Dear Amanda,
I have blue hair! It’s fairly shocking I know. Probably didn’t seem like something I would do, no? Honestly if you’d told me a year ago that I’d make the decision to dye my hair a bright, TARDIS colored hue I’d probably look at you like you’d grown a second head.
This all started with a company costume party. We had a technical summit and the closing party theme was super heroes. We were invited to dress as our best, Super-Heroey selves. Now, since I work in a data analytics tech company that is male dominated, nerdy and full of all my weirdo besties I knew this was my chance to do something more than the basic Marvel superhero. Side note, no shade to the Marvel heroes – if they’re your obsession more power to you – it’s just I knew this was my opportunity to pull from something more obscure.
I decided on an anti-hero, the character Jinx from League of Legends/Arcane. I had less than two weeks from the announcement of the party theme to my travel dates, so was restricted to purchasing only from places with quick shipping. I loved the costume, and more importantly, adored how I looked in the bright blue wig. Don’t get me wrong, the wig is absolutely awful. The skull cap is too small, I couldn’t fit my own hair underneath it and it kept sliding around all night BUT…
I felt so powerful. I had no idea I would like the blue hair that much!
Jinx!
Once I got the idea in my head, I just couldn’t let it go. Much like Allie and her dinosaur costume from Hyperbole and a Half….the blue hair empowered me.
And so, I went for it! It took SEVEN HOURS of bleaching, toning and dyeing but slosh through the marathon salon appointment we went. Here is where I give some really amazing shout outs to Alyson at Cult Studios. She slowly and patiently bleached my hair – because of the slower approach all that bleaching did NOT ruin my hair. And the blue color? Absolutely amazing.
Amanda, I have to tell you that I totally expected to receive some weird looks, censure, criticism, pushback. But you know what? People have truly surprised me. The blue hair has been such an incredibly connecting experience. People stop and compliment me ALL THE TIME. Overwhelmingly, it’s minorities. And it’s not just women! It’s been pretty amazing, because now I wind up in the most interesting and random conversations with people I probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to converse with otherwise.
I don’t know if the non-natural hair color just is a sign that I’m open minded, or if it’s just that different of a hue that people feel compelled to comment. But it’s all been incredibly and amazingly positive.
I think I’m gonna keep it blue for a while. I might experiment with purple or pink, but I love how the blue brings out my eyes and honestly – just makes me feel powerful. I am finally starting to express my personality a little more and the direction it’s taken has surprised me!
The blue has also faded in a truly lovely way. Here’s a snapshot right before I had the roots and blue redone.
How are things up yonder in Canada?
