In Livin’Color

I first colored my hair while in the fag end of my 30s. It wasn’t to cover up the greys (which am convinced are a sum total of the number of years I’ve been married and how old TO is) but to see if a different color was my thing. It was. And while my choices haven’t set the world on fire, it’s been fun to have a different look from time to time. Now comes the part where children see what their parents are doing and demand the same rights just because! TO’s no different in this regard either.

He asked to color his hair and on being told no, asked us quite seriously why not. The usual talk of chemicals, his age etc being cited as a reason; he asked how we were so sure that it *would* be harmful for him. And this is when Red called an audible and agreed to let the coloring of the hair proceed because A) the final exam grades hadn’t been all that bad B) we wanted TO to have some autonomy from time to time rather than tell him how things might play out in his life and finally C) if it all went down the drain, we could always shave his head and let it grow it back over the summer.

This is how it all went down: existing hair was cut into semi-mohawk/flat top in the style of Shimron Hetmyer followed by bleaching (not a huge fan as it turned out) and dyeing. After the dyeing it was a few days of strutting like a peacock till an encounter with a non-color-protect shampoo turned blue into a deep green. Surf, sun and sand bleached said green till it became light mintish; almost white at first glance. Finally, in deference to the school rules about grooming, a buzz cut ensued which replaced all the green. For now.

Plans are currently on for which color will have the spotlight on it for next year’s summer break. Ye Gods.