Me and my brother, hanging out in the tree in all our polyester glory. Thank you all for the wonderfully reassuring comments yesterday! At the risk of sounding all smushy, I feel so lucky to have such a great group of online friends!
Today's post has nothing to do with writing. Nothing at all. Today's post is, in fact, all about hair -- another small obsession of mine.
It may shock you that despite being born a blonde, platinum is no longer my natural colour (yes, I know! I hear the sighs of disbelief, ha!). In fact, platinum is just one of the many colours that has graced my locks, from black to red and back again.
My obsession with hair began early on, when I took to trimming the hair of my Strawberry Shortcake dolls until they were nigh on scalped (and let me assure you, a scalped Lemon Meringue doll is just plain scary). Even My Little Pony tails didn't stand a chance against me and my scissors. I was the five-year-old Edward Scissorhands of my block.
In junior high, I crimped, I hairsprayed, I banana-clipped, I permed... there was nothing my poor old hair didn't handle. With SunIn, Flirt (a hideous red 'temporary' dye that turned everything orange) and lemon juice, I was determined to be transformed. Honestly, it's a wonder I still have hair on my head!
What were you obsessed with when you were young? And have you outgrown it?
Yes, I was. And no, I haven't.
ReplyDeleteI dyed my hair purple when I was 13. It was supposed to shock my mother. Instead, she offered to help.
Since then, I've lost sight of my natural colour. I can only guess, and I'm not sure I like the answer. In the last year or so I've been a dark brunette, a redhead, and now I'm blonde again.
But I have an irrational hankering to go purple once more...
Kate,do it! Go purple - for the winter party!
ReplyDeleteHair was definitely not an obsession! Although I did let my wife lighten it once. It looked all right but seemed like too much trouble.
ReplyDeleteI've only ever coloured my hair once, gave it a red tinge and I kind of liked it, but I couldn't be hassled keeping it up. Hairdressers rate right up there with dentists for me!
ReplyDeleteSo, when I was little, I was obsessed with books, chocolate and rugby and we're all happily still going strong, despite the valiant efforts of the Wales team to test my love of rugby over the years. You're just going to have to try harder, boys...
When I was about 6, I desperately wanted crimped hair. I had long wavy brown hair and my friend, Tracy, I think had beautiful long blond hair, that was also crying out to be crimped. Anyway, I didn't have crimpers, so I thought that if I pressed really lightly on my hair with a pair of dressmaking pinking shears, it would crimp my hair! It didn't, but I kept on trying and Tracy and I ended up with page boy haircuts! Her mum wasn't best pleased. Or was mine com to think of it!
ReplyDeleteI loved Strawberry Shortcake! Ah, the days.
ReplyDeleteMy obsession? Sports. Give me a ball, I was happy. :) Yes, I was a total tomboy.
Kath, you are obviously a very loyal supporter! Go Wales!Or maybe I'm meant to be supporting England? Not that I know anything about rugby anyway!
ReplyDeleteAlex, I'd love to see photos of you with lightened hair. Was it highlights?
LISA!!! OMG! I'm sorry - I couldn't help but laugh. Oh no...!
Janet, Strawberry Shortcake was the best! :)
ReplyDeleteI yes, I liked sports too. More of the running variety - I was actually given a ball by the PE teacher to take home and practise throwing, that's how bad I was!
I went through a phase where I enjoyed crimping my hair and then putting purple streaks into it - with a washable marker!
ReplyDeleteMine started out platinum, as well. It's since turned a dark shade of honey-gold - except for this summer when I returned to south FL for 9 weeks and went to the beach almost every day - there were some platinum strands then for sure. I often threaten to dye it lighter, or even a strawberry (my mom was a strawberry-blonde), but I always back out (lots of boxes of color get thrown away after years of sitting in my closet). My name is Tara. And I am too chicken to color my hair!
I think I was obsessed with boys when I reached my teens!! Amy is currently obsessed with her hair too so I'm quite relieved she isn't taking after me just yet!!
ReplyDeleteCJ xx
I was obsessed with my nails and trying to get those perfect half moons. Now I just look at my fingers with a resigned defeat!
ReplyDeleteMy obsession was hair color. I hated being a natural dishwater blonde so I dyed my hair Nicole Kidman orange red. It looked very good on me but I wanted to experiment with more so for the next five or so years I’ve been every color under the sun including the weird ones like pink, purple, green, black, black cherry red (one of my favorites). One of my most memorable colors was Britney Spears’s Toxic music video red wig RED. That color took everyone by surprise. Now being in my mid twenties and more mature, I dye my hair more natural shades of red, blonde, and brown.
