A Brief History on the Evolution of my Hair
By Brittany
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From a very young age, I swore that I would NEVER dye my hair. But guess what, that changed. I'm a natural brunette, the darkness varying depending on the season. That was about to change.
It all started when I saw a girl with cherry Cola hair. I was sold. After cherry Cola, I knew I needed purple in my hair, but since I was too scared to bleach it, I dyed it a dark brown/black/purple color and while that was nice, it didn't last very long. I bit the bullet and bleached the bottom half and did a purple and pink ombre, which rocked, but once again, barely lasted a few weeks. After that, I went sort of crazy and went for it, bleaching my entire head *ahhhhh*. To my (pleasant) surprise, I did not end up bald or with crazy fried hair. What I found instead was that my hair was softer than ever and felt pretty darn healthy. So there! I slept with purple Manic Panic on overnight and washed it off in the morning. I looked pretty hard core. But like all good things, it ended with my hair grey and weird looking. I did hot pink (which faded to bubble gum pink then blonde), blue, blue and purple stripes (which REFUSED TO FADE) and am back to a solid purple at the moment. *Disclaimer: if you are going to dye your hair blue, you had better be commited. It's no joke. It does NOT come out. I went to a salon, attempted bleaching it our and using color removers. It did not budge. I went to the internet for help and ended up trying a vitamin C hair treatment (5 times, overnight) and it was not going anywhere. Talk about an unhealthy, committed relationship. I ended up just dying Pravana Vivids Purple over it but as it's starting to fade now, a month later, the blue is showing again!!!* You are probably wondering, "Didn't this crazy lady swear to never dye her hair!?" You are right. I did say that, which brings me to my point: Never say never (Thanks Justin Beiber for making this sound cliche). I got to thinking and realized that I have a colorful personality and wanted it to match with my hair. And I figured. "Hey, this is the last time I'll be able to do this since in a year I have to get an adult job in the field of education, which would not be too accepting of colored hair (unfortunately)". So I did it and the only regret I have is that I didn't do it sooner. With alllll of that being said, let me tell you a story that highlights stereotypes and the lack of acceptance in our society. I don't consider my family liberal but they aren't the most die hard conservatives either. They have always been pretty tolerant. In fact, my parents were pretty accepting of all these changes (my mom dyes my hair for me!), as were my sisters, grandparents, boyfriend and his family. The entire span of colored hair, no one had really said anything negative about my hair, which I thought rocked, until Thanksgiving. A family member who shall go unnamed looked at me when he came in the door and said, "How the hell do you expect to get a job?". I was flabbergasted. I kindly replied to him that I was still in school and chose to do it now so that I would be able to still have some fun but go back to "normal" when it was time for me to start hunting. But his comment really stuck with me. First off, what was it to him how I would be getting a job? Secondly, is our society today so focused on appearances that my hair color is more important than my knowledge and experiences? I had hoped not, but unfortunately, it is. We live in an age of intolerance and judgement. I understand that colored hair is not professional or acceptable in most work environments. But neither is passing judgement. I've also gotten the, "If you keep dying your hair crazy colors, it's all going to fall out". Pshht, jokes on you! For the most part, the dyes I use are vegan or mostly chemical free, making my hair softer and healthier than your salon dye and a lot cheaper too since I do it myself at home! I can't wait for the day that people can rock crazy hairstyles, colors and styles without fear of stereotyping. Also, sorry I'm not too photogenic :P |
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