I dyed my hair today. Really dark, dark red. Bright, dark red. I didn't dye it permanently, but I did indeed dye it.
Brings to mind another list, not a scent list, but a hair list. I feel strange about having hair be such an important part of my life, but it really defines me, and when I alter it dramatically, it means something.
Okay. Here goes:
from long to short
Freshman year of high school. In an attempt to fit in, move from the safety of my eighth grade clique into the grossly overrated high school world, I chop ten inches off my hair. It grows for the rest of my high school life.
from curly to straight
Daniel Peck tells me my hair is better straight. I straighten it EVERY NIGHT.
from straight to curly
Freshman year of college. No more straightening. I rebel against the magnetism of DP.
from long to short
Summer after sophomore year. I'm really lonely for JR, my hair becomes really caging and I want to break free... but I can't. I chop off my hair and feel really horrible about it. It goes from the middle of my back to about shoulder length.
from blonde to red
Back at SC, I hook up with a dark stranger (MS) and JR freaks out. I dye my hair the next day. RED.
from medium to short short
MS comes to visit. YOW. I have no clue how to feel. In a fit, I cut all of my hair off in one chop, chin length. I'm modeling it after a purple wig. I wish I had that purple wig still. It was a good one. My hair is super short. and RED.
from red and curly to blonde and totally straight and messed up
I start in again with JR. Decide to go blonde again, and in the process, remove all curl from my hair. I am bobbed, blonde, and straight. There's nothing I can do about it.
from short to shorter
Summer in Boston. I am Starting Over. I cut my hair two inches a month until it's totally short. An inch long all over.
blonde to red
Today, I dye my hair red again. I feel Indie and sort of... weird.
So that's the history. Sadly, it was more for me than for you. But my hair gives me an outlet. I don't pierce much, and I don't tattoo. I dye, I cut, I straighten. It's the way I deal. What a strange way, but so definitive and visible. You will know me by my turned ankle and my red hair.
I wrote Nathan Gadd an email yesterday in hopes of getting some clues on how to be patient. Awaiting response.
