Bringing back brunette: the end result with a photo!

So as promised to my mom and to the satisfaction of many as well as myself, I shut down the blonde project. That experience is finito. I went into a salon and wanted to get my hair back to brunette. The responsible stylist and colorist DawnMarie at New Wave Salon in Englewood, Florida (my new home town by the way) assessed my needs and wants and told me to come back at the end of the week and warned me it may take a while to recover the normalcy of my brunette self. As normal as that is. We discussed that she would get all the brunette out.

On Thursday, I walked back through the same door and selected a few pictures that would give me a super fresh start at being the brunette that I am. I realized that a cut would be in order. I wanted to chop off any last dead ends and just START OVER. So what you see is the end product! DawnMarie got me to a very fresh easy to style (well, relatively easy....it took me 45 minutes to do it myself, but the more I do it, that number should be shaved off by at least 12 minutes I hope!). I am really happy with it! I think that maybe, down the road, I may get highlights. DOWN.THE.ROAD!!! I am going to savor the dark dark brown. I am taking very good care of this healthy crop of hair this time around. I have a great shine agent (and yes, I got it at Walmart: Rusk works pretty well, though!).

If I can achieve my own blow out looking something like this, I will be quite satisfied. Until summer humidity in Florida.

I'm done with blonde

I am done with blonde. DONE.WITH.BLONDE...you know, in case you didn't hear me the first time. The roots were too insane. Not emulating the whole Desperately Seeking Susan look at all. That's what I was shooting for, you know. It did NOT quite work out that way. So, in an effort to get honest with myself, I found a nice and blunt woman originally from New York (but settled in Florida) to help me find me self via my hair color. I told her that a new hair style to start over wouldn't hurt either.

So I made an appointment with Dawn Marie at New Wave Salon in Englewood, Florida (see other blog posting for information on my new neighborhood and the whole real estate deal). She brought my hair back to a very very dark brown (how easily I forgot where I came from) and chopped off a few inches when I showed her a dramatically short hair cut in a look book. She, in three short hours, transformed me into a brunette with a fairly easy hair cut. Right now,with the frizz, there is a bit to be desired, but with a blow dryer and de-frizz stuff, I think I will be a-ok. It feels softer and I am back to being a brunette.

So I was thinking, some highlights would be really cool. Just a few blonde streaks. Just kidding.

Bringing brunette back: follow up on the blonde experiment

So, for any one who remembers that I completely did a color overhaul on my hair in late October in North Carolina, I promised that I would follow my experience here on my blog. In mid January, I chopped 3 inches of my blonde locks. Yeah, I know hair is "dead" anyway, but honestly my blonde hair is more yellow than anything and I feel like its dry and split and unhealthy. And fake. Yuck. I am glad that I did this experiment. For sure. I loved the beginning of feeling different and slightly reinventing myself.

I have promised Jeff that I would not further process my hair, not even with a demi whatever they call it to get it back to brown. I am going to have to bring brunette back au natural. What we agreed on is that I can get it cut as often as I need to help this hideous growing out process. Having wavy/curly hair will help make the drastic roots a little bit more subtle. Subtle like me. Which we know, isn't really all too subtle most of the time.

What I realized and what I was so very grateful that I realized is that I LOVE the old Alyssa's hair. I am really happy with the brunette me. The REAL me. That took a long time to really experience. And it took a blonde overhauling. Who knew?

My roots exposed!

As the blonde experiment continues, I feel a bit better knowing blondes don't necessarily have more fun. There is definitely the argument of "how would you know since you aren't even looking for fun?".... That is very true. I am not. I am not actively out there on a sociology poll at a nightclub, checking out and keeping tabs on who's flirting with me and who's flirting with the brunettes. When I got attention from men as a brunette, I wasn't even necessarily clubbing. Sometimes, I was at a coffee shop, at the grocery store, or even at meetings...or even at work. So, really, I guess I haven't found the blonde component making a difference in my life. Either way, it's a bit more fun for me to just have something different, something fun to work with. My husband gets to be with a blonde for a while. And I'll let him. I'm having just as much fun!

the Blonde Experiment

I finally changed around some of the photos that have been posted since day one of this blog/site. So, in making some big changes with my life in the last 12 months (getting married, not working, taking off in a RV, etc), I thought I would just follow through and add a minor dash of "re-inventing myself". Just for kicks. So bring on "Project Blonde".

So by this time, if you have looked over the new photos, you will have seen the new hair color. I will try to provide more photos. I imagine it will shock my mother and sister the most. After all, I have been thinking about "blonde-ing" myself before the wedding in Chapel Hill, NC. They told me how beautiful my natural brown hair is, how lucky I am that I don't have to color it since I am not graying or anything, etc. etc. etc. Jeff stayed quiet, but I am sure he had to bite his tongue numerous times! I have always wondered what it would be like to be a blonde. Now that I don't really care about the social ramifications of it and having nothing socially to gain from this experiment, I am more curious about the "blonde treatment" I may receive.

I had my hair done on Tuesday @ a nice salon (Cut'N up) in Carolina Beach. I saw the walk-ins welcome sign and stepped inside. I asked if someone could make me blonde. The first young woman I talked to told me she could help me. Her name is Tori and she is blonde (but not really, if you know what I mean. Kind of like me). I had a lot of faith in her. I brought in some photos to help out her creative process. She promised me she would make me blonde. Two hours later, I was very blonde, two shades of blonde and not a strand of brunette. Tori delivered as promised and........HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!! I was so taken back. I.AM.BLONDE. Did you hear me?? BLONDE!! I went back to the RV. Jeff loved it! In the next 24 hours, I think I went through temporary "buyer's remorse" if such a feeling could be felt with hair color. I am getting used to it, but it's Friday now and this morning I was still somewhat stunned when I went to the bathroom vanity to brush my teeth and figure out something to do with my BLONDE! hair. I think, no, I KNOW, this will not last. I will get it back to brunette once I start showing really dreadful roots. Maybe in a few months. Maybe never since I promised Jeff I would just let this grow out naturally. Hmmm....

As far as living differently as a blonde, I don't think anything is different. I find people are generally good and helpful and want to help me out when I ask for it. I don't find people are whistling, helping, flirting in my direction anymore often than before.

We will see how this all pans out. Stay tuned.