Hair is a way for one to express themselves. I believe that it is one of the first things people notice about you. In today's world, it is common to see someone walking down the street with brightly colored strands hanging down their face, or even half of their head shaved.

I am a natural brunette. Do not ask me how dark or light my actual color is because I have no idea. Growing up I was not allowed to dye my hair until after I graduated high school. My first move you may ask, blonde.

Actually, I lied, kind of.

I started out with highlights and then progressively went blonde. This lasted for about six months of my freshman year of college. Then a boy hurt my heart very much and I went dark.

Real dark.

I've come to notice that anytime I do something "drastic" with my hair or even my look it's due to the fact that I don't feel in control in life and that changing something with my appearance will help me somehow gain that control. It's not really healthy, I know, but it's also not as bad as me trying to cut my own bangs over the summer of 2018.

NEVER CUT YOUR OWN BANGS. YOU WILL REGRET IT.

Flash forward to the end of my freshman year, said same boy hurt my heart even more and that's when I decide to chop off my hair. Not too short, just above my shoulder. From there on I have always kept my short bob, but I have bounced between a light brownish/blonde to a dark chocolate brown.

That is until the other night...

You're probably reading this article going, "When is she going to get to the purple part. Just hurry up already". Well, I promise you, it's coming.

So the other night I get off work early and I'm just driving around not really sure what to do and then I thought about how awesome I would look with purple tips on the end of my hair. Not a light purple or a Barney purple, but more like a violet/ maroonish color.

New Year, new me, right?

Now I have used box dye, and I can already hear everyone telling me not to do it. I know that box dye is a one-way ticket to damaging your hair. I'm apprehensive at this point and I'm nervous. Did I mention it's hard for me to commit to an idea fully? I go to Wal-Mart and I start looking at the box dye ( I know, I know). My stomach is still not 100%; I take it as my intuition telling me it's not a good idea.

I circle around the beauty section for a while until finally, I talk to a lady who looks to have dyed her hair plenty of times before. After a long talk with her, I head over to the beauty supply store and talk to the lady who was working.

Her hair was the color I wanted, so I knew she could help.

I eventually left the store with dye, toner and professional dyeing kit in hand and head home. Well sort of. My friends asked me for dinner and I guess I was really just procrastinating actually going through with it. They kept telling me to "send it' and do my whole head.

I kept telling them "just the tips."

Once I finally got home, I got straight to business. Let me tell you, the color of that dye on my head was absolutely terrifying! My whole head was a bright purple.

And I mean BRIGHT purple.

In those twenty minutes that I had to wait, I thought about so many things. One of them being how I just ruined my hair. After the twenty minutes were FINALLY up (longest twenty minutes of my life) I jumped in the shower to wash my hair and give it the TLC that it needed at that point.

Once I finally started to do my hair, I realized how much I actually liked the color. The purple ended up being exactly what I wanted it to be! In some lights, you get different hues, but that's totally ok with me.

Now after a few days of having it, I actually am glad I decided to get "wild" with my look because I wanted to and not because I was losing control in life. I've learned to step out of my comfort zone and to try new things. Yes, I know it's hair, but to me, it's a big step forward.