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A few of you know that I recently got rid of my pink hair (which I have become kind of known for) in favor of my natural color. So many people are asking me “WHYYYYYYYY?????”, so I decided to write up a little blog post about it. Most of you don’t even know that I did this, so read this before chiming in with a “WHYYYYYYY????” of your own! ;)
1. I have an allergy to bleach. The effects are very mild, if there are any at all when I am working on a client, but when I have it on my own head for an hour the palms of my hands itch so badly that I want to tear the skin off of them. Allergies tend to get worse every time you are exposed, so more recently, the soles of my feet started itching as well, and I got welts on my wrist. Mind you, those parts of my body never touched the bleach, it was purely systemic. I thought it was better to stop doing it than to end up covered in hives and unable to even bleach clients’ hair.
2. I was getting bored. I’ve had pink in my hair for 10 years. Even pink hair can get boring after that long.
3. I was tired of everything I own turning pink. Okay, mostly everything I own is already pink, but the stuff that wasn’t ended up pink. I’m talking shirt collars, pillow cases, the keyboard on my laptop, my fingernails, my bath tub, towels, the cat… you name it.
4. I was tired of people talking to me. I know that sounds weird. But it gets old when all you want to do is go to the grocery store, or sit at a coffee shop and have a conversation with a friend and random strangers keep coming up to you saying “I like your hair. How do you get your hair like that? Is that a wig? What’s your natural color? How long does it last?” etc. etc. etc. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the sentiment of the compliments, but a lot of them were very intrusive. People would yell at me from across the street, or from behind me in a crowd and then get ANGRY if I didn’t hear them, didn’t know they were talking to me, or just chose to ignore it because I was in the middle of something. It also felt like that was the ONLY thing people noticed. Like I was my hair.
5. I was tired of being called “Pink” or “Pinky”. It happened, a lot. Stranger would address me as such when they wanted my attention… mall kiosk people for example. Even if I want what you are selling, I am not going to buy it if you just yell a color at me like it’s my name. It was hard to get by unnoticed.
6. People kept thinking I was way younger than I am. I know, a lot of women want people to think they are younger, right? But I’m 27 and I want to be treated like a 27 year old, not a 17 year old. I’m not a teenager, I don’t act like a teenager, I don’t even LOOK like a teenager and I felt sort of offended every time I got mistaken for one.
7. People used it as a reason to be rude or state their unsolicited opinion. I didn’t get this too much in Seattle, but I did get it a lot when I would visit my mom on the East coast. Random middle-aged men would come up to me and tell me that I looked fake and that my hair was ugly, and ask why I would do that to myself and oh lord, I have a septum ring too, that’s even worse! But that doesn’t draw nearly as much attention as the hair does. Any time you don’t look “normal”, people feel a lot more free to tell you their opinion of how you look. I don’t know why they think that means you are “asking for it”, but I wasn’t.
8. It is sooooo high maintenance! I’m not a very high maintenance person in general (I guess that depends on whom you ask), so the pink was a lot more upkeep than I would have preferred. I had to get my roots bleached and retouch all of the pink about every 5 weeks, and it took 5 hours or so every time. That’s a big time investment for me.
9. A lot of times I felt judged the moment people saw me. This sort of goes along with people thinking I was younger. People made assumptions about me based on how I looked (as people do) and a lot of them weren’t true. It’s like I was trying to explain to some to some people on the train once who were trying to get me to come party with them in the observation car (for real)… I know I probably look like I want to party, but I don’t. I just want to sit here by myself and finish my comic book and then take a nap. I’m a loner, I’m a homebody, I’m quiet, I’m probably not as fun as you think I am. Yes, person working at the high-end boutique or department store, I am SHOPPING, not stealing. No, I’m not bitchy, I’m just more quiet than you thought I would be. Etc. etc. etc.
10. The damage. My hair is really dark naturally… dark, dark brown, almost black, and kind of coarse. We had to bleach it a LOT in order to get it the platinum blonde that I wanted it to be, and that it needed to be in order for the pink to be vivid. I was trying to grow my hair out and it just kept breaking no matter how many treatments I did or how much I trimmed it. It was just too weak. Now that it’s shorter, I can’t decide if I want to keep it shorter or try to grow it out again, but I’ll have a much better shot at growing it out with it healthy. I used to have hair down to my butt when it was all natural, so I know I can do it ;)
So that’s about it. I’m happy with my decision. I still am a little shocked when I look in the mirror sometimes, but I like my dark hair. For all of the reasons above and more, I think I’ll enjoy it. A lot of those things didn’t bother me when I was 17 or 18 or 19, but they’ve started to bother me. I love brightly colored hair, and if we lived in a world where that was not something that drew attention, and wasn’t so much upkeep, I might have kept it. But so it goes.
You are 27?!?! I am currently in shock! haha Great post
haha, I hope that’s a good thing :X
Preach it sister!
So many people appreciate (and relate to) this post more than you know! ;)
Thank you, I’ve gotten quite a lot of good feedback about it! It’s nice to hear!
