When someone goes through a hard time, sometimes they decide to dye their hair a different color. Hair is something if you mess up, it'll eventually grow back, change the color, or wear a wig. I'll refer to different points of my life by what color my hair was at the time, saying stuff like, "Oh, I was so much more fun when I had red hair" or "I was at the highest point in my life when my hair was black" etc.

(For reference, I've colored my hair; red, black, purple, back to black, green, and now blue.)

I first colored my hair when I was 19, and I felt like a needed a change. At the time, I was constantly stressed, and after looking at some photos on Instagram for reference, I made the appointment with my stylist. At the time, I'd rather pay for someone else to do my hair professionally, than do it myself and mess up. I L-O-V-E-D having red hair and my confidence went way up. I felt like I stood out a little more, rather than what I felt like, blend in with everyone else around me. This is the time when I'd go out more, was more social, was easier going, and overall, I felt like I was happy.

When I was over the red, I decided to have it dyed black, I naturally have really dark brown hair and in certain lights. I felt like black would be easiest, because it would cover up all of the red dye, and you couldn't tell when my natural hair grew in. Again, my confidence boosted during this time. I didn't stand out anymore, but I felt like it really complimented my complexion and personality. During this time, I traveled to a county I'd always wanted to visit, Japan, with my best friend at the time, was voted into a leadership position, when to my first anime convention, and met/grew closer to many wonderful people who helped shape me into who I am today.

Now I'll admit I jumped the gun a bit when I decided to dye my hair purple. I wanted a more drastic change, and purple is one of my favorite colors. The color didn't come out as bright as I would've preferred, it was a bit hard to see, but I still liked it. During this time, I felt like I was going a bit downhill. This was when my depression and anxiety was at its worst, I wasn't doing well in school anymore, and I wasn't sure what to do with my life. I dyed my black again after that, and I felt somewhat normal again, but all the stuff going on in my life wasn't going to magically get better just because I dyed my hair, and I knew that. I worked on bettering myself every day and got back into old hobbies that made me happy), such as photography and traveling, and socializing with the people closest to me.

Now last October, I decided that I wanted a little change again, but to save some money I was going to dye my hair myself. I only did the ends of my hair, rather than all of it, because I wasn't sure I could have colored hair where I worked, and because I normally wore my hair in a bun, I thought it'd be less noticeable. Well, I was wrong, but no one said anything to me about it, so I guess it was fine. I bleached my own hair and used Arctic Fox Iris and Aquamarine to make a teal color, only I added a little too much green and it came out as more of a green-blue, but I didn't care. I felt like a new person, I was in a happier place, and that's all I cared about. A month or two ago, I dyed my hair the Aquamarine color from Arctic Fox and have been loving it ever since.

Whether you do it yourself or have a professional do it, is up to you. It's something that isn't permanent, and I can change again and again. I don't think you need to dye your hair in order to feel better nor will it fix all of your problems, but I do think it can be a big confidence booster, even for a little bit.