Roots
Ok, I am going to make an admission- I dye my hair.
It's pure vanity, I know, but the gray is spreading faster than crab grass across my scalp. I didn't inherit the good hair genes, I got the early graying ones.
I went blonde in high school. My hair had been a reddish- blonde, but I had moved to Florida and wanted my hair to match my Hawaiian tropic tan. I tried lemon juice, and Sun In. I achieved modest results. The Florida sunshine and the chlorine in the pool did more to lighten my tresses than the dyes.
Pregnancy made me swear off hair dyes for a while, but then I found some gray hairs. Now the war had begun in earnest. Professional blonde highlights covered those few stray, grays.
As I entered my 40's many emotions were stirring deep within me. My life felt as fake as my false blonde hair. I slowly peeled back the layers of camouflage; painstakingly uncovering my authentic self. I was ready to get back to my roots.
I went to my hairdresser and asked her to bring me back to my original shade. She was shocked and refused to do something "so drastic." I thanked her,removed the cape, and went home. Two hours later I emerged with a beautiful mane of shining red locks.
Looking in the mirror I gazed upon, for the first time in twenty years, the girl I had left behind.
Keywords:
I'm digesting the changes in my life, and sometimes it gives me heartburn.”
About Annette
I grew up with five siblings in a working class neighborhood outside Washington, D.C. I have been writing or telling stories in some form or another for many years. As my old life was dismantled, I found journal writing and later blogging to be the release I...
Connections
Causes Annette Talbert Supports
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, RIF (Reading is Fundamental),
Hands On Foundation, Dignity U Wear, Girls, Inc.
Annette’s Favorite Books
To Kill a Mockingbird, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Jane Eyre, The Story of Seabiscuit, The Diaries of Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Among Schoolchildren, Narnia Series...
I'm jealous
I always wanted to be a red-head; well shiny auburn, really. I had lovely golden blond hair as a girl, and through my teenage and early twenties it would still bleach in the summer. After my first pregnancy it settled into mousy brown and stayed there. I used to get an tint to my hair but haven't done it for years. A lot of people assumed I was Irish with my green eyes. My mother at 83 has barely a grey hair and my grandmother didn't go completely grey until she was in her 90's. I have good genes from that point of view but the color is drab. I've been thinking about getting it colored but everyone will know.
I have joined the ranks of the chemically dependent
I was having my haircut on Friday and my stylist said "you'd look good as a redhead". I then admitted that I always wanted to be but was afraid to try. He looked at me and said "do you have time, we can do it right now". I threw caution to the wind and said "Yes". I have to say I love it and him for not making it too drastic. It looks like a natural color. He winked at me as I left and said "We'll add a touch more red next time. A little at a time until you are where you want to be."