I've always wanted to go blonde. Not nice natural blonde, but garish obviously faux blonde. Don't ask me why, but it's been a dream long in the making. The time never seemed quite right, i.e. I had to be seen in public by people I hoped would take me at least somewhat seriously. Now here I am in the North Country--far North, without internet access, or human interaction--and finally I could realize the tiny fantasy, the duality of inner darkness with outer light. It took me two tries, two rounds of peroxide saturation, before I got the color I've been after--that hair-murdering negation (or is it, paradoxically, substantiation?) of the true brunette me.
When the Adirondack wind starts up, as it daily does, and whips my face with white-gold snakes, and I catch their glint in my peripheral vision, I feel as if I've misbehaved, but, too, I'm strangely vindicated...
I felt those same pangs, the need to be blonde, just to experience it. I was blonde a few short weeks, until I realized I felt most at home in my natural brunette-ness. I admire your chutzpa.
ReplyDeleteI've never had the guts to do peroxide, but I used something called L'Oreal Coloral when I was a teen. Then there was the mishap with the lemon juice in the contact lens solution bottle.
ReplyDeleteI really wanted to be a REDhead.
Today I bought turquoise nail polish and painted my toes, does that count?
Kat
Hey, good going!
ReplyDeleteI don't care what color my hair is as long as it stays put!
And I, a blonde, want nothing more that to have luscious dark mink-brown hair.
ReplyDeleteI've always fancied a plain gold earring but.........
ReplyDeleteGood for you though!
Very daring! :-)
ReplyDeleteI, for one, hate colouring my hair, even with highlights, as it makes my hair feel like straw. So I am slowly going grey, but gracefully so, as my dark ash blonde hair is just getting a lighter look.
It's exciting isn't it? Have you noticed people treating you in a different way?
ReplyDeleteGo you! I was a blonde for a few years... it was fun.
ReplyDeletewoohoo! way to chase it leah...very nice...
ReplyDeleteSince your lovely thumbnail has been peering at me from my blogroll this afternoon, I had to come back and say your dreamy photo reminds me of an old master's painting....maybe Rembrandt?
ReplyDeleteIt bring out the Irish in you! :¬)
ReplyDeletexxx
Gutsy but it paid off . . I've been thinking of slowly getting lighter before I fade to grey . . looks pretty wild!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a dramatic change. I went crazy blond once too. I got all kinds of attention from the men around work. (I worked at the police department.) Alot of, "Hey are you new here?" Uh, no, I've worked here three years. Glad my personality made an impression. The whole this just annoyed me.
ReplyDeleteOh, who'm I foolin'? I'd still be blond if it weren't for the ridiculously expensive upkeep.
I still have HELL from your last post rattling around in my head. You really got me thinking. Good work.
And good hair.
I keep getting more holes pierced in my ears...does that count? :)
ReplyDeleteGood for you for being so brave! What does the family think?
Very adventurous of you after so many years of brunetting (that word is copyright Nick btw). You look startlingly different. As Pat says, are people treating you differently? I wonder if back in Brooklyn the shopkeepers will fail to recognise you and ask if you've just moved into the area?
ReplyDeleteI like it and that's a great photo. Did you take it? The lighting is perfect. Like a vintage sepia tone post card.
ReplyDeleteAAAAAHHHH ....
ReplyDeleteI went white blonde once. It was a one-shot day. I hear you on the whipping wisping. A little start, a little pause - izzit me? Naw, it ain't me, babe! But wait, it IS me.
ReplyDeleteHow glorious!
Willow, I am certain to miss my brunette self very soon! And thanks for the sweet compliment on the photo...
ReplyDeleteKat, I've gone through many shades of red...my dad was a true redhead, and I always hoped to return to the strawberry blonde of my youth! And yes, the turquoise polish counts!
Xl, I agree with you there. As long as I've got hair, I'm golden!
QG, I'm always after that mink dark hair too. Honestly not sure what my real color is anymore...
Martin, you would, I feel certain, be very handsome with the gold earring!
Pony, there is so much to be said for the grace of natural beauty, and you've got it, girl.
Pat, only Sarge, who keeps staring at me in disbelief, laughing, and shaking his head...
