There was never any particular reason that I had to dye my hair. It had always been a spontaneous decision. If I felt like dying my hair, then I would dye it, simple as that. When I made the decision to dye my hair for the first time, my mom was very reluctant, saying that the chemicals in the hair dye would damage it permanently. We reached a compromise, and she decided that she would dye it for me at home, and it was just...not a good idea.

My mom picked out the brown color she thought I would like, and on the box, it was a subtle shade of brown - just barely noticeable. My mom slapped the dye towards the ends of my hair and refused to touch my roots. Because it was my first time dying my hair, I didn't know what to expect. I had foolishly believed that I would get the color that was depicted on the box. After an hour (I think), I washed the dye out of my hair and noticed absolutely no difference. My mom tried to convince me that it was a lighter tone in the light. She even shined a flashlight on where she put the dye to prove her point. Nonetheless, I was disappointed, and I wanted to get it redone right away.

One year later…

I think I was 17 when I was finally allowed to redye my hair. By this time, my brown tips had faded. I was ready to go a shade lighter, and I did exactly that...except it didn't look a shade lighter even with bleach. My hair was a dark chocolate brown, and it was more noticeable than the first attempt, but it still wasn't the color that I was looking for. I had to wait it out yet again.

Another year later…

This time, I was determined to get it right. I remember being at the hair salon for over four hours trying to restrain from itching my scalp that burned from the bleach. When it was time to wash and blowdry, I crossed my fingers and prayed for a good end result, and it turns out, I wasn't disappointed for once. Instead of being a dark chocolate brown, my hair was now more of a milk chocolate color, and I was actually very happy with it.

Another year later though, I decided to dye it again...

This time, I went from the milk chocolate brown to an ombre-almost-blonde-but-not-quite color, and I don't even know why. I wasn't trying to garner attention, I wasn't trying to rebel, and I wasn't going through some angsty teen phase. I guess my reason was just that I can and wanted to. I like my hair lighter, I like to look at my roots fade to an orange-gold color, and I like how it lightens in the sunlight. I hope to go blonde or silver one day, that is if my hair even makes it that far. Until then, let's see how long I can go without redying my hair again...