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Not me, but the hair is pretty fabulous. | Source: ShutterStock
Okay, confession time: I am a natural blonde. I know, I know… shocking, right? Probably not so much if you don’t know me, but for most of the people in my life, picturing me with blonde hair is extremely difficult. This is probably because I started dying my hair dark brown when I was in high school – and once I started, I never went back to my natural color.
When I made the switch to being a brunette, I really didn’t think it was going to be that big of a deal. I figured most people probably wouldn’t even notice – but man, was I wrong. The day after the big change, everyone I had ever known bombarded me with questions and comments: “OMG, did you dye your hair?” “Why would you get rid of your blonde hair?! It was so beautiful!”
To this day, I still get similar questions when people find out about my real hair color. Everyone wants to know why a natural blonde would go darker. I still have no idea why anyone is so fascinated with this. What’s the big freakin’ deal about blonde hair? And why is it so weird to everyone around me that I decided to go brunette? Here’s my story about why I changed my hair color:
Me as a blonde with my brother, before my hair grew longer.
As a baby, I had perfect hair – at least, in my opinion. It was light blonde, long and curled in exactly the right places. When I look back at pictures of my childhood, I get super jealous of my younger self. And if my hair had stayed exactly that way, I probably would have never touched it. But it didn’t.
I really used to be extremely proud of my blonde strands. All of my dark-haired cousins would brush it and gush about how lucky I was. But slowly, my hair started to change. As I got older, it got darker… and by eighth grade, I was officially a “dark blonde.” I mourned the loss of my lighter hair (I know, it’s ridiculous). My mother wouldn’t let me dye it, so I spent all of my summer days laying on the beach, fanning my hair out around my head so that it would get maximum sun exposure. I squeezed lemons into my hair, I tried bottles of spray that promised blonde highlights… basically anything I thought would be a natural way of lightening up my head.
After a few years of this, plus a ton of straightner and blow-drier use, my hair was destroyed. It was fried, dry and full of split ends. Plus, all of those lightening techniques had only given me these weird dark roots that made me look like I had a bad dye job.
Who cares about her bod?! I wanted her hair!! | Source: WENN.com
Around that same time, I started dating a guy who loved brunettes and I started to get major hair envy. I noticed that my entire Italian family had dark strands and dark eyes. Why was I the only one with blonde hair and blue eyes? I wanted to look like the Italian I was! I would check out pictures of celebrities like Adriana Lima and stare longingly at her long dark tresses. I wanted that!
Finally, finally, my mom caved in and agreed to let me dye my hair. The day of my appointment, I skipped into the salon, nervous but excited. I told my hairdresser I wanted to go dark, like really dark. She said, “Wow. I usually only get girls coming in here to go lighter. But okay.”
The second I saw my new brunette head, I knew I was never going to go back to blonde. I love how being a brunette looks on me – it sets off my blue eyes and makes my hair look a thousand times healthier and shinier. Every time I go in to get my color touched up, I leave feeling more confident. I know you’re supposed to learn to feel comfortable with what you were born with; but for me, being a brunette has made me feel more like myself then being blonde ever did.
Do you dye your hair? What’s your favorite hair color? Would you love to be a blonde? Tell us about it in the comments!
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I think that most girls with brown hair want blonde, and blonde want brown. Kind of like curly haired girls want straight. I dyed my hair from blonde to dark red-brown auburn about 5 months ago and I absolutley love it.
I have the same problem as you, I’m dying my hair brown this Saturday D: I found my hair was getting duller and duller to the point that no matter what I did with it, my hair would look flat :/ plus, I want a change and im entering sixth form, so it’s compulsory to do something a little crazy
I was born with natural brown hair that was a little dull, which was the color of my dads hair. As i got older, my hair started turning a copper shade and now it’s almost fully red, which is my mom’s hair color. Everyone tells me that I have such pretty curly red hair, but I honestly don’t like it very much. I want to dye my hair half brown and have lighter red, but my mom would never let me do that.
i have brown hair, it depends sometimes its lighter others its darker. every since i was a baby i had Ringlets. when i was little my hair looked like it came up to my shoulders but when it was wet it came the whole way down to my lower back.
I get comments on it all the time when i leave my hair down. They’ll ask if i curl my hair and when i tell them tht its natural they respond,’Wow! I love you hair! i wish i had your hair!!!’ and i always respond, ‘Thank you but no you dont, it gets tangled so easily, It gets extremly puffy so puffy its like an afro even with out humidity, then with humidity i have to keep it up in a ponytail.’ I have to put certain products on it to keep my curls perfect. i love braiding my air but it gets very knotted when i braid it so i dont do it often.
I really want to lighten my hair but my mom says no because when i was in 5th grade i put Very Bright Pink streaks in it and i loved it until i saw how it actually turnd out, i hated it and then i ended up bawling. Now my mom wont let me change the color, even if it is a shade lighter than my normal color.
I was born with the most beautiful blonde hair but as i got older it became “dirty blonde” I hate that word “dirty blonde” its made me think i had dirty hair! then one day my mom finally let me dye the dirty blonde out of my hair! now i have pretty light blonde hair! no more dirty!
