Saturday, March 11

artifice

I colored my hair yesterday. I got sick of looking at the highlights. The new color was a little darker and redder than I expected; (it was called medium bronze brown on the box, the dirty liars) but it will calm down with time. It's not radical now, I bet most people won't notice. Then I'll get something else done after it washes out - 28 shampoos down the line. Keepin' it fresh.

I have been coloring my hair once or twice a year since I was about 16. I moved from auburns and russets to highlights in a short span of time. I spent part of one summer very blond then topped it with a Stoplight Red that was supposed to last a week or so. But bleached hair is extra porous, so it lasted a bit longer. When the red finally washed out, I had went to a salon to go brown again (corrective color is a bitch. the colorists were hovering around me, hemming and hawing for 3 hours). A few months after that, I went dark, dark brown.

I have been tempted to do an intense color -- blue was my favorite. With those, you usually have to use permanent dye to get big results. I haven't been able to make the jump, not sure if I actually want to. I know it will come as a surprise, but I must tell you I am not very punk rock.


Should I worry that it's not the 'real me'? I am not concerned. Everything we do is a choice, and everything we do is temporary. Hair grows. So enjoy what you do, and be superficial sometimes.

Edit: I keep changing this post. I might just delete it completely. It doesn't work.

6 comments:

  1. I think you should try blue, what's stopping you?

    I think "what if i dont like it and have to see it on my head everyday?" But then if you are ready to look at yourself in a different (oh it sounds so cliche) way, then you will like it, wont you?

    do i make sense? oh oh oh! why cant i say what i mean!!

    anyways good luck, SD

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  2. Yeah, that's pretty much it Neha, the waking up in the morning, going to brush my teeth and looking in the mirror and screaming. I'm worried about going to job interviews with peacock blue hair, but then I could get a job first, make sure they're cool with it, then do it. Yes, that's one of my 'before 30' goals: blue, or possibly purple hair.

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  3. i've had black hair for 3+ years now. i don't even remember what color my real hair is.

    before that, it was purple. and before that, red. and even before that, it was bleached and i manic-panic-d it bright, bright red.

    it's just hair. if i wasn't job hunting right now, i would streak it with purple. but i can't if i want to find a 'respectable' job.

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  4. Dirty girl, tell me about the first time you dyed your hair. What did it mean to you? Why did you do it?

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  6. Oh, man. I turned off word verification. That's what ya get. I'll see if we get a bunch more comment spam and go from there.

    To answer your question, Voix: My mom didn't want me to do it, so that was a big help. I wanted dark red-brown hair, (look at the Cinnabery on, I think, Natural Instincts or Herbal Essences next time you are at Target) and I finally got permission, and colored it all by myself. My mom didn't really want to help me, and she fussed and hovered so I kicked her out of the bathroom. It turned out uneven in the back, but I liked the color. I remember my oldest, coolest brother asking 'why'd you do that?' and that bummed me out. But overall the reaction was positive. I had played with makeup since I was very little - this was the next level. This is a little bit about my mom, I guess. Because she hardly ever wore makeup. She didn't disapprove or anything. She just didn't like it. She would never color her hair either.

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