Fifty-Two Weeks of Adventure # 17: New Do, New You

Hi, I’m Lily and I take my feelings out on my hair. For my entire life before I went to college my hair looked exactly the same – straight, dark blonde, all the way to my butt. My last year of high school I was allowed to highlight it a bit, but that wasn’t a dramatic change – it was just kicking up the blonde that was already present in my hair.

During the fall semester of my freshman year of college I decided to go nuts. I was young and away from home for the first time. Just as my parents feared, I went crazy.  I decided to dye my hair a medium brown.

Here I am at the beginning of college.

Here I am at the beginning of college.

And here is the change that started it all. (After the green was corrected).

And here is the change that started it all. (After the green was corrected).

The initial results of this were pretty exciting, but after a few days it became clear that the box dye I’d used hadn’t been equipped to cover all of my ash blonde highlights and in bright light it was clear that my hair was not really medium brown but was, in fact, pond scum green. I was horrified. I needed professional help.

The professional fixed my hair relatively easily. She just dyed it a darker brown with lots of red in it to counteract the greenish cast. Problem solved. And I loved the deep dark auburn even better than the lighter brown.

I think realizing that I could do something like turn my hair green and still have it be totally fixable was what sparked my obsession with changing my hair. Since then I’ve dyed it regularly everything from chocolate brown to bright copper to strawberry blonde. I also started experimenting with cutting it, though it still took a few years to work up the courage to cut it all the way up to my chin. When I finally tried that the summer after my wedding, I entered a whole new world of possibilities. My hair grows relatively quickly so I’ve grown it long and cut it off again several times since then (though I’ve never grown it all the way to my butt again).

Most of my hair decisions are incredibly spur of the moment. I am suddenly seized with the desire to change. Changing my hair (especially if it’s a dramatic change) makes me feel like I’m being made new. It feels like a fresh start, a way to shake off who I’ve been or where I’ve been, a chance to become a new and hopefully better version of myself. And once I’ve decided to do something I don’t like waiting around.

About two months ago I suddenly decided I wanted to be blonde. I haven’t been blonde since I was 18 and I knew that unlike most color changes, I wouldn’t be able to do this overnight. It’s not possible to go from dark to blonde in one step without damaging your hair, particularly if there is still color left in it from previous dyeing. So I decided to take it slow. I went to the hair dresser and got a few highlights. I figured this would get things started without fully committing. This would, after all, be my 3rd major change in 8 months.

This was my hair this past August - bright copper red.

This was my hair this past August – bright copper red

And here it is in December. Brown with bangs.

And here it is in December. Brown with bangs.

On Saturday I went back to the hairdresser intending to get a few more highlights. I had been planning to grow my hair out over the summer, but suddenly felt that I HAD to cut it. Immediately.  I came out with all the highlights and a swishy bob.

It even has bangs when I want them.

I know I'm squinting in this picture, but you get the idea...

I know I’m squinting in this picture, but you get the idea…

hair with bangs

My adventure for this week was another Bombs Away decision and I’m just gonna go with it. I’m ready for a new season and I’m hoping for a change. Maybe this can be a start.

If you have an adventure to share, add your link to the link-up by clicking the button below. You can participate in all of the adventures or you can just do a few – no pressure. If you missed last week’s adventure you can find it here. And if you are new to my Fifty-Two Weeks of Adventure project you can find out more about it here.

9 comments

  1. Schweet and looks great too which is a bonus, right? When i was in my twenties i use to be quite dye crazy and so from black to dark brown to peroxide white slash yellow [yes the green effect happens to us all] to one time i did this weird crazy leopard print type vibe when i went from blondish to dying half of my hair black and so it had mixed doppled effect [loved it] – i think the people at my church used to dig it cos it would be every couple of months and they never knew what to expect… and now going from dreads for the last three years to short and actually going to a hairdresser for pretty much the first time [twice cos had to go for rugged author look for the book launch of course!] i am really digging short MANAGEABLE vibes…

    So i totally get this one – well done for making the jump and all the best as you continue with your year of adventures
    love brett fish

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    1. Yes, you definitely get it. I don’t know why it’s so fun, but having the ability to really change my look fairly easily makes me really happy, haha. Glad you are enjoying your new short do. It’s gonna be a jillion times cooler in the summer too. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Bangs-on-demand is the best hair option EVER. Sometimes they make me feel like a chic Parisian and other times, they make me feel like Cousin It. I like being able to comb/pin them away when I don’t want them.

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    1. Hahaha. YES! Bangs-on-demand, I love that. I feel the same way. Sometimes I feel super chic with them, but other days they are just this fluff around my face not doing anything. Everytime I get my hair cut it’s this huge internal debate about whether or not to cut them…when I have them I feel like I can’t get them to work, but when I don’t have them I feel plain. So lately I’ve been cutting them and just pinning them to the side when they aren’t working for me.

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    1. Haha. Thank you. I think it helps that my eyes are light and my skin is kind of a neutral tone, so nothing looks extremely unnatural. I think my natural color has darkened since I’ve gotten older. I think if I let it go natural now it would be a dull light brown. I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep up the blonde since it takes a lot more maintenance and can get expensive, but hopefully I can enjoy it at least through the summer. 🙂

      Like

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