Farewell Red Hair. It's been real.

Today is my last day as a redhead.   In my red phase, I basically went from maroon, to bright red, to strawberry blonde.  

Beginning this time period of hair experimentation, I wondered if the world would view me and treat me differently with different hair colors.  I didn't notice any extreme differences, but did experience a few fun, surprising, and unusual situations.

 1.  It took me a while to remember I had a new hair color.  After I got over the initial shock, I forgot that I dyed my hair and was usually caught off guard by people’s reactions.  One day when I was subbing, this little second grader drew this adorable picture of me and her smiling and holding hands.  She used a bright red crayon for my hair.  That was right after I dyed my hair, and it caught me by surprise.  I kept forgetting that was how people were seeing me.

2.  Black people seem to LOVE red hair!  This was the main effect I noticed right off the bat.  Black men and women were constantly telling me they liked my hair.  The Black kids in elementary schools, middle and high school were loving it.  My friend Maddie, a natural redhead said this has always been an ongoing thing her whole life.  I don't know why this is.  My guess is that people in general are intrigued by what is the most different from their own appearance.  True story:  When Trae and I were at Sheetz getting gas one day, I told him I had noticed this pattern.  He laughed and said that was a "racist" thing to say.  (He doesn't like stereotypes).  I told him that making an observation is not racist.  Right after this convo, a big Black man walked out of Sheetz and smiled and gestured that he loved my hair.  No joke.  The timing could not have been more comical!  Trae was convinced after that! :)

3.  With red hair, I can wear different makeup.  In fact, bolder makeup looks better.  My face is on display more with the bolder frame of red hair.  I am able to wear bright peach lipstick, bordering on orange.  I had gotten this lipstick when I was blonde, and it just didn't look right.  With red hair, it looked awesome.  I could also wear much thicker eyeliner that would have been too overwhelming with blonde hair.  People usually try to match makeup with skin tone, which is a good idea, but different hair colors can allow different levels of flexibility.

4.  Certain clothing items that I used to wear, look weird with red hair.  I realized maroon, orange, and certain shades of pink and red were now out.  On the other hand, purple, green, brown, red, white and back look great!  I guess I always took it for granted that most colors usually look good with blonde hair.  Redheads are more limited.

5.  People either love red hair or they hate it, and they are not shy about giving their opinions.  I had some people think it was very cool that I changed it up and dyed my hair.  Some people said they like me better as a redhead, and some people people told me straight up that they didn't like it at all and that I should definitely go back to blonde.  That's fine.  I didn't take offense to it, because hair color is changeable.  It's just for fun; not a permanent change.  When I'm over this changeling phase, I’ll probably go back to blonde because that is my natural color, and I'm guessing when all is said and done, I'll decide that the best is blonde.  But we'll see!  

Hmmmm.  What should I try next?  Brunette?  I'm thinking yes! :)

Heartbreak=Hairdo

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I found this fun article on jezabel.com that delves into the history behind the Post-Breakup Haircut!

Who could forget the awesome, liberating haircut scene from the Sex and the City movie?  After being left at the alter by the infamous Big, Carrie went from blonde to brunette, which was a great look for her!  

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This scene highlights a female phenomenon.  It is a common instinctive behavior of our species to cut away the extra locks, symbolic of the baggage of a love venture gone awry.  It's a rite of passage to get a new hairstyle after heartbreak.  This article includes some interesting facts, but I believe we lose the locks for three reasons.

1.  It's therapeutic.  Most women relish in the act of spending a few hours at the hair salon being pampered and beautified.  To put it simply, this is a pick-me-up likely to boost a bad mood.

2.  It can represent "starting a new."  When you look better, you feel better.  Cutting off old hair or dyeing it can represent an "out with the old, in with the new" mentality.  It will literally lift weight off your shoulders.

3.  It doesn't hurt if the heart breaker sees pictures of you on facebook looking gorgeous and better than ever!  This is probably the main reason for the post-breakup hairdo.  You want to change your hair, get all dressed up, go out on the town with your friends, have the time of your life...and if you happen to find a cute guy to date and/or pose in pics with, well that's just icing on the cake!

Whatever your reason for mending your broken heart with a new style, go for it!  If you've just been dumped, do what you gotta do, and look beautiful while doing it.  Better yet, get out there and find the love of your life; someone who worships the ground you walk on, declares his love from the rooftops...and compliments your hair! ;)

Celebrity look-a-like: Hair Hoochie Edition

April

Is that Taylor Swift??

