Hair

In 21 years, I've done a lot of things with my hair. Well, for the first eighteen months, I didn't have any. My mother has told me that she used to rub my head daily, hoping that it would bring some hair and she invested in a lot hats so people wouldn't know how bald I was.

The hair did eventually come in, of course, though not until after it had become a family joke lasting to this day. But by the time my second birthday came around, I was spotting blonde curls and quite a head of them, too. I've always had really fine hair, but a ton of it.

For the next eleven years, I left my hair alone more or less. I mean I'd cut it when it grew too long and sported a few interesting hair cuts over the years, but it was pretty typical. Then, at thirteen I discovered hair dye.

I will honestly admit that dying my hair that first time was an experiment that I underwent mainly because all my friends were getting perms. With hair that is naturally fairly curly, I never saw the point in a perm. I could have gotten the curl taken out I suppose, but I like my hair just as it is. At least, that aspect of it.

The first time I dyed my hair, I just lightenened it. I'm a natural blonde, but my hair has gotten a little darker as I've gotten older. It'll never be really dark, or even qualified as brown, but it's no longer the sunlight blonde it was when I was a little girl. In fact, it's started to get a reddish tint to it, which is interesting. So, to keep the blonde colour that I'd always had, I had to start turning to artificial means for help.

Since then, I've dyed my hair several times. I've had my hair blonde, red, purple, brown, and now black. It's just hair, I don't see the big deal. I like the change.

My current hair colour as gotten a mixed reaction from people. Well, the first reaction is pretty similar all aroudn the board: "Oh my god!". But then, I've noticed that it either goes two ways. Either people tell me that they love it, that it gives me a whole new look. In fact, it makes me look quite a lot like my dark-haired mother, who I already looked like, and for the first time, gave me a resemblacne to my equally dark-haired father.

I've gotten several reactions like that from people I work with, a few family members, a couple friends. I don't think they're all lying to me, so that's good. Besides, I think it does look good, even if I was terrified that it wouldn't. It doesn't look fake-black, it's more of a natural shade. It looks like it could really be my hair colour, helped by the fact that it's very close to the shade that most of my family has naturally.

The other reaction is "What did you do?" Downright horror. I got this reaction from a few relatives and several friends. Taela, is just starting to get used to it, telling me flatly when she first saw that it was 'bizarre'. A few other friends, shared her sentiments and I've had a few people tell me that they like me better as a blonde.

Personally, it's just hair. I get bored with my hair after a period of time. So I do things with it. I cut it off or grow it long. I dye it different colours. Even tried streaks once. I like playing around with it. It is only hair, after all.