Red.

Oh yeah, we're doing this. Talking about hair again.

To be fair, my hair restlessness has been on hold for quite a while. Haven't blogged/whined about it in a good few months (hallelujah!). That constant urge to chop it all off or be blonde or get a wave-perm? Gone. I had successfully grown out my angled bob (the short bangs are now past my chin!) and dyed out years of bad drug-store colouring. I tried out the (almost) au naturel thing for a while. And I liked it.

But the only way I can continue to be a normal human every day is to shake things up every so often. Hair is easy. I can feel like a new/different person without, say, quitting my job and buying an Airstream or VW bus and living out the rest of my days on the road selling jams and macramé flower pots and not paying taxes. This.

Things need a shake.

Let's think about hair colour, though, and how we/society/whatever attribute certain personality traits to specific hair colours. These are entirely ridiculous and stereotypical, and no one really believes them, but just entertain me, OK? So blondes have more fun (and/or are dumb) and redheads are wild (and/or evil) and dark hair is mysterious and "exotic". Then there's me. I always felt that, thinking in these terms, my mousy/dusty brown hair didn't quite reflect my personality. I'm fun and wild and sometimes evil, yeah? (Say yes.) So I dyed it. From the age of 13. Red, blonde, black. Hard facts: I look best (probably) in something closer to the real thing. But I've been rocking this "me only better" brown for a while. Ho-hum.

My mother is a redhead. A real one. And she's pretty textbook, if you go for the stereotype-thang. I felt cheated. Strangely my parents - red and black-haired as they are - managed to spawn 2 brunettes and a blonde. Milkman?

 (w/my mom, 1980. oh god. she was so YOUNG.)

Aside from a few (bad) early attempts at becoming a ginger myself (anyone remember "Flirt"? That "temporary" hair colour that never washed out? I have actual photo evidence but I'm way too lazy to use our scanner) I haven't given red - done right, by a pro - a real chance, like, ever. Is it time? Yes folks, I believe it is.

What does my "likes me the way I am" husband have to say about it?

This fortuitous combination of lighting and Instagram filters in this photo did wonders in convincing him that I wasn't just acting rash. He's on board too. Not that I wouldn't just do it anyway, but it's nice not to make him grumpy.

(oh, and that's Superbowl face paint. I became weirdly attached to it. Tattoo time, obvi.)

So red. Yes. Once I stop chickening out. I might need some cocktails first. Who's in for some sloppy pre-salon pep-talk drinkin'?

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Check out my Pinterest board, "Hairs" for more ginger inspiration! (Gingspiration? No.)