I've had almost every hair color imaginable. I started out with a brown to purple ombre, which then turned into a red and pink, and then I went blonde for a while, and then to blue, purple, and back to blue again (with some green somewhere in there too). And while there's definitely been a few haters about it during my journey, it's definitely been a more positive than negative experience.
When I first started, I thought it was just going to be this fun, temporary kind of thing. I didn't think that I'd end up with it still colored nearly a year later. But honestly, it was one of the best decisions of my life. Not only is it a fantastic talking point, but it's given me more confidence than I ever thought possible.
When I first started, I was horrified at the stares I got. I went from thinking it looked cute, to feeling horrified and anxious that it actually looked terrible and no one had been honest with me. But it was too late to go back, so I suffered on, counting down the days until I could I dye it back to my natural color. But as the weeks went on and my color faded, I started to warm up to it a little. By now, the stares were barely registering to me, and I was getting ready to leave for college, saying goodbye to the small, narrow minded town I had grown up in.
I distinctly remember the first time someone from my new school commented on my hair, because it made me feel really happy. Here was a complete stranger complimenting me, without any prior knowledge of me or obligation out of friendship. They genuinely meant what they said. That was honestly a new concept for me. And then it started happening more and more, and I started to realize that those stares didn't always mean they thought it looked bad-- some of them were because they thought it looked great!
As the weeks went by, I had nearly forgotten my original plan to go back. More and more people were complimenting me, telling me how brave I was. I even had some older women say they wished they could pull it off, too. (You totally can!) So when it finally came time to re-dye it, I decided to go with something bolder, brighter. I even had the color moved up, so more of my hair was dyed. I was so confident now that the one or two dirty looks I did get didn't matter.
I've probably changed the color a thousand times since then, and I'm so happy I have. While I found out that pink definitely isn't my color, and purple works on others but not me, I've also learned how to step out of my comfort zone more. I'm not a person who enjoys attention, and as someone who actually actively tries to avoid it, dying my hair a bright, unusual color was not the way to go. Or at least that's how I used to think about it. Now I think everyone should try it at least once in their life, because you never know if you'll like it or not until you try it.
And if there's one thing all this did for me besides provide bomb-ass selfies, it's raised my confidence ten fold. I've started designing my outfits to match my hair, and I've even experimented with different new styles in order to show off the different layers. I've become just as much of my hair as it's a part of me. I love my unnaturally colored hair. And if you don't, that's not my problem. I love it just as much as my tattoos and piercings. So if you ever want any advice from me? You guessed right, dye your hair.