ReplyDeleteThere is only one color I’ve never touched. Blue.
what's that thing about be good to your hair or when you're 50 it'll look 80??? I dunno. I've always been hair-obsessed. But that's b/c I've got the hair of Diana Ross in a Jennifer Aniston world... ;p
ReplyDeleteThe Edward Scissor hands of your block... I am so glad I wasn't drinking anything because I just snorted and laughed really hard.
ReplyDeleteI like hair. I'm not obsessed but I like it. I don't know what I was obsessed with... to be honest, I've always been a little obsessed with magic. Not like "I'm wiccan" or something like that, I don;t do any magical things (except be me...yes thats a joke). It's more, the idea of magic, I guess?
I dno how to explain it.
My hair has been every color and combination of colors I could dream up. Still do dye it "weird" (I'm told) Love hair.
ReplyDelete"I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming, streaming
Flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied"
I've been thinking about dying my hair... it's something I've never done. I had two perms in high school... God they were hideous! I usually don't have a hairstyle, I just let my hair grown for awhile then get a bunch chopped off, sometimes into layers, sometimes not. I desperately need a haircut now (my last haircut was in February) but I can't for the life of me figure out what I want. I want something that won't take a lot of time or effort to look nice.
ReplyDeleteHair has only become a recent obsession. I suffered from terrible hair up into my teens, mostly because my mom didn't care what it looked like and forced me into the super-straight, blunt-cut with blunt bangs. I have really thick, wavy hair, and that look was just...awful.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, at 15 I cut it off SHORT, like a dude's hair. From then on, I was obsessed with keeping as different as it used to be. I've finally grown it out again and am planning on letting it finally get long enough to braid without shorter layers whisping out. I have bangs again, but strictly to the side. Never blunt across my forehead again!
Dyeing I didn't start to experiment with until college. I've been bright copper red with yellow streaks, black, and many shades of brown and red in-between, but never blonde. I would look terrible blonde (olive skin tone). For now, I'm pretty happy with my natural color, which is brown with a heavy helping of auburn.
As a kid, my only obsession was reading, I'm afraid. <--nerd
I once put blue sticky tape on my braids I thot it made me look all cleopatra-ey. Daddy dearest gave me 2 days b4 he talked me out of it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute picture! And I think it's perfectly understandable to be obsessed with hair. After all, a haircut or hair color is something we have to live with for weeks. It's not the same thing as a new outfit that we only have to wear once or twice if we don't like it, or makeup that we can wash off.
ReplyDeleteI was obsessed with my hair when I was younger too, because it's difficult to find a style that fits me since my hair is so thick and coarse. I haven't really outgrown the obsession, since I've been to 10 different hairstylists in Chicago.
Well, I'm very happy to see I am not the only one who was/ is obsessed with hair! Ah, the things we do... Thanks to everyone for weighing in on this very important subject!
ReplyDeleteI've permed my hair once and haven't touched it since. Never died it at all. I think my sisters wish I did.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I've had an obsession but I can't, for the life of me, think of what one is.
CD
I dyed my hair honey-blonde once - no mean feat given that my hair colour in my facebook profile picture is my natural colour! After six months I got bored and switched back and haven't dyed it since. I do fancy going red at some point though.
ReplyDeleteAs I kid, I got obsessed with TV shows and books and lived and breathed them for weeks,then switched to the next one. Fickle!
I've dyed my hair for years and my aunt always says how much she prefers my natural colour. I can't remember exactly what it is now though.
ReplyDeleteWow! That's a lot of different hair! I've only ever dyed my hair once, and I loved the color. Sadly, it faded. And I was too cheap to go do it again. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I've been hearing about you and how awesome you are on some other writing blogs, and I decided to pop on over and take a look around.
I like it. Consider yourself officially followed. :)
Put it on Paper
I was obsessed with lots of things, mostly dungeons and dragons and computers, thank god I outgrew all that and became cool, eventually.
ReplyDeleteAnd personally I think you're hair is lovely. And I don't mind when a woman changes her hair from time to time, but I agree with Alex, too much trouble for me.
I was obsessed with the fact that both my bellybutton and my ears stuck out further than I thought they should. This kind of kept me busy for at least 3 years of my teens.
