Vanity, Thy Name Is Woman

So, I've always been a blonde, in some variation or another, my whole life. I was born a white blonde. My mother had blonde hair and green eyes, and my father had blonde hair and blue eyes. So it was no surprise that I turned out blonde. I had that soft, baby white blonde characteristic of my Scandinavian heritage. *Sigh* . . . but it didn't last long.





I went the way of many blondes, those whose DNA also carries grandparents with darker hair. So very quickly my hair began revealing golden tones.












Oh, it was still very pretty and pale and I was unmistakably blonde. But the tide was already turning, and the only time my hair would go lighter was in the summer or years later with a little help from Miss Clairol.










By 10, my hair was a medium blonde, still heading darker. In this picture it almost looks as if my hair color was headed toward brown. I've discovered that going darker for a lot of blondes is traumatic. Who else's hair color, besides blondes, can continuously change, year after year, until eventually, you don't look like the person you've always known yourself to be?





By 13, the golden shine was still there, but it was almost completely overrun by that dark, dull, drab haircolor known as "dishwater" blonde. A muddy, dull mass with no life, no spark, and perfectly timed with the insecurities of puberty.









Well, I survived puberty and with the help of Miss Clairol, by 22 I was returning to the color of my youth. I felt alive again, energized, whole. I know it's vain, but I grew up seeing myself with light colored hair surrounding my face. To be confronted with the dark truth was too much to bear.







So throughout my 20s and 30s, Miss Clairol and I were bestest friends. We kept in constant touch and as long as the light shined in my hair, I felt young and strong, able to conquer anything.











On the rare occasions I would color my hair a darker blonde or a red of some sort to allow my natural color to grow out and see what it actually looked like without having obvious roots. I did this during the pregnancies of both my children (didn't want any extra chemicals in or on my body) and again while returning to college. As a returning college student, single mom and full-time worker, Miss Clairol and I didn't have time for regular meetings anymore.

So for a couple of years I hung out with my natural haircolor, sometimes helped with an occasional red or the summer sun. I was in my earth mother stage and low maintenance was a necessity.










But as I got school behind me and my kids were getting older, Miss Clairol and I hooked up again, probably trying to regain some of that youthful feeling.












So for the next 10 years (35-45) I basically stuck with my light blonde. In the winters I would go a shade or two darker and I was okay with that. But then something happened, sometime in my early 40s I noticed I was going light blonde again, all on my own, but only at the temples. It was very pale, very soft and reminded me of baby's hair. *Greatful sigh* I was not only going blonde, I was going platinum blonde! God is good. Then, a few years later (tonight) while blow-drying my hair, I noticed shiny hairs sprouting up on the top of my head and literally bursting out all over. I looked closely because I didn't want to mistake them for gray. No, they weren't wiry and they weren't dark, but they also were not the baby platinum blonde of my temples. Hmmm, I thought to myself, what could these mysterious new hairs be? They're all over the top of my head and they shine like crazy in the light. Then I figured it out, they were angel hairs! I was growing my very own halo! I was so excited and went to show M. She suggested I not mention this to anyone because they might become jealous, but I just knew you guys wouldn't get jealous. Are any of you sprouting angel hairs? I know M thinks I'm in denial and that they're gray hairs, but honestly, I'm really going blonde again, and now it's popping up all over my head. ;-)