Bye Bye Betty...

Image: 1001fonts.com

So I have been totally slack again and have not written anything in over a month… but as I am about to embark on the scary journey of “re-blondening” I figure I would do a bit of an update. My holidays were nothing like expected and I did next to nothing constructive or creative. I watched season 1-4 of “Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia”, did some washing, drank, slept and then drank some more…

Unfortunately my year started with a death in the family which resulted in a significant period of not feeling like doing anything. My plans to go op shopping, clean out my wardrobe, make some new jewelry and learn to sew all went out the window. Also the lack of funds from being off work did seem to affect my capacity to anything that involved cost.

Either way, all of the above are still on my agenda for the year along with saving for the items on my wishlist from DaddyOs.com and my upcoming trip to the US. At this stage I am at my current job until April so I know I will have money coming until then… but as I started back to work as of last week this has been the first week that I have gotten paid. So with my first pay check I have decided to continue with my ongoing struggle with the “Blonde VS Brunette” debate I have decided to try to go back blonde… with many a bleach bath ahead of me and many more days of having horrible hair I will not be going out for quite some time. I am not usually one to care about what other people think, but in this case I am being just straight out vain. Its not that I am stressed that one person will see me and I will forever be marked as the girl with the yellow hair, its that I wont be happy with my hair and as such will not feel like I look good even if no one else noticed a difference. Either way… bad hair + miss kitty boo = not going out.

However trying to take this in stride and not mope about my lack of pub time I have chosen to take this extra time to get some things done. My checklist from before I my holidays is in my sight and I figure, if I can learn to sew while I’m being a hermit my re-introduction into the world at the end will be even more amazing. Not only will I have new hair, but I could (all going well) have some new clothes that I made myself too… Or perhaps, amazing blonde hair and an amazing new necklace shaped like an elephant? Lol.

The other positive about my soon to be weekends at home is, I wont be spending as much money thus making a further dent in my US savings and my wishlist. The $50 bleach baths are nothing compared to the shopping I would do on an average week and the cash (well technically booze) I would guzzle while down at the pub.

As I have friends who will not let me go through this process without photographic evidence I will try and post some pictures shortly… it will be like a gradient of hair colouring! Wish me lots of luck…

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