If hair could talk ….
Always thoughtful, @simplysarahnz was talking about how hair is, of course, never really about the hair.
I reflected that I’ve had a few styles over the years each a reflection of who I wanted to project outwardly.
One of the first things I did, when I left home and went to university was to cut my very long dark hair into a short bob. The hairdresser was concerned, “ Are you absolutely sure?” I couldn’t have been surer. I felt free and my bouncy light hair was a joy.
Moving through my twenties and starting off in my first professional jobs, I opted for short regularly maintained cuts. By this stage my silvers were coming in thick and fast so the regular dyeing was a serious undertaking! If my hair could have talked it would be saying something about me being feminine( but not girly), serious but not sombre, and independent but not eccentric.
Moving into my late twenties and through my thirties, I mostly had a longish bob - feminine, quite mumsy, nothing too adventurous. My hair, if it could talk was saying that I did not have time for such trivial matters, engaged as I was with motherly cares and responsibilities.
Moving through my forties, I increasingly did not connect with who I felt I was on the inside, and who the mirror was reflecting back at me. Had I ever looked in a mirror in my thirties I wondered. I had enough of covering up the roots. I’d dye my hair and a week later, the silvering crown was popping through.
I decided somewhat on a whim to go blonde, thinking that at least the roots would be more camouflaged, but boy had I underestimated the toll that takes on the condition!
If my hair could have voiced the identity it was projecting- I think it was screaming for help! Who is this middle aged woman I’m not ready to become?! My kids were babies just yesterday, right?!
And now, more than two years after ditching the dye, what would my hair say?
This who I am. A middle aged woman, enjoying this stage of life and the self-awareness and self-confidence that comes with that. There’s strength in simplicity, power in self-acceptance.
What does your hair say about you?
#itsneverjusthair
#hairstyle
#hairjourney