Becoming blonde
A year and a half ago, I embarked on a mission to become blonde. I started with balayage and had my stylist at the time touch up on the areas around my face. It was so subtle that no one noticed. My natural hair color is dark brown. The darkest brown you could imagine, with its tone being warm. So when she painted the color I asked for, instead of seeing a lighter color on my hair, it simply turned a deep golden brown.
At first I thought, ‘If no one noticed then why did I spend the money?’ Frustrated with the outcome, I sought out a new stylist.
Then I met my current colorist. He fell in love with my hair right away — the curls and my current hue at the time. I explained to him that I’ve always wanted to know what it felt like to be blonde. Right away he told me that if I wanted to go down that road that it would be a long one. Because my base is so rich and dark, he didn’t want to damage my locks, so he recommended going in stages. Then began my journey in becoming blonde.
At first I loved it. But just like the balayage procedure, no one noticed the lighter pieces. Ugh, what does that mean? Is my hair so dark that I’d have to be in bright sunlight for it to show?
I became obsessed with Beyonce’s hair. I saw the Formation video for the first time and I began visualizing my hair very long and very light. I had the curls she rocked, but not the length. I finally decided what I wanted — more blonde saturated throughout my hair and long lengths.
I went back to my stylist and he reminded me again of the stages. Ugh, not this again. So he went at it again, lightening more pieces. Putting more lighter strands around my face. This is what we came up with.
We were getting there, but after the novelty wore off — I decided enough was enough. Some people started to notice but it wasn’t where I wanted to be. I wanted to be blonde, not kinda blonde. So I thought maybe if I gave myself darker roots (closer to my natural color), the lighter pieces on the bottom would show up more. Here is the result with my hair straightened.
I was having a lot of fun at first. I found myself straightening it a lot more. I liked the contrast of the roots against the blonde locks which showed more when styled this way.
Then my roots started to grow out and when I wore it in its natural texture— I didn’t like it anymore. I began wondering if I would ever be happy with any color. When I began my quest to become blonde, I hadn’t colored my hair since my late teens. So I began searching for past pictures of my hair. I came across the following picture and I was shocked at how far my hair had come in its journey to becoming blonde. I realized I was so fixated on whether or not people noticed the changes that I didn’t really think about my ultimate goal: to be content with what I had been given and rock it out proudly.
In conclusion, I’ve decided to forfeit my blonde goals. It was fun while it lasted, but the truth is — I love being a brunette. And you know what they say about brunettes…
