Wednesday, December 2, 2009

The age old question… Brunette VS Blonde

Ok, so maybe not “age old” but its definitely an issue that girls deal with at one stage or another… and now, it seems to be a question I am asking myself yet again…

I have had blonde hair since I was little, and as I got older it has slowly gotten darker… I had colour put through my hair from about the age of 13-14 but had always had it blonde. I had darker streaks, high lights, dark underneath and at one stage a darker fringe… but it was always mostly blonde.

Being a big Bettie Page fan I had had a my fringe cut short; but always felt that it would’ve looked better with darker hair… I am big into vintage, and 50s is my favourite so I instantly fell in love with her fringe. It somehow captures that 50s flair that I love, without having to have a pixie cut or sleep with rollers in my hair…

It wasn’t until Halloween last year when I wore a dark wig (complete with Bettie bangs) that I decided to finally make a drastic change. Soon after, I went dark all over and it was a big change. People didn’t even recognize me when I bumped into them… (sure, it didn’t help that I got glasses at the same time… but still). I loved having a new look that people didn’t recognize; it was like wearing a cunning disguise.

I have had my hair dark for almost (if not just over) a year now, and I do really like it… but sometimes I still miss my blonde hair. When I look at old photos I wonder if I have made a mistake. I have considered going back blonde several times but then quickly get over it when I think about how much hard work it will be to get it back to how it was, how it could look when its one of those “in between” colours… and that it may ruin my hair. I then quickly return to the image of Bettie Page’s lovely locks and consider myself crazy to have even thought of going back… this was of course, until I watched “Cry-Baby”.

Within the first five minutes of this film I had involuntarily blurted out “I’m going back blonde”. There it was… Wanda Woodward, the drape with the hair. Not only is this movie superb and a new favourite of mine (I adore its openly cheesyness and I am a sucker for a 50s musical) but it instantly made me question my locks… Wanda Woodward is fair skinned and blonde, complete with short fringe tapering at the sides. I am fair skinned, and already have this hair cut. Perhaps it didn’t look so bad with the blonde Bettie bangs… Could I pull this off?

Its like Bettie Page’s fringe without the work, since it sits flat on her head rather then curling it over. When I have my fringe cut it is rather short to begin with and I leave it flat until it grows. With dark hair this works, but would the blonde work if I did want to curl it over?

I have asked the opinion of some of my girl friends, and they all seem to say that blonde hair seems to take more care and cost more. This however, is not the case for me. Even with dark hair I have to have my re-growth done every 4-6 weeks as my hair is naturally lighter and looks as though I have gone pre-maturely grey if I have that peeking through the dark. The other argument is that dark hair feels and looks healthier, so going blonde should mean the opposite… leaving my hair trashed. This has always been the greatest argument against going back, but when I think back to my blonde hair I don’t remember it being trashed. It didn’t feel any less healthy then my dark hair now after continually dying it for this long.

Now, considering I have already written 642 words about this I think it is obvious it isn’t something I am carelessly rushing into. I know that just because you like a hair cut, style or colour does not mean that you should rush to your hair dresser with a picture and demand to look like that. The person with the hair you liked may have a different shape face, different skin tone, different style sense and different hair type. If you rush into having something done without considering these things, you may regret it soon after… but in my case, I know that I can (well, I could) pull off having blonde hair, I know I like my fringe cut this short and I know my skin is quite fair.

All this said, I may go through this lengthy process and then change my mind back… after all; it is a woman’s prerogative to change her mind. Would it be worth it if I go through this and I don’t like it? I know, I know… its only hair. I can change it back, I can cut it short and it will grow back… heck I could shave my head and wear a wig everyday if I wanted to; but the question is… on those days in between dying it from dark to light when I’m walking around with (lets face it) half finished hair do will it be worth it?

Yes, I realize I sound about as shallow as a waiting pool right now… but your hair is a part of who you are, and how you portray yourself to the world. If you are unhappy with it, you are unhappy with the way you look. If you are unhappy with the way you look, you will not be confident with who you are. If you are not confident in who you are, it will effect every aspect of you life.

This means according to my strict calculations here, not only can bad hair = unhappiness it can also effect your confidence. Having low confidence can also effect you happiness which brings me to the conclusion that bad hair = :( Sad face is not a good thing. I want a happy face. So say all my above calculations are correct this would lead me to believe that good hair = :) happy face is a good thing.

So even after a total of 1063 words, the only conclusion I have come to is that good hair = good. I am still undecided as to which the fairer colour is, or which I would best suit. I guess I will never really know conclusively, I will only know what I think at a particular moment…
Wanda Woodward
Image from Agent Lover.com
Bettie Page
Image from BurningCity.com

2 comments:

  1. I wanted to be Wanda as soon as I saw the movie. She's awesome.

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  2. I know, I had no idea who Traci Lords was at the time though... lol. I will have to put a post up one day of the many colours my hair went in between the black to blonde... As much as I love the colour it turned out it was alot of pain for the gain...

    :)

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