The Story of My Black Hair!

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.