Blast From The Past: The Hair Of Yesterday

Momma Told Me: Don't let your hair wear you!


Oh hair- We have had a love/hate relationship. When I was 5 I was left in charge of my own grooming- I had dirty blonde hair down to my butt. Somehow the act of scrubbing and rinsing seemed less appealing than writing on the tub walls with colored foam soap, so Momma inevitably chopped my gorgeous locks off. Then came the perm. Oh how I loathed the perm- the hours sitting with my head on fire, smelling of chemicals, then the weeks of not knowing how to care for the mass of curls. I think Momma thought it was 'cute' in a Shirley Temple sort of way, but I was more of a tomboy, and the look simply didn't translate. After near a year of a short bob perm, came the dreaded bowl cut. From prissy little girl to brutish tomboy, I was thrust into my own stereotype and left with coke bottle glasses and a 90's bowl cut. It was traumatizing.

Only one other time have I cut my hair since the dreaded perm-bowl of the 90's; at age 15, with a new-found obsession for boy bands and rebellion. My parents had just finalized their divorce, and I, idolizing P!nk, convinced my mother to have an 'accident' with the hot pink hair dye my father had said I could use as a highlight. In came the pixie cut, and Pink went my entire head. For a solid 6 years after I let my hair return to it's natural Auburn brown hue, and refused to cut it for even a trim. Luckily, my hair grows fast, and I am not one to tease and torture it with styling (if you discount my unhealthy blow-drying obsession). Somewhere around 22 I got the itch to be 'different' again. Truth be told, if I wasn't working 3 jobs, and had a little more in the bank, I probably would have satisfied the itch with tattoos- a more permanent expression.

Haircolor was an affordable, easy enough to change, method of self expression I could play with from the comfort of my own bathroom sink. I played with a LOT of brands- I tried Manic Panic, Splat!, Ion, Beyond The Zone, and more. All of these brands promised 'color' but really left nothing more than a washed out, muddy, faded tint after the first few washes. When I was about to throw int he towel I stumbled across an import brand at an Asian Beauty Pro Shop- Adore. Not only was the brand affordable ($5 a bottle), but the product had a fruity floral fragrance and was extra gentle on lightened hair. I learned quickly, with a little internet research, Adore should and can be left on much longer then the directions suggest. For maximum vibrancy expect to color your locks for 3-4 hours. The results were an undeniable success. I had friends, family, and strangers asking me to add a dash of color to their hair. At one point I literally had 5 different colors, a rainbow, of streaks in my hair!

Flash forward to 25, I was growing a little restless of the color mash-up. It was becoming hard to decipher where the original strands of color were; my head seemed more like a melting snow cone than stylists work of art. So I gave myself long bangs, attempted to layer, and did a color reset to Dark Brown. For a good year I kept the large chunky bangs on the front of my face framed with hot pink. Then, last Summer I decided it was time for something drastic, an all-over color that would truly be vibrant. We went blonde- then we went Red, Fire Engine Red. I'm lucky enough that my pale complexion is versatile enough to support any color. However, the Red was arguably the most complimentary hue. I loved it. Unfortunately, my pink bathtub did not, and it was eventually time for yet another change.

After a minor bleaching disaster (the first in 10 years), I lost near a foot of hair in the process of ultra-lightening for vibrant tips. In came the darkest brown with purple tips, and so I have remained, nursing my damaged ends. But now, now I have the itch again. I also have a professional hair-color and styling company behind me. And they just so happen to have released a brand new Plum tint that pushes the border of traditional cool-infused dark hair-tones. I'm currently debating playing with the 'Gray' trend that is so hot on French runways right now- or keeping the ultra-vibrant tips and styling my whole head with the Plum infused black. Which way will I go? You will have to keep following me on the blog to find out! What look, from above,  is your favorite, on me?

What Daughter Says: Confidence can rock any style. Have you been wanting to go a little bolder? Be fierce and take the plunge!