Taylor

When I ran into April at the coffee shop, I just had to get a blog picture!  She was sweet enough oblige! J  

April, a Roanoke College student, said that people comment once or twice every day, that she looks exactly like Taylor Swift!

She never gets tired of hearing it and takes it as a compliment!  She’s a big fan!

Before Taylor Swift came on the horizon, people told her Nicole Kidman was her celebrity look-a-like.  You know you’re beautiful when people comment that you look like not just one celebrity, but two!

It’s not just her naturally curly, Taylor-esque hair that makes her resemble the country star.  Her colors, fashion choices and makeup shades make her an unmistakable dead ringer!  She said she’s had the same sense of fashion for most of her life, and the bright pink lipstick was a makeup tip long ago from her grandmother.  It would appear Taylor has copied her, and not the other way around! J

In her spare time, April enjoys karate, kickboxing, ballroom dancing and is currently writing a murder mystery.

Do you have a celebrity doppelganger?  I wanna see!  Send me pics, and I’ll post them!

Holiday Hair Accessories and Colors

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Just for fun, here are some pics of festive head accoutrements of this past holiday season, worn by humans and animals alike.  I look forward to seeing all the new hair trends the new year will bring!  I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays!  

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And in hair news, after having red hair for six weeks and letting it fade a little bit, it turned a strawberry blonde.  I then lightened it up even more by adding blonde streaky highlights.  I thought it would be a festive look for the holidays...kind of an ode to candy cane stripes.  I also got choppy punk style bangs for a more rocker look.  John Frieda Red Shampoo allowed me to maintain a red hue while looking a little bit more natural with some blonde. 

My sister Kelsey told me it looked like a little kid took some scissors to my bangs.  Whatev.  I like it! :) 

 I hope all of you Hair Hoochies out there are getting the new year off to a great start! 

Hollywood Girls Paint Tinsel Town Red

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A few blogs ago, I asked if you guys think leading ladies with red hair have that "it" factor.


It certainly seems to be a trend over the past few months in Hollywood to go red.  Some starlets have done it for movies, and I guess others have done it just for fun!


Emma Stone looks gorgeous as a redhead!  She also looks great blonde and brunette.  That skin tone can go with any color.  I've yet to see her with any color that doesn't look beautiful on her!  How do you guys think she looks best?  For me, it's a complete toss up

Emma Stone

Emma Stone

Emma Stone

Blake Lively lost her red almost as quickly as she got it.  Red is the fastest fading color anyone could ever get, and I suspect it fades even more quickly on natural blondes.  In her pictures taken about a week after coloring, it almost looks blonde again!  Anywho, I think she went with the right shade.  With her tan complexion, she would look odd with anything more intense than strawberry blonde.

Blake Lively

Scarlett Johansson

Amy Adams

Scarlett Johansson dyed her hair this maroonish shade.  Not her best look.  She's always beautiful, but with her skin tone, this doesn't look natural.  I think she could have gotten by with something more similar to Blake Lively's shade or maybe something with only a hint of copper undertones, but this is too much.


Interesting fact: Amy Adams is a natural blonde.  This is surprising because we've only ever seen her as red, and it looks so natural!  She has said that she didn't have success getting acting gigs as a blonde.  With her cool skin tone, she can pull off any shade of red.


I saved the best for last.  With her fire engine red hair, Christina Hendricks brightens the set of Mad Men.  This is what redhead wannabees aspire to look like.  She has become known recently as "the" token Hollywood redhead.  The irony?  She is also a natural blonde, as was Lucille Ball, to whom Hendricks has been compared.

Smoking is bad, but fans of Mad Men think Christina Hendricks is smoking hot!
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Lucille Ball

Trouble in Hair Paradise

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Dyeing hair can be so much fun, but it's a double-edged sword.


My hair was completely fried after going red and receiving a "lifter" to make it brighter than the original shade.  At least hair is resilient.  When I got my hair cut for the first time after the color damage, my hairdresser Sophy was able to cut away the most damaged area in my bangs and top layers.  It still doesn't look completely 100% healthy; but the damage isn't as obvious unless someone looks closely.


When dyeing your hair, you have to ask the question: Is it worth damage?  If your hair grows very fast, maybe it is.  You can keep cutting it, and it will grow back healthy.  However, if your hair grows at an extremely slow rate and it has taken you years to get it to the length you want, maybe you should think long and hard before dyeing.  You may have to live with those split ends and fried layers longer than you would like.


