Friday, February 6, 2009

Truely Outrageous

Last night it occurred to me that I hadn't yet posted a confessional this week. You already know about my childhood dreams of dancing and why I am know as TotusMel, so where to go next. I alternated between deep and complex or a trivia fact and I landed on my hair.

What Is Up With The Colored Hair Already?

When I was little, my heroes were fairly normal. I had an obsession with Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears and Rainbow Brite to name a few. As I got older, well, things started going in another direction. I loved She-Ra, fantasy and Jem. Yes, Jem and the Holograms, shockingly 80's and my introduction to the world of multicolored hair.

One day at the beauty salon with my Mother, who was getting her hair tipped in gold, as was the custom of the time, I told my Mom that when I was older I wanted to get pink streaks in my hair. She responded with statement that I have never forgotten, "When you're older, you can do whatever you want with your hair, but" she cautioned, "I guarantee that you won't want to anymore." Now, for most things a kids claims to want to do when they are older this statement was spot on, but not for me.

I first felt the sting of hair dye at 15.My Mom let me get my hair done in auburn at the salon and just a few days later I knew I was never going back to boring brown again. Throughout high school my hair gradually became a less subtle shade of burgundy. Then in college, all bets were off. I was 18 and no color was off limits. I tried almost all of them, including a stint with vertical rainbow stripes. Sure I went back to "normal" when I needed to get a real job, but not brown. I tried every "natural"color available safe for blond. Eventually my boss let me go back to my vibrant color choices and when his boss told me to stop, I bought a wig to wear at work, then several wigs.

I did go back to brown before I got pregnant with my first child and again for the pregnancy of my second, but after each was older, I went right back. Currently, I am rocking the purple and blue combo that I prefer.I've always said that I will stop when I start looking too old to get away with it. I'm sure there are plenty of people that think I've already reached that point, but it still feels like me. I never really did do pink streaks because I don't really like pink all that much, but it's was Jem and her pink hair that started it all for me.

16 comments:

Olorle said...

Wow, fond memories. The Rainbow Brite movie was made of awesome. And I can totally relate to moving away from boring brown hair. :)

Jeni said...

I LOVE Jem. My favorite was Kimber. :)

I had lots of different colors, too. Now Uncle Sam won't let me and by the time I retire, I WILL be too old. But I'll probably dye it just once (and pierce my nose again) just because I can.

cloudlover said...

I'm right there with you. I was victim of the "Black Cherry" trend throughout HS as well, and then I went to straight black during college, and then black w/ red tips/streaks, then black w/ purple streaks... And then brown w/ strawberry & red highlights, then back to chocolate brown, and now it's soft black again, only b/c I work in an office. One day I WILL have purple hair again!!!

Anonymous said...

OMG!! You have stolen my childhood! I loved loved loved Jem; I never had Barbies but I adored my Jem doll. I knew the minute I took her out of the package that when I grew up I wanted to look just like that.
The day after I quit my last job to run my own business I died the whole mess blue. It's been blue or purple for 10 years straight now and I can't imagine ever outgrowing it, it's just who I am.

I did find out the hard way that pink is *not* my color and I eventually outgrew the desire for a gold lame pantsuit so my Jem dreams will (regretably) never come true.
(I'm sure the world is grateful for pantsuit decision.)

Combustion Glassworks said...

15 was about the age I found glorious hair coloring as well!

Years and years of Cotton Candy Pink hair by ManicPanic. that was so my favorite. I started coloring my hair black at 20 and only went back once, because bleaching has got to be the shittiest thing ever.

I covet your purple!

TheZKitten*Chaoticlycreative.com said...

i absolutely loved jem! (though, I did love the misfits styles a bit more than most of the holograms stuff, particularly stormer)
I remember when I was barely 5, one of my mom's friends got me a barbie knockoff. She was a singer (so the box said) and had the best orange hair, with streaks of blue, red and purple in it. I still don't know what she was from, but the hair stuck with me :D

fantastic hair btw!

that_rat said...

I still remember the little green haired freak that I spied at the college 14 years ago...little did I know what was in store for me. :^)

Holly said...

I love your hair!! Mine is red and black right now...but I'm definitely going to bleach it totally white for summer...I have amazing costumes plans...I just have to wait for it to grow out to natural so that it won't fall out. Which is AWFUL because my hair is always a weird color...

Jrahn said...

you look awfully photogenic, and happy about it.

Wenchie said...

"Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears and Rainbow Brite"...I remember those childhood days. I can't wait to get back to dying the shaved lower portion of my hair in fun colors after I have my baby.

. c h o k l i t . said...

Believe it or not, I have virgin hair - I've just never had a desire to dye it.

So I love to live vicariously through your colorful hair. It looks amazing on you!

And yes, Jem, well... that and Elfquest... (Did I say that aloud?)

Anonymous said...

And now I'm singing "Jehhmmmm is truuuuully outrageous, truly, truly, truly outrageous...." Which makes me undeniably happy.

Stop by the blog if you have a chance to see the big TotusMel shout out!

Anonymous said...

Hi. I'm new here. I found you through Erin the Cheap Chick's website... I immediately noticed your purple & blue hair in the photos and had to come over to find if you had a blog (saw it on your Etsy shop). I'm another fan of candy-colored hair and haven't stopped dyeing mine all colors of the rainbow since I was about 18. It's fun for me, and I LOVE watching people react. :)

Anyhow, I'm off to read more of your blog.
Cheers,
Jami

P.S. I went as Rainbow Brite for Halloween 2 years ago. She was my hero. lol

Athena's Armoury said...

Yeah, I was a She-Ra and Jem fan, too. I have had an undeniable urge to dye my hair some kind of fun, crazy magenta color for years now. Now that I finally feel like I have the nerve to do it, I don't think management would let me get away with it. For now, I live vicariously through you.

Halahblue said...

I have Jem earrings...remember the purpley/pink sparkle covered stars she would grab ahold of and whisper, "Synergy," so she could talk to the hologram...

Oh yeahhh. I got those. =)

RockLove said...

I adore this splatter of pictures! As a part-Romanian I wasn't allowed to cut my hair till 18... it was past my butt and this weird natural orangey blonde with highlights and lowlights from the sun. I temporarily dyed it black much to my mum's protests, and then spent much of HS with it burgundy/plum. An accidental black plus summer working at the YMCA left my chlorinated hair teal. Ergo a stint with blue. Back to natural in college. Then burgundy/red once I moved back from Italy to NYC.

I think I'm stuck as a redhead for now - I've always had a penchant for Jessica Rabbit.

*wink* I love these confessions!