There is
something about our hair that we as women tend to identify ourselves with. We get creative with it & we allow it to signify our style, our personality, our sexuality, our ambition, our role, our strength, our control....but there's no right, wrong or absolute in any of it. There are no guidelines to being a "certain anything" - it's completely objective to each individual. As a human race, we just put a lot of thought into hair styling amongst other things.
Growing up, I had beautiful red hair, then over the years, it turned blonder and blonder and blonder. So...I wasn't a blonde, I wasn't a red-head...I was stuck in the middle with the identity crisis of being a "strawberry blonde". A man told me a few years ago that "strawberry blondes are the rarest breed of the female race". I laughed then quickly scurried away because he was, indeed, a creeper.
When I was 17, my mom & I colored my hair RED and I was hooked. I loved being a red head. At the time I did this, Mean Girls came out. I was a HUGE Lindsay Lohan fan (rest in peace, old LiLo) & people would tell me I looked just.like.her. I DIE!!! I totally loved being a redhead. Everything about it fit my personality & boosted confidence as it complimented my fair skin and freckles so well! Something I always tried to hide with sunless tanners & usually ended up in a big, orange disaster.
I experimented with many different hair colors and styles over the years. Long hair, medium hair, short hair, super short hair....blonde, brown, pink and every shade of red you can imagine. Highlights, lowlights, funlights, and no lights....all in about 5 years. My husband always jokes with me that he loved that I changed my hair so much because it kept him guessing. He never knew WHAT woman he was coming home to that night.
But my hair was exhausted. I was exhausted.
I took a break for a year. Grew my hair out. Gorgeous, shiny natural color restored. My family loved it. My husband loved it. I could wear gorgeous lip and eye colors that I never wore before & not look like a fu-reak in pictures. I was back to being that little girl the knew and loved with the strawberry blonde hair. Everything was great except....
I was BORED.
I started getting highlights in my hair and spiced up my long length with fun layers and side bangs. I was cute-to-boot and feeling fine! And BLONDE! I did things I never had done before. I had a new identity as a blonde versus my red hair - kind of like Beyonce & Sasha Fierce. I was bubbly and social. I loved to dress up in fun colors and put on the brightest lipstick I could find. But after 6 months, though I loved it & will probably return back to it next summer--I was ready for fall...and a dramatic change.
So last night, I went to see my hairstylist & told her I wanted it off. I felt like the Queen on Alice in Wonderland screaming "Off with her
heaaaad HAIR!!!" (Don't worry. I didn't scream at Natalie. That's just rude.) We brainstormed the color & cut, squealed with excitement & got to work.
For some reason, the sweetest, most freeing noise I can ever hear is the sound of thick hair being chopped off. It gives me chills down my spine. I get so exhilarated. For some reason, I create in my mind this allegory that my hair resembles everything that has happened to me since the last time I cut it. I'm like Gretchen Wieners and my hair is "full of secrets". (See? I love Mean Girls.) So seeing chunks of my hair falling to the ground is like a snake shedding it's skin. Out with the old, in with the NEW! Right? (Sorry, if skin-shedding is gross to think about, but it's true.)
I saw myself in the mirror & sighed deeply with relief. Red. Short. Fierce. Heather.
I didn't care what anyone else thought at that point. I was going to rock it, regardless, because I loved it and had missed it so much. Turns out - everyone of my family & friends had secretly missed it too. They now realize that they associate that style with me, after all. I've been on cloud nine all day simply because I feel like ME again. Like it's a fresh start with a rejuvenated Heather.
Cutting my hair off was a release for me. Looking & feeling super fab afterwards...was just icing on the cake.
Colorfully yours,
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| My beautiful long blonde hair. I loved it, but those summer freckles were fading fast. I needed a change. |
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| For some people, stress relief is running, yoga, counseling, or reading. For me, it's a good cut & color. :) |
