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.
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
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…
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.
Lily Ellyn 