ReplyDeleteAwwww look at you all cute and lovely!!! Polyester ROCKED, thank you very muchly!! LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteWell I think your pixie blonde hair suits you now. Although I can so see you as a redhead....
I used to backcomb and hairspray like crazy!! LOL!
I think I'm dooing the obsession thing in reverse. Instead of growing out of an obsession, I am growing into one. And that one is..... SHOES.
Take care
x
Love the picture. You've got a pretty good match to the old color.
ReplyDeleteOh me? Brown and curly with straight and blonde envy. I had a yellow sweater I'd wear on my head to pretend when I was around age 5.
I dyed mine black. Funny enough it's darkened to nearly black now. I sported a curly mullet for years. Years. And I played around with using a curling iron on my bangs. No wonder I hardly dated in high school.
Hehe. I'm fairly obsessed with my hair as well, except for me it's about keeping it straight because it's naturally curly. I don't dye it or anything because as much as I hurt it to keep it straight, I'm afraid it will make it too fragile. Now, the day I find gray hair, it's off for a dye job.
ReplyDeleteLove that you take such adventures with your hair!
I was similar--hairless barbies, colored and crimped me. The only thing I've rarely been brave on is cutting. My hair has curl to it, but unevenly, so relatively short cuts are a ton of WORK to not look stupid (flat on one side, straight out on the other)... but yeah... most of that stuff... me, too... Anymore I stick to reds and blondes as I have the wrong complexion for dark, but it may be just about time for that box of red again...
ReplyDeleteAdorable tree climbers. I've been a natural blonde my whole life. It doesn't even turn grey, except at the temples.
ReplyDeleteI was obsessed with egg-salad sandwiches in grade one until a grade twoer told me I'd get sick of them if I ate them everyday. I promptly got sick of them! I've been known to have a few bad hair days (especially if emerging from my sasquatch writing cave).
ReplyDeleteThat picture of you and your bro is so adorable!!!
ReplyDeleteI've never dyed my hair. How strange for a girl, right? I won't dye it until I see the first strands of gray. Hopefully I have another 15 years or so before that!
When I was little, I was obsessed with gymnastics. I was obsessed with the color orange. I was obsessed with zebras and zebra print. I'm delighted to say those obsessions are still going strong!
I do have such an obsession with hair. I don't try new cuts much, but I do love tying it in new styles. :)
ReplyDeleteLoved the post, when young I was and still am obssessed with music.
ReplyDeleteTake care.
Yvonne.
Talli,
ReplyDeleteThat's such a cute picture of you & your brother hanging out in a tree!
Blonde looks like your natural color even now. I've always thought that was unfair that blondes hair changed when they got older, & obviously blonde haired people must feel that much more strongly than I do!
When we used Sun In one time, my friend's hair turned green when we went swimming in the pool :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a blonde too - but I've never dyed my hair. I get some highlights in, but I've never been brave enough to dye it!
I was obsessed with finding shortcuts to everything. Unfortunately I have never gotten over it and am still looking for the shortest road anywhere, regardless of whether it is better or not.
ReplyDeleteOh gotta love the polyester! haha yay to hair dyes especially when that grey stuff starts appearing! I get two different colours done in foils then a base colour. Fun!
ReplyDeleteI hated my hair when I was younger. I have the dreaded frizzy hair gene. Now I get to use hundreds of products on it and as long as it isn't raining, it stays frizz-free.
ReplyDeleteSo what is your natural colour?
I had some of those crimpers and had staight hair and a crimpers fringe haha i was THAT cool!!! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is how adventurous I am.....I am a natural red head and when I was younger I dyed my hair....wait for it......RED! hahahaha! And even then it was a wash out one and only lasted a couple of weeks! I love my hair colour (now, not when I was at school - kids can be so cruel!) so I don't think I will ever change it. I admire people who have the courage to do it. I know it's only hair but I can't bear the thought of doing anything drastic to it. Although I did once cut it all off so I had a v.v.v.v short bob.....
ReplyDeleteI was also obsessed with turning my wavy hair into a smooth, straight pageboy style. Now that I'm all gray, I just count my blessings that I still have lots of hair, and I pretty much let it do its own thing.
ReplyDeleteI had my head shaved for a cancer benefit, and found that it rather agreed with me, and so I've got the skinhead look going on.
ReplyDeleteLol, that's a cute pic.
ReplyDeleteI've only dyed my hair twice, both for gigs - once red, and blue the following year (same band the next year :P). I think I'm due for another coat now though, hehe.