What It Is Like to Have Purple/Blue Hair

I have had purple/blue hair now for a few months, and here are some things I wish I’d known beforehand, or find interesting about it:

1)     To get funky color, any natural brown or darker color has to be bleached out. Just one bleach process (45 min of terrifying burning) will achieve a nice golden blond base which is fine for reds/oranges, but to get purple/blues, you have to bleach a second time, because hair has to be platinum, almost white, or it will mix with any yellow color left, and look crappy.

2)     Bleaching hair is a painful toxic process. No one should do it, really. It was so awful I cried in the salon, which is apparently common; the staff was all “We know, honey, hang in there, you can do it.” After, my scalp blistered and then scabbed for like a week. Never again.

3)     Platinum blonds are way tougher than you think. Marilyn Monroe was a bad ass – she never had roots – and this was before Keratin treatments and modern hair care. I can’t imagine.

4)     In the middle of it all, I wanted to stop but there was no stopping. But then the end results were worth it. Hair Life Lesson = to get to beauty, you might have to go through the shit. No mud, no lotus.

5)     Whatever your hair texture was before, it will be gone and replaced by straw.

6)     Blue/purple hair is shocking at first. You look in the mirror and you don’t look human, and then even the whole concept of hair seems weird and then you wonder who you are and what you did to yourself and why.

7)     Eventually you get used to the weird color, and then almost immediately you wonder how you ever did without. You will see pictures of you with your normal hair that you had all your life, and they will look weird to you, like something is just…off. Before I dyed, I read product reviews, and some mentioned “I haven’t seen my natural hair color in 13 years.” I thought they were crazy. Now I get it. I won’t do it (see #2) but I get it.

8)     You become part of the Funky Hair Color Secret Club, and exchange knowing smiles whenever you happen to pass by another member

9)     You also forget you have weird hair and then go somewhere outside SF or NYC or LA, and wonder why shop clerks and waiters are looking at you funny.

10)  The bleach part sucks but the dyes are not damaging (vegan, non-toxic) so color away! Sure, there’s roots now but I finally got the courage to slap on three different colors myself and it came out great.

11)  The fading part is so much fun. My hair is literally a different color every time I shampoo. Ah, the mystery, the excitement, the magic!

12)  When the wind blows my hair in my face, I see the world through a veil of gorgeous color. What possibilities there are in this beautiful world!

13) I wanted purple hair for years, and I'm glad I went for it. It's been worth it. Follow your dreams! Even the smaller, silly ones!