On Being a Red Head

Being a red head means more than just a hair color. I've been a redhead for 26 years. I began coloring my hair when I was 16, mainly out of curiosity, but also because I had always wanted red hair. Since then, my hair has been various shades of read (save for the summer I dyed it all black and the three years I went back to my natural color, again out of curiosity, in my early 20s).

As of this morning, I am no longer a red head. I've written about this before. I have been toying with going back to my natural color because I was going gray. I know that's backwards, but I never had a problem with going gray (although the first discovery of silver hair was a bit of a shock), and I wanted to go gray naturally. But I knew that meant no longer coloring my hair, and I didn't color my hair to cover gray, I colored it because I didn't like what I was born with.

There were other things... I was getting tired of the maintenance. Red fades faster than other colors and add sun to it and it fades even more. It's not like we get that much sun, but when we do, it fades me hair. A few weeks ago I spent most of the day outside and the though always in the back of my mind: How much  color is this going to strip out of my hair? All of this plus my desire for a big change... it was time.

It's a little darker than my natural color. I'm okay with that. if I didn't have red hair, I'd want dark, chestnut brown hair. (Too bad I can't pull off dark, chestnut hair. My eyebrows are so pale they are almost blonde.) My color isn't that dark, but it isn't as ashy as my natural color. And I kind of love it. My hairdresser did a great job of getting a color that isn't muddy (kind of like my natural color) and isn't too light (my natural color bleaches out very quickly, and I have two prominent blonde streaks). An added bonus: My new glasses look great with my new color.

Now comes the other stuff. The attitude stuff. There is an attitude that goes with being red--both my attitude and the attitude of others toward me. And I have a bit of a temper. I always have, but being a red head has allowed me to get away with it because people expect it. I'm curious is if people will treat me differently now that I no longer have red hair. (My hairdresser and I both think they will.)

While I was going back and forth on this decision, my mom said, "What's the big deal? It's not like you're cutting off your arm." Well, I kind of am. I've been a redhead for most of my life. Letting go of that isn't an easy thing.

Putting it another way, I feel like I went from being Joan to being Peggy.

I have to admit, I am looking forward to going gray. When I saw my gray was silver, not white, I was very happy. I didn't want white hair. But what am I looking forward to the most? Going gray and dying my hair lavender. You may think I'm joking, but I am not.