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| Photographer: MeganNicolePhotography Designer: Dylana Dueck Event: Adoria Fashion Shoot |
I have always been a
natural type of person. If you have to use makeup, keep it as natural as
possible. Embrace your body type and go with it. Don’t try to change it. Keep
your eye color. Don’t put in those scary looking colored contacts.
But I was
most particular with my hair. I loved and cherished my long locks of brownish
red hair. My hairdressers always
said that I should not dye it cuz this is the color others come in to get it
dyed. And I assured them that I had no intentions of dyeing it. They also said
that because I never did anything "unnatural" to it, my hair was super silky and healthy. “You must not curl or
blow dry it a lot.” I assured them they were right. I didn’t. It’s all natural.
And I loved it.
But another thing about me is that I love change and trying new
things. No matter how much I like something I’ll do something else just for the
sake of change. Not because I don’t like it.
The day came that
I thought never would. This girl wanted to do something different with her
hair. So the day that my hair were no longer virgin, was when I put in dark
lowlights and enhanced the natural red in my hair on top. I held my breath as I
left the shop and hoped those 3 hours spent in the salon would be worth it. I
really loved the look. My hair felt great. But no one really noticed. And I
figured I spent all that money and no one noticed!? That’s no good. The stylist
in me now was noting that getting my hair even darker would look even better on
me.
So one fateful day – and I blame it all on my niece because she was offering
very strongly to dye my hair- so let's just say pretty much she forced me to - I went to
Walmart and got me a box off the shelf. That was mistake # 1. The picture on the front cover looked pretty good. Her hair
was lusciously dark. It looked very natural so I figured that it would look
very natural on me too. I ignored my niece’s advice that it’s a lot darker in
real life than what it appears on the picture. Mistake # 2.
I was mesmorized by
the models’s beautiful locks and I wanted beautiful dark locks. So off I went
and got my hair dyed.
When I saw the results I was shocked. The thing I swore I
never would do to my hair had happened. I had unnaturally jet black hair. They
were so black that when the light shone on them the highlights were blue. I was
mortified. How did this happen? Oh right, my niece forced me to dye my hair and
she told me to get the black. Right? Made sense in my mind.
For weeks after
when I showered, the water turned black. I scrubbed and scrubbed my hair to take
out the black. I swore I would march right to a professional hairdresser and
have them undo my black hair. Cuz of course they could do everything. But I
figured I’d give it a day or two and enjoy my unnaturally black hair. It was
kinda edgy after all. Might as well see what that felt like.
My first day back
to school I felt ever so self conscious. I stuck out like a sore thumb, or more
like a black crow. But wait a minute. I got one compliment, then another
compliment, then a few more from the guys. And everywhere I went I turned
heads. Hmmm… but not just because I looked weird, because they said the color
looked soo good on me. Hmm… maybe keeping it in for a few days might not be so
bad after all.
I started to realize that whatever I wore looked so much more
vivid now.The blues and the fuscias popped out. And in turn it made my rich
black hair pop out which in turn made my warm brown eyes pop out. It’s like I
was a new person. Everything looked so much better now just cuz of my black
hair. There was no in between stuff anymore. Everything was intense!
So
guess what! It turns out I was in no hurry to get my hair fixed. I’ll keep it
in for a little while longer. Walking down the streets and I got whistles from
passing cars. I was sure it was my black hair. I was in a fashion show and I got
so many compliments again at how great I did and how fashionable I looked. Of
course it was my black hair.
Well, at long last, I
grew tired of always redoing my roots. Because when they started growing out
they were very obvious. And I did not want to have to worry about my roots the
rest of my life. I’m not that high maintenance. So the glory started to lose
it’s appeal. This isn’t really me. The black is edgy and eye-catching but it’s
not worth the hard work being something I’m not.
So I did what I said I would
do half a year ago. I marched up to a hair dresser and commanded her to take
the black out. She backed up with wide eyes and her hands in the air as she
stared at my black hair as if it was the devil itself. I did not understand. I
was desperate. You need to get the black out. You do that all the time right?
She explained she could not do it without stripping my hair which would totally
damage my hair and would probably leave my hair with a very bad color and would
probably not get it all out.
I was determined. There had to be someone who
would know what to do. She sent me to another hairdresser. I marched in and
this time asked her “can you please take the black out of my hair?” She
observed my head and shook her head as if I was stupid. “I don’t want to touch
it because I wasn’t the one who dyed your hair. I only do corrective coloring
when I have done it myself. What did you think you were doing anyway putting
black in your hair!?” I did not understand these stupid hairdressers. Everyone
dyes their hair black at some point. I was panicking by now. What was wrong
with these hairdressers!? Was I caught in a bad dream? It really felt like one
of those dreams when you try to get somewhere really fast but your feet are
like lead and everything’s fuzzy in front of your eyes. When I got my hair dyed
black I thought that I could get it changed just like that. Hairdressers can do
anything. That was Mistake #3.
I went back to the first hairdresser cuz she had
pity on me and said she would try something with it. But when I came for my
appointment , and I’m not kidding you, I sat down in her chair and she just
shook her head and she said she couldn’t do it. I walked out of that salon
feeling kinda like someone walking out of the hospital just having heard that
they had a life-threatening disease. It then hit me that what all these 5
hairdressers were trying to tell me in the most gentle way was that I would
have to live with this black until it was all grown out. And what sucks is that
my hair don’t grow fast, if at all. They were kind of dead at this point. I
think especially after they heard the news. But there and then, just like
cancer patients, I had to decide to surrender, suck it up and walk this hard
journey before me. And hopefully in the end I would make it through a person
with better hair.
So I let those ugly roots grow and grow and grow. And I
already knew that the hairdresser was lying when she said that it would all be
grown out in 6 months. Nope. In 6 months half my head was in my natural color
the other half plus my whole foot and a half length of hair was still black- a faded black, I might add. A
very ugly contrast.
It was definitely time for change. I always had wondered what it would be like to rock a short
hairstyle. Nothing could be worse than this half dull brown and black hair. I
had thought about it a year and I was so ready to chop off my hair. The more
others tried to advise me not to the more sure I was of my decision. This time
the decision felt right. I had a year to think about it. And that was the best
decision I made. I chopped off my hair. And what I thought would happen,
happened. Everyone who told me not to do it, had to admit that I looked amazing
in my short hair. It really did suit me. And the best part, my ugly black was
gone! The faded bit that was still there was now easily covered because they
redyed my hair to my natural color. My glory was back!
So the lesson to be
learned from this long blog about my black hair? Don’t do it. It’s not worth
it. But then maybe you just want to find out for yourself. It does look awesome. And you’ll get more attention than you’ve probably
gotten all your life. (Not that that's why we do it, of course! Psh) But if you do it, please be warned, the
hairdressers cannot get it out! You will have to grow it out for a year at least if you don't want to redo your roots the rest of your life! And to make it fade faster you can use dishwashing soap to shampoo your hair.
There you go.
That’s my tip of the day.
I sometimes go back
and look at pictures of me in my black hair. I smile as I remember my naivety.
Now I’m glad I did it. My hair looked so good. But I will never do it
again.
