texas).

By the way, TIF was funded to capacity in 2003 and is the subject of a bill to repeal it in this legislative session.

Q: On most lamps nowadays, I have to fish along the cord to find the roll-switch to turn it on or off. Pull-chains were so much easier to use. What happened to them? Can I convert my roll-switch lamp to a pull-chain without too much trouble?

- T. Patterson

A: Pull-chain lamps are a bit more expensive and wear out sooner than roll-switch lamps. That is the word from Mary Kay Durham, owner of the Fixture Shop, 6318 Burnet Road. Convert a roll-switch lamp to a pull-chain lamp by replacing the socket and the cord. Prices begin at $25 for this service.

Upshot/Update/

Uproar:

Looking for a good all-purpose deodorizer? "I spilled a bottle of Liquid Fence - the most noxious odor imaginable - on the front seat of my car," reader Margo Green writes. X-O, an odor neutralizer, to the rescue. "I liberally sprayed the seat and all fabric in the car that could have absorbed that stench and closed the car up tight. Much to my surprise and delight, the next morning, the odor was gone! The odor never came back, even in damp weather." Pick up a bottle (about $10) at Bark 'N Purr Pet Center, 4604 Burnet Road, or Breed & Co.,

718 W. 29th St.

Contact Jane Greig at P.O. Box 670, Austin 78767; (512) 445-3697; e-mail jgreig@statesman.com or fax (512) 445-3968. For more Jane Greig, visit www.statesman.com/life/greig.

Source: Austin American-Statesman

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