To go red or not to go red, that is the question...

I am a brunette but up until this past October, I've been coloring my hair red. I had been doing it since 9th grade! Yes, I know that's an awfully long time and I am sure that my hair is a lot unhealthier now because of it. Unfortunately, it is very thin and dry and I always seem to have split ends. But red hair made me happy and isn't that what life is all about? Why not change the things that make you unhappy?

I remember going back home to the states the summer after 8th grade and feeling slightly nervous about starting high school in the fall. I wanted to return to school with a completely new look. I wanted to no longer wear glasses and I wanted cool and different hair. Presto, I got that!

I went to the eye doctor with my mom and spent the next two hours in their figuring out how to put contacts in my eyes. That was quite the traumatic experience. After that we headed to the salon. I knew exactly what I wanted-red hair! Surprisingly, there are a lot of reds out there. Picking a red that wasn't too orange or too dark was a little dilemma but not impossible. After a little deliberation on my part, I got the red hair that I'd been craving forever. I was instantly in love with it! It was especially beautiful in the sun. Oh wow, this is making me nostalgic... : (

Well, as you can tell, I miss my red hair. A lot! I really miss how unique it made me feel. I mean, I certainly don't run around bumping into red heads all the time. Now when I do, I'm just jealous of them and their awesome radiant hair. I chose to take a break from coloring my hair for a few reasons. I wanted to give my hair a rest and let it gain some of it's youthful glow again. I wanted to stop spending so much money every month getting it colored. I also was curious as to what my original color was after all these years of dyeing it. Sadly, I had kind of forgotten. Many of my friends and sister encouraged me to get back to my 'roots' too.

So, there are obviously plenty of positives to stop coloring my hair. But do I really want to? Will this brown hair make me happy? I don't know yet. I'm still blow drying and flat-ironing my hair, so I am not going completely natural with it. There was even a time in October when I seriously thought about going BLOND! I got a lot of feedback about it but in the end I figured that a long blond wig would suffice for Halloween. I was Lady Gaga. I do really enjoy being a blond and just on Saturday night, I enjoyed wearing another blond wig. Do blonds really have more fun? Hmm...

Now that I live in LA, I feel like I'm surrounded by people changing themselves. It seems to me that anything and everything can be physically altered if you were willing to pay a price. People are getting plastic surgery to tighten this or that, tummy tucks, breast lifts and enlargements, chemical peels, Botox, waxing galore, bedazzling their nether regions, (Yep, Swati told me about this last night) fake tanning and of course coloring their hair. I wouldn't be human if I didn't admit that I've thought about doing a few of these things. Definitely bedazzling my lady parts is a top priority..NOT! Wow! Why would anyone ever do that?? It's just plain odd to me. No, but in all seriousness, I have considered a few things. But then am I still being 'me'? Will that make me just another fake Californian girl? Or did I already enter that world when I started dying my hair years ago? I don't know.

So, what to do.. To go red or not to go red, that is the question. I guess time will tell. For now, I'll keep using my fancy oil and leave in conditioner to save my hair from the afterlife.