To Be or Not to Be...Brunette

So, it was a big decision for me to become a brunette just two weeks ago today. I know in the overall scheme of life the colour of one's hair is not a big deal, but to me, this was a big decision! I had thought about it for months, debated it in my mind, and wondered whether or not it would be a good choice for me. I even tried a mini version this summer, dyeing just the underneath of my hair a beautiful brunette colour, only to go home for my sister's wedding and have my mom say, "What did you do to your hair?"

Although my sweet mom will probably never like me as a brunette-to her I will probably always be her cute little blondie with pudgy cheeks-I received compliments from several other people back home, which encouraged me to possibly take it one step further.

Now, I don't really consider myself to be vain; half of the time my hair is up in a ponytail and I have little to no makeup on. My husband, in the year and a half that we have been married, has finally managed to convince me that I need no makeup to look beautiful and that he actually prefers me with my hair up in a ponytail...there's just something about it. Regardless of his encouragement and his assurance that he would like my hair no matter what colour it was, it took a great amount of debate in my own head and discussion between he, my friend Nancy, and myself before I decided to take the plunge.

So, on December 20th I drove off to Aldergrove to see my hairdresser one last time before she quit to have her baby. Luckily for me, she will still see me in her home after the baby is born...women, you know what it's like. Once you find a good hairdresser, you don't want to let her go! When she asked the normal question, "What are we doing today," I looked at her with fear and trepidation in my eyes and stuttered out, "I, I um, I think I'm going to go brunette!" There! It was out! I had said it! What would she think? What would she say?

Her eyes lit up with excitement and she exclaimed, "I'll get the colour sample book!" There was no turning back now! After 45 minutes basting in the chair, my hair was rinsed and the towel came off. I stared at myself in the mirror, a feeling of horror rushing over my body! What had I done?!? I began to suck breath in and out of my body, and many thoughts swirled through my head...this was worse than when I got my tatoo! I felt no feelings of regret with that, but here, now, I was asking myself, "WHAT HAVE I DONE?!"

"Let me style it!" Kirsten said, brightly. So, I sat back and she began to work her magic. Once she was finally finished I turned to look in the mirror again, feeling anxiety in the pit of my stomach. She whirled the chair around and it looked...wonderful! Was that really me? Did I really look like that?

Well, I have had two weeks to get used to the new do. While I have grown used to seeing myself in the mirror and I have received countless compliments about how good it looks, the true test came this morning. I was going back to school. It felt like I was back in high school again, wondering if my "friends" would like me. What would they think? What would they say? As we all know, teenagers can be the harshest critics, and I was about to spend my day facing them with an entirely different look! My stomach was in knots and I drove to school wondering what everyone would say.

My first class of the day walked into the room after the bell. I was sitting at my computer checking my e-mail, and I heard one student say, "Hey, we have a different teacher," to another student. I got up and turned around and the look on their faces was priceless. They stared in shock for a few seconds before the girls-of course it's always the girls-began exclaiming, "I LOVE your hair!" Whew...it was all right after all. All day long I fielded comments such as "You look so different, I love it," "You're eyes look so blue now," "Your face looks slimmer now," and, "Wow, that colour is amazing on you!" While I enjoy knowing that it looks good, it leads me to ask the question, what did I look like before?

Well, all of this comes down to the point that hair colour really doesn't matter. Blond, brunette, red, purple or green...it's different, and that's fun. Will I stay brunette forever? Probably not. I do know that some people happened to love my "beautiful, blond hair," which is funny, because it was never MY blond hair in the first place! My true colour is this dreadful, mousy brown. It's the blandest colour ever, but I seem to have done a good job creating blond hair for myself for the last 10 years. Don't worry, my blond hair fans, I suspect I will be blond again by this summer...or will I? The real question is: To be or not to be...brunette?