I’ve had blonde hair my whole life, so when I walked into the hair salon a couple weeks ago and they asked what I wanted, I thought I’d try a different look. I decided to (gasp) darken my hair to auburn, and I’m totally loving it. Mixed reviews from others, though… 1. My daughter cried when she saw it (“we don’t look anything alike any more!”) – but later, when she was watching Hannah Montana, she commented that it kinda looked like Miley Cirus’ hair color, and she was remarkably better with it. 2. My husband gave me that look that John Travolta gave Olivia Newton John when she walked out at the end of Grease – in the hot black spandex and big hair. Later he tells me that he can’t shake this feeling that he’s doing something very wrong checking out a redhead so appreciatively. 3. My son wouldn’t even LOOK at me. He let me hold him on my lap for 45 minutes, but wouldn’t allow me to pull him back so that he’d have to look at me. I had this terrible feeling that I just inadvertently undid the magic of attachment through adoption. But luckily he was trauma-free after that initial response. 4. My mother-in-law took a long look and said, “Oh, Tamara, why did you do that? You were so pretty as a blond!” Sigh. (Later she reminded me that she still loves me on the inside, so it’s okay what I look like on the outside.) 5. I still continue to rack up blank stares from my friends when I start up a conversation with them, out and about. How a shade of hair color can make you nearly unrecognizable is beyond me, but this has been my experience. 6. One friend told me I looked smarter. Who knew that’s all it took???? Now to go about updating my avatar in my active virtual life…and on the blog!