OK, yes, I loved your pink hair. But, I LOVE you with dark hair! It suits your skin tone so well, and now instead of your hair popping, your pretty face does! Love it. Also, can I say, that’s an incredible shade of brown. I know brunettes often hate having what they perceive as “boring” brown hair, but I know how tough it is to achieve that rich, deep brown without it looking black, ashy, or brassy. Awesome!
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Aw, thanks Jessica! You’re so sweet :) I am currently still loving it.
Love it! Your eyes definitely stand out now with the dk. brown. I’m getting ready to the opposite, and go crazy bright and see how that goes. . . .
those are quite a few reasons!
(and i didn’t know you had your pink hair for 10 years!)
i thought your pink hair was pretty/magical looking, but i’m sure it really was high maintenance.
but yessss don’t worry, you look adorable with your natural color too! :D
<3
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Thank you Erica! Yes, I don’t think many people who haven’t known me for 10+ years realize how long it was pink for. I miss it a little but it is such a relief… if it were still pink I would have roots already by now!
I know how you feel, I gave up the colours about 8-9 months ago, It’s nice to have natural hair again, pink and purple were way to high maintenece. you look lovely as a brunette anyway, so dramatic! thumbs up!
Thank you! And yes, I know just how you feel, it is sort of a stress relief not to have to think about growout and fading right now.
The pink was fun… but my god! The brown makes your gorgeous eyes POP! Even from the thumbnail I was like, WHOA!
Ashe @ Dramatis Persoane recently posted..20 Bitchin’ Holiday Traditions to Adopt
Twitter: rachaelreally
says:
I don’t think we can be friends anymore because I just don’t know who you are. Who are you again? I forget.
I used to know this girl who had pink hair, she almost got us killed in Downtown Seattle by a bunch of Green Bay Packer fans wearing cheese hats because she wouldn’t answer them right away when they called out, “Hey Pink!” and then I distinctly remember one letting a juicy burp loose and then them asking if we liked football. I remember all these details so vividly because I was certain I was about to die. Then we crossed the street and got coffee (me an iced soy chai) before waiting around for The Underground Tour to start.
By the way, I’m ripping picture numero uno up there to make a little banner ad for my site. You can sue me for stealing your pictures later, mkay?
Rachael, Really. (@rachaelreally) recently posted..Target Tuesday
Haha, if THOSE guys scared you, you should probably never live in a city. My favorite part was when I told them that I don’t care about football (it was football, right?) and they were like “What did you expect, she has pink hair.” DUHHH what DID they expect? I HAVE PINK HAIR. well, had.
You sill look great without the pink hair. 10 years is a long time, I’ve managed to have my hair pink for about 3 years.
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Thank you! And yes, I was still really digging it up until about the last 6 months.
I am glad I came across your blog. I have purple and magenta hair. I’ve had it colored for 4 years, not even close to 10. But I really like your reasonings. I agree with all 10. I wear a lot of dark colors and I even have mainly black bedding, so the colors don’t show up. But the upkeep is more then I’d like to have to do. I’ve stained my tub and sink. Cleaning that takes some serious chemicals. Every where I go people feel the need to say something. And not always something polite. I’m getting to the point where it’s just annoying. When the time comes I need to dye my hair a natural color I will come back to this entry and hopefully it will make me feel better about it. So thanks!
Thanks so much for your comment :)
I still love brightly colored hair, and I miss my pink sometimes, but I am really enjoying my natural hair color too. I’ve only had to retouch it once so far and i shouldn’t have to do it again for a few months at the soonest, which is sooooo much better than 5 hours every month, in my opinion. Enjoy your purple and magenta hair while you have it, and if you’re still enjoying it, keep it! You should definitely be sure that you want to go back to a natural color before you do it, because it’s hard to come back from, but once you’re ready, you’ll know it! Thanks again for reading and for your comment, I totally appreciate it!
OH MY GOODNESS THIS CHICK IS SO HOT…if only I lived in seattle. I wonder if she has a bf, what a lucky guy.
What a lucky guy indeed ;) nerd <3
I feel it’s a shame that society got the better of you, but I completely understand. I too have pink hair and some days I have to wear a beanie just because I don’t want the attention.
You look good with brown hair.
Yes! Ugh I had a lot of these issues as well, and I only had purple hair for mere months. A lot of the names I got were in reference to my hair, and while I didn’t mind it, it was already starting to get a bit old. My hair didn’t feel so great after a while, and I had random people off the street call out to me or insult my hair. Also the maintenance and price of things were an issue for me too :( I haaaaaaaaaaaate re-doing my roots, and I’m not much a fan of stains or cool/cold showers either, especially in the winter! Recently I’ve re-dyed part of my hair purple, but left it natural-ish on top, so hopefully that’ll delay the need for re-bleaching and dying.
I really like your natural colour by the way :) My natural shade of brown isn’t as fun.
I know this is an old post, but THIS. All of this. A thousand times. I’ve had almost every hair color imaginable and this has always been a huge annoyance for me, and something I have to remember every time I get that urge to mess with my hair. I don’t know what it is about candy-colored hair that makes people think of someone as an object. It totally baffles me, I know *I’d* never have to balls to approach someone to judge the way they look!
For now I just have purple tips, and that seems to satisfy the crazy hair craving a bit without getting a ton of unwanted attention. I’ve always had the best luck with purple in that respect :D