Back in the day, I changed my hair color as often as I changed my clothes…
THE STORY
…okay, maybe not that often, but you get the idea. No. I’m not a natural redhead. I come from a pack of redheads on my mom’s side; I have the right skin tone and eye color for it and lord knows I have the stereotypical personality for it. But alas, I was gifted with hair from my father’s side of the family. The only good thing about that is that I have about 150 pounds of hair on my head; it’s literally insanely thick. And the texture is pretty fabulous too. Do you know what? I never ever brush it, and I only need to wash it two or maybe three times a week. I wash it at night before bed, hit the cowlick in my bangs with a blow dryer, let the rest air dry and then wait ’til morning to see what it wants to do. It has a mind of it’s own and it’s best not to fight it. If I wake up and it’s got wave and curl to it, I neaten it up with a curling iron or curl it with the flat iron and it stays that way until the next wash. If it’s straight, I smooth it with the flat iron and again, that’s it until wash day. I’m not bragging; I just got lucky.
Here’s the down side; the color. It was this drab, mousy brown until I started coloring it when I was about 14. Yes, I’ve always done my color myself. And it has been all over the place. During my erstwhile youth it was either brown and heavily highlighted or completely blonde. There was a period of time where it was blonde with a black under layer, which was pretty sweet. I’ve also been known to throw in some teal and magenta streaks. The thing is blonde washes me out and brown bores me. Besides which, another gift from the paternal side is I started going gray in my early 30’s. And not that pretty gray; I’m talking wiry brillo pad-like hair that’s a wildly unflattering flat gray. If I didn’t color my hair it would be completely gray. I’m not playin’ friends. I mean a completely gray wild old lady ‘fro. Take a moment and picture that if you will.
During my Record Mart manager era I became obsessed with Belinda Carlisle’s red hair. Not Belinda a la the Go-Go’s, but solo artist Belinda. It was this beautiful bright auburn. That was it, red it was. Over the years I’ve typically went lighter red in summer, darker in the winter. I get bored, what can I say. About three years ago, I started the blonde ombre thing I’ve got going on now. Fortunately I love it, because it’s become kind of my trademark. Both in blog land and real life, the hair color has become my thang. People know me by my hair. Strangers compliment me in public; everyone from teenage girls (which I love, because when do teenagers compliment anything?) to elderly men seem to universally respond to it. So I guess I feel sort of obligated to keep it this way. The funny thing is though, it’s become so much a part of who I am, I don’t want to change it. I’ve worn the same top secret scent mixture for probably close to twenty years and people have told me that they associate that scent with me. I honestly don’t feel like myself without applying my scent concoction before starting my day. Now it’s the same with the hair. So if you catch a glimpse of bright red hair with blonde tips along with a whiff of some slightly chocolate/vanilla cookie/berry scent that you can’t quite identify, maybe I’m in the neighborhood…
THE OUTFIT
For some reason I’ve been in the mood for a maxi. Since it’s Spring (we’ll pretend it wasn’t 20 degrees this morning with snow on my car) I wanted to go with color, so out came my multi-color maxi skirt. I call it my “kaleidoscope” maxi. Doesn’t it look like what you saw when you peered into one of those cardboard kaleidoscopes that used to be around when people my age were little? In light of the fact is was indeed 20 degrees and the skirt has a thigh high slit, leggings were definitely a must. Since I just could not bear to force myself into a winter coat, I decided to layer the outerwear. Faux leather moto jacket over denim vest and I was plenty warm without feeling like I flashed back to Winter.
THE TIP
Even if layering is second nature to you, sometimes it’s easy to forget that layering outerwear is an option. Not only does it add an additional level of interest to your outfit, but it also provides additional warmth when Mother Nature forgets to take her mood stabilizer. The key is layering while still maintaining comfort; you don’t want bulk in the sleeves. The easiest way to pull this off is to use a vest. In this case, I layered a denim vest under the moto jacket. Other options include: layering the vest on top (denim, faux fur and cargo vests are all good choices), layering a shorter jacket over a longer jacket or using a blanket scarf or pashmina as a shawl over a lightweight jacket.
THE LINK UPS
Check out the weekly link ups I participate in for even more fashion and style ideas…
Skirt: JCPenney (Similar); Moto Jacket: JCPenney (Similar); Vest: Old Navy
