As I was driving back from getting a haircut today, I was thinking about writing this post. It’s not really about art which is what I usually talk about here in the studio journal, but in a way it is about color and I think that makes it relevant.

My hair started going white when I was about 30. My dad has beautiful curly white hair and has for decades. (He looks like Santa Claus; I am not even kidding.) It was inevitable that mine would end up white and when I was about 40 I started to kind of hate it. Not because it was white but because it was just boring. I absolutely admire people who embrace the grey and let theirs go beautifully silver, but that just didn’t feel like me. I felt blah.

I am an artist. I love color. I almost never wear black or white, but my glasses are bright orange or turquoise depending on the day. I do not own any beige furniture. My hair has always been a mediumish boring shade of brown. (My mom’s a redhead and I am still mad the genes didn’t go my way on that one.) And in my 40s my hair was then a mediumish brown grey blah. So I asked my hairdresser to color it. She’s been doing my hair for about 18 years and I love her to pieces. So I just let her do some magic. Don’t get rid of the grey just make it more interesting.

I’m sure some of you are thinking, ok Becka so you dyed your hair. What’s the big deal? I’ve never done anything to drastically change my hair before. As a kid I had long Little House on the Prairie braids. When I was in highschool I cut a blunt bob. (That’s my senior picture on the right.) The fashion was long spiral perms and huge curled bangs, so I was not on trend even a little bit. It’s thick and straight. I never colored it, permed it, or even cut it in anything remotely interesting. Adding color was a big deal to me and I second guessed myself a little bit. Would it feel too fake and would I hate it? Nope. Loved it.

It would be a very boring story if it ended there. About a year ago, I sat down for a haircut and my hairdresser says “I have a brand new color and I don’t really know how your hair will react to it and I am curious to try it. What do you think?” I am pretty easy going about things like this generally and she knows it so I said, “Sure! Let’s experiment.”

Friends, my hair was purple. Not burgundy or maroon or reddish. Streaks the color of grape candy.

When I first saw it in the mirror I was like OMG I love it. And then I immediately started to doubt myself. Was I a purple hair kind of girl? Did it look silly on someone who was 50? I felt self conscious and within half a minute I had kind of settled on “It will grow out”. I talked myself out of it.

I LOVE wild colored hair on other people. Love it. It’s art and it’s fun and it’s powerful. Know that if I’ve seen your neon green or pink stripes, I have thought you are a rock star. And that