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! :)