Also, red coloring fades like mad!!!  I waited a few days to wash after having it dyed, thinking that would really let the color set in.  It didn't matter.  Within two weeks, people were asking me if I had dyed it again, because it was a completely different, lighter shade.  It has also faded more quickly in some places than in others, which has resulted in lightened "patches."  When I was standing in the sun a few weeks ago, Trae said it looked like I had "frosted" my hair in certain places. Odd.


Sophy said if I didn't do anything else to it, it would just completely fade back to dirty blonde within a few weeks.  Some of the more "honest" people I know, told me my hair was starting to look just plain weird.

Family pic at the Peaks of Otter...Hair is fading in some places and looking patchy.  Banks are slightly tattered and frayed. Also, maroon isn't always the best color clothing choice for red hair....but oh well.  Red hair or not, I'm always a Hokie! :)

To bring out more of the red, I started using John Frieda Radiant Red.  I looked all over town for the product and didn't find it anywhere, so I ordered it online.  It has definitely made a difference!  John Frieda products are my fav! My hair looks way better than before!

After John Frieda: definitely a more natural and rich looking color for the Fall.

Hair looked 100% better after cut and red shampoo.  Damage is much less noticeable.   Isn't my sister-in-law, Sallie beautiful y'all?  

Going to great lengths to alter your natural color can come back to bite you.  When it comes to hair, this is mostly a vanity issue, not a matter of life and death, and of course, weird looking hair is not the end of the world. But it's not an ideal situation either. :/


So, is it worth it?  I say YES! :)  as long as we have remedies like John Frieda to come to the rescue and minimize or mask the damage.

Hair Hoochie of the Month

Jannet's current look

Jannet before crossing over to the dark side :)

I am proud to introduce my first ever “HAIR HOOCHIE” of the Month, Jannet, 36, of Roanoke, VA.

Jannet is Trae’s coworker, and the first time I saw her, I thought she was strikingly beautiful!  Her big blue eyes stand out against a backdrop of dark hair.  Her youthful appearance makes the 36-year-old look significantly younger.  I seriously thought she was in her late 20s!  Jannet has boldly experimented with color over the years and loves to be daring and try new looks, going from light to dark and vice versa.  Lucky us!  Today she will share some beauty tips!

Q & A

Q. What have you noticed that's different about being dark vs. light?  How do people react to each look?  

A. Well, I got compliments on dark and light hair (men seem to think the dark is more "seductive" LOL).  I had blond highlights for almost ten years and when I went back to my natural (dark brown), everyone loved it!  I felt more attractive/sexier with dark hair.  It seems to make my blue eyes pop!

Q. How can you dress and wear makeup differently (with each look)?

A. My makeup style preference is heavy, smoky, eyes and nude lips.

Q. Do you prefer one (hair color) over the other?

A. I prefer dark hair.  It's not always true that blondes have more fun!  LOL

Q. What is your beauty philosophy?  Ex. Do you believe everyone should change things up and be a little daring?

A. I think a woman's face is similar to an artist's canvas.  If the artist leaves the canvas blank, it can be boring.  Don't get me wrong though, I do think woman are beautiful in their natural state, just more so with a little

color!

Q. What is the boldest beauty decision you've ever made?

A. Going from brunette to blond!

Q. When do you feel your most confident beauty wise?

A. When my Husband looks at me, he makes me feel incredibly beautiful and desired!  :-)

“I also wanted to mention that since battling cancer for the past 14 months, my hair texture has changed.  I've also lost quite a bit of hair from radiation treatment.  Doing away with bangs helped to diminish the appearance of the thinning spots at the top...One thing that my sister Tammy introduced me to is called "It's a 10".  I LOVE the leave in conditioning spray.  It does 10 things, including nourishing...which I seriously needed since radiation
dried my hair so bad!  I also use the "It's a 10" shampoo and regular conditioner....it makes my hair feel like silk!  It's a shame I can't get some free products or something for (recommending) their line to everyone I know...LOL!!!!!!”

Personal background info: “My primary focus has always been family.  The 'job' I've always loved the most is also the most challenging, yet the most rewarding as well.  That's being a mother. I have two boys, Matt, 19 and Will, 10.  I also have a stepson, Neil, 18 and stepdaughter, Kerrigan, 14.  I'm lucky enough to be married to the most amazing man in the world, Eric…He is truly my best friend.  Plus, it doesn't hurt that he's a super sexy law enforcement officer!” ;-)

*******If you would like to be a future “Hair Hoochie” of the month, please send me pics of drastically different, fabulous hairdos!

How gorgeous is Jannet?  Comment below!