Reasons why I’m “red”

I do not have a definable hair colour. When I was a kid, it was blonde. Now, it’s not blonde, it’s not brown, it’s bleah. It used to frustrate me when I was in high school, because if I said I had blonde hair, people would say, “no it’s not, it’s brown”. If I would say I had brown hair, people would say, “no it’s not, it’s blonde”. -Undefinable hair colour.

I would do my mum’s Frost ‘n’ Tips for her and I would beg her to let me colour my hair so that I could have a definable hair colour, and she would never let me. She would tell me I had a beautiful natural colour and that once I started colouring it I would ruin the roots and destroy my natural colour.

About this time, temporary or wash-out hair colour came out. Since this was not permanent colour, and not bleaching, my mum permitted me to use that type of dye. I started experimenting with various shades from Auburn to Chestnut to Kohl black, but the auburns were my favourites.

From the time I was in Grade ten on, I have been experimenting with hair colour.

I had a boyfriend who once told me, “anyone can go blonde, not everyone can go darker”. He was trying to talk me out of highlights and trying to get me to go dark brown. I went dark brown and loved it.

When I was a kid and had blonde hair, I had blue eyes. When I went through puberty, my hair went darker and my eyes turned green. Blondes have blue eyes, brunettes have brown eyes, and redheads have green eyes. That’s how I thought as a kid. Doesn’t make sense, but that’s the way it was supposed to be to the child in me.

I have always identified with redheads in fiction:
Anne Shirley (of Green Gables)
Molly Ringwald’s characters in every John Hughes film
Wilma Flintstone
Jane Jetson
Josie and the Pussycats
Daphne Blake (Scooby-Doo)
Edward Cullen
The little red-haired girl that Charlie Brown was in love with
Ariel

When Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” came out, the media was making a big deal about how there had never been a red-haired Disney Princess. I went to go see it with my boyfriend and his friend (They were in their early twenties and wearing leather jackets – it was ironic). When we were in line for tickets, I said something along the line of FINALLY the redheads are being represented! My boyfriend’s friend turned to me and said, “uh, you know that you’re not a redhead, right?”

I may not have natural red hair – I don’t have the freckles, or the fair skin, but I’m a redhead inside!!