The Evolution of (My) Hair

I have never understood why people get all weird about cutting or changing their hair. I totally understand bad hair days, hair ruts, being too lazy to make an appointment and/or not having enough time to head to the salon. But I've known people who have basically never changed their hairstyle - ever. Like they still have the same bangs they did in 1988 - ever. I know people who have never colored, highlighted, or even plucked a gray hair all in the name of keeping it natural. I've known people whose husbands have cried when they got their hair cut off. That annoys me on so many different levels, I won't even go there. Come on! It's hair. It grows back.

(I unfortunately do not have access to any older pictures of me to illustrate the following stories - they are all in my parent's attic - so I searched the web for help. Enjoy!)

When I was really little, I had pretty curly, honey-colored hair. That is until my mom, with some 70s-era inspiration, cut it into one of those Dorothy Hamill haircuts when I was in kindergarten.

When I was older, I had really long, naturally wavy hair. When I say really long, I mean that to get it cut up to my bra strap was hacking a good 6 inches off. I had a perm in 8th grade with huge bangs and the sides to match (forgive me, it was the peak of the 80s). I used mousse and hairspray multiple times throughout the day, and even had a portable butane curling iron I kept in my acid-washed denim purse - just in case I needed to pop into the bathroom and fix any flopping hairs during school.

I never toyed with color (besides colored mousse - did any of you ever have that?) until the summer before 9th grade when I basically used an entire bottle of hydrogen peroxide on my head and then tried to act like it was a natural occurance from being out in the sun. It was a color similar to this (except with really big bangs still):

I was a Senior in high school when I found my first gray hair. It was laying on my letter jacket. Yeah, I can thank my dad for that lovely gene.

When I went to college, I still had long hair. Then one night I decided I was sick of it and had my roommates take a pair of (dull, I'm sure) scissors and cut it up to my chin. Thankfully, I have pretty forgiving hair so it actually looked ok. It was the first time I had ever had short hair, and it didn't even occur to me that it was considered short until I went to a dance with Colby Rollins and we had pictures made. The girl processing us through wrote in the area to describe the people in the picture, "short hair, black dress." It took me a second to realize she was describing me.

I did a similar thing when I first went to England on my mission. I had been over there for maybe 4 months and decided to chop my hair. So sitting in our landlady's kitchen, I had her cut it off. When I had been over there about 9 months (it had grown out considerably) was the first time I officially dyed my hair. It was a reddish color. After that I was addicted...

I have changed my hair so many times, I honestly don't know what my true color is. I do know that my natural color has gotten progressively darker and blah-er, judging by the roots. Why is that? I also know that on any given occasion, if I didn't have some type of color in my hair, anyone would be able to see that I have too many gray hairs to continue to pluck comfortably. I have alternated between short and long, but in the past 10 years have averaged laying-on or just-below the shoulder length. For the past 2 - 3 years I have had blond highlights and shoulder-length or longer hair.

When we lived in Utah, I switched hairstylists all the time because I could never find anyone I was happy with. When we moved here, I happened to find a guy I thought was brilliant. Everytime I left the salon, I LOVED my hair - the cut, the highlights, the style - everything. If I was rich and famous and brought along an entourage to fix me up, I would have brought him. He was the one who introduced me to straightening my hair. But... he turned out to be a pervert. When he started talking suggestively of how he would like to try out "different flavors", I bailed. My friend recommended her hairstylist, and that is who I have been with ever since. She does a great job, too, but I think my favorite was still the other guy.

We had our family pictures made this August and when we got them back, I liked everyone in them but me. That was true for several reasons, but a big one was my hair. SO BORING. I basically had not changed my style in 3 years. I'm no fashionista, by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know hair is like clothes - if you haven't changed it, your clothes, or your make-up in that long, you can pretty much bet none of it looks cute anymore. So I decided to take measures. This is the result:

I would ask for your opinion, but what's done is done. I like it. It's actually a very rich auburn, which you can't tell very well from the picture. And it has a lot more "swing" than it seems like here. And I probably should have cut it just a little bit shorter, but you get the idea.

So, I challenge all you ladies out there who haven't had a new style or a new color in at least a year, go crazy! Get wild! Do your roots proud! It's fun :-)