Blue hair blues
Following 'Experience New Things' earlier this month on the lawns, the newest thing I have recently experienced was agreeing to be a hair-colouring model for my hairdresser.
I got a text one night and all that I registered were the words "hair competition", "blue hair" and "free." I'd already dyed my hair pink before and I was starting to think that maybe after a year it was time to jazz things up. The reference photos that were sent through were gradients of a pastel, icy blue. I replied with an enthusiastic "YES!" before any of the bubbling doubt took over.
The process was broken up across three weeks to achieve the colour my hairdresser wanted. Long story short, I went from pink hair to Danaerys' platinum blonde Game of thrones hair, to not the hair I thought I was going to get. "So, I've changed my mind," was what my hairdresser said to me on the scheduled final day of colouring.
The reference photos were ditched and the plan was out the window. Instead of my icy blue hair I was dreaming of, I was getting ocean blue with rainbow tips. I would've been lying if I didn't say I was disappointed but I still agreed to go ahead with it all. I'd come this far, it was only fair to see what the end result would become. Nerves still sat in the pit of my stomach but I kept telling myself, "It's okay. The makeup and the fashion styling will make me like it even more."
Spoiler alert-- it did not.
The clothes were not to my taste at all. My breath hitched when I looked in the mirror after the makeup artist finished her part. Thick black eyeliner drowning both my eyelids, fluffy eyelashes as big as my nose, lipstick the purple of an eggplant-- it was the stuff of my nightmares. I was waiting for what my hairdresser had to say, worried that she'd hate it as much as I did. To my surprise, she exclaimed, "OMG it's perfect!" Immediately, my entire mood changed. Both the hairdresser and makeup artist were ecstatic with the final product. It was exactly as she wanted it and so I was happy for her. This was her competition after all. I was just the canvas. We went ahead with the photoshoot and although I was stiff at first, after a little while I loosened up. We were laughing at all the bad photos, praising the good ones and just being silly overall.
Looking back on it all, as disappointed as I was that I didn't look as I'd envisioned, I'm convinced that I would've regretted not accepting the chance to try something different more than what it turned out to be. I just know that I would've been left wondering what it could've been like if I didn't experience it myself. And in the end, my new hair colour has totally grown on me now.
If there's anything I have taken away from this whole experience, it's that trying new things don't always turn out the way it might look in my head but it's better to find out what it is than be left in regret, wondering what I could've opened myself up to if I was brave enough to take the first step.