ReplyDeleteLady mishegas, I think I know who you are and am delighted you stopped by! I bet you were one foxy blonde.
Brian, love your comment!
Stew, I take that as a high compliment...
Baino, light onto grey sounds lovely.
Tracey, Oy what a story. They were blinded by the blonde! And yes, the professional upkeep would be fiscal ruin...
Betsy, pierces count! I've got five of 'em from my misspent youth...
Nick, I like the coined word! And see my sad reply to Pat, above...
UB, thanks! It was my blackberry cam on dim light...
Mago, was that a shriek or a sigh?
Megan, you know just the feeling, then. : )
So tell us, is it true, now you're blonde, are you having more fun?
ReplyDeleteI have never felt the urge to dye my hair at all. Childhood memories of being told it would go green if I did always put me off. But you look cool. I am envious.
ReplyDeleteDoes the carpet match the curtains?
ReplyDeleteI've never done blond..though I was pretty blond when I was a kid. I've done red, black, dark brown, brown with red streaks, and lots of blond *streaks*, though. :p
ReplyDeleteThat said, I don't hugely care about my hair...I am just currently working up the nerve to get dh to give me a tragus piercing, though. As soon as I can get past being freaked that a hollow needle effectively REMOVES A CHUNK OF MY EAR!!! lol (I already have ten other piercings, inc my nose...but they were mostly done with a sewing needle and dental floss, or a gun. A gun is bad, esp for the cartilage, and as for the needle, I want to try doing it properly now...once I get over being FREAKED, lol.)
Forgot...tagged you. :p
ReplyDeletei was bleachy blonde, with bright orange tips from about 4 inches out, once, for about one hour! it was a terrible mishap, I'd had my naturally mousy hair died reddish with henna about a year before that, and used chemical die to keep it different shades of red after that. Arriving in Ireland as a student I was soon fed up with the fake red, not a very common look here! I wanted to go a dark honey blonde, so was told in the shop to strip the colour out with the peroxide and then die over it with dark honey tone. platinum blonde was very scary on me, I'm very pale with dark circles under my eyes, and dark eyebrows and lashes! there was no way the honey tone would cover the mad orange (as in the fruit orange) half of my hair, so with my rainjacket on and hood up i ran back to the shop, 10 minutes before closing time, to swap it for something close to my natural brown. phew!
ReplyDeleteI later had some more experiments with 'sun in' and some no-bleach-required dark blonde dyes, but they all resulted in yellow hair, to much natural red pigment in mine!
Later again, when I earned some actual wages, I had 5 blissful years of professionally done highlights and lowlights, oh, it was flattering, even if it turned my hair quite dry.
When we started to think about having babies I realised I wouldn't be able to justify the ridiculous amount of money I spent at hairdressers and on conditioning treatments, so with a sad heart I let the sunkissed look grow out, luckily without any chemical intervention and without the dreaded two tone hair!
My MIL asked 'why did you dye your hair so dark, the blonde was much nicer'. So much for 'your natural colour suits you best...'
Hi Leah, Very cool. Gutsy and a big investment. I've been a natural white-blonde all my life. But for some reason around my 47th birthday my blondeness just stopped. I have to make repeated trips to the hydrogen peroxide and lemon juice to tend to my new dark roots.
ReplyDeleteLike Kat, I'd like to be a red head.
Love it. I've always wanted one of those blonde-on-top, dark underneath do's. If I wait too much longer it will be grey underneath and not as effective.
ReplyDeleteWho is that "Brassy Blonde" and what has she done with Leah?
ReplyDeleteAm I smelling Mid life Crisis?
Sorry...No...It's just the peroxide...;-)
Wow, girl!!! That photo looks like a Leonardo Da Vinci painting come to life!!! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI think you've done a very fine job of this blond you sought. I think it looks wonderful on you, and I hope the breeze blows often, reminding you of just how naughty you are... :D
Princess, you've absolutely pegged it! : )
ReplyDeleteI guess it's pretty harmless as far as midlife crises go...although my frizzled hair might say otherwise...
xo
MJ, that was Sarge's inquiry as well...
ReplyDeletehaha...well, I have five of them from my adult rebellion! :)
ReplyDelete