I’m naturally dirty blonde and I bleach it to be lighter; my hair started turning dark when I was about 8 so I dyed it blonde, the red, dark brawn, blue, black, purple, red, orange and now finally I’m back to blonde. In the article sh says ‘I don’t get why blonde hair is such a big deal’ or something to the nature. Probably because natural blondness is a very exclusive club that only 11% of the world gets to be in.
I was born with light blonde hair, but as I got older (Twelve or so) it got darker. Dirty blonde. So I currently dye my hair black, because I hated the color. I want to dye it some crazy color, like white and green or white and blue but my mother won’t go for that. So I’m kind of wanting my natural color back…
I’ve died my hair too. I get so bored of my hair sometimes and I just have to change it up, but I always let it grow back so it doesn’t get really damaged. Dying your hair is not a big deal at all…..people way over-exaggerate I think!
ok so im light brown hair and i wanna be blond! i have drak brown eyes that everyone always compliments me on but i wanna be blond in the summer my hair looks like it has blond igh lights but its from the sun everyone tells me they love my hair to! but i wanna be blond! blonds are prettier than me! why cant i be blond? my mom wont let me dye it…..but i wanna be blond ill be in high school next year! ive never had a boyfriend! i dont even think boys like me
what can i do? please give me advice!
no offense but if your still living under the “blondes are prettier then brunettes” stereotype from the 70s and 80s then you REALLY have to open your mind…my very close friend, who is, like me, going into high school next school year, is a PLATINUM blonde with stick-straight hair, and that’s her natural hair color and texture! her hair is REALLY soft because she’s never curled or straightened it (since it’s so straight already!) and she’s never dyed it…yet she’s never had a boyfriend in her LIFE and she’s so proud and confident that she doesn’t CARE, sure she romatisizes about the perfect boyfriend and crushes on guys but she’s not DESPERATE….that’s the one thing that turns off a guy, desperation and lack of confidence…as soon as you start believing that you at beautiful and perfect the way you are the easier it will be for others (esp. guys) to see you as this beautiful person…just think about beautiful dark-haired celebrities such as Anne Hathaway, Selena gomez, Katy perry, emma Watson, Megan fox, etc.
I’m pretty sure that nobody meant that blondes are prettier. I think their just saying that FOR THEM blonde is prettier. Or not.
My hair is naturally red and I dyed it brown. People called me crazy for getting rid of such beautiful long red hair. I was honestly just so tired of everyone telling me how beautiful it was so I cut it off and dyed it! But man once I dyed it, I regretted it! I missed my old hair. And it’s just now starting to look normal again. :/
When I was younger I had white blonde hair and then when I got older it began to turn dark. My roots even look like I’ve already dyed my hair and I haven’t! I am 14 and going into high school. Would a fresh start be a good idea? My eyebrows are like a mixture between dark gray and dirty blonde. I know my hair will begin to look that way at some point.
I’m not a fan of blonde hair, even though I am blonde. I wanted to get it darker or atleast get some lowlights, but my mom only let me get LIGHTER BLONDE highlights. Sure their cute, but I REALLY want dark red hair or a dark browned. Maybe my mom will let me temporary dye it for my b-day
First off, I take offense to “What’s the big freakin’ deal about blonde hair?” My school is mostly brunettes. Blondes are the minority and I feel like guys see it as less attractive. Plus dealing with dumb blonde jokes? Its so whatever. See, I was born with light blonde hair and as I started to get older it got darker, so I died it dark. I was in 3rd grade. I HATED IT! Now, I have to keep dying my hair light so that it can be the way I love it. I completely regret dying it that first time. Now when I dye it my natural red tint comes out and its a light strawberry blonde. Even though its no longer natural, I love having blonde hair.
I’m a natural blonde to and im having the same issue! my hair is getting darker as i get older. in fact its turning like a carmel color. i’ve considered asking my mom to dye my hair sense nothing is bringing back my blonde hair but i’ve learned to live with it/ i’m starting to embrace it and like how its a different color then everybody elses and how it reflects my personality.
I used to have dark brown hair. But I started to dye my hair black because it makes my eyes pop more.I LOVE my black hair.!
When i was born i was born with a really light blonde, almost white. And as i got older it slowly started turning darker and darker. And now my hair is dirty blonde and looks horrible! Im thinking about dying it dark brown but im not sure. What do you guys think?
I’m naturally medium/dark brunette and I’ve recently started dying my hair red. I love it. I’ve always had red highlights in my hair, but now this just feel great!
I totally feel like I was born to have red hair, but i’m naturally blonde-ish.. it definitely isn’t a pretty blonde…
I’m a natural brunette but I’ve been dying my hair dark red for years and everyone thinks I’m a natural redhead! Can’t see myself going back to those brown roots of mine
I am naturally dirty blonde and dyed my hair dark in college during a phase. Everyone SAID it looked good at the time but I really missed having blonde hair. I wouldn’t do it again but I’m glad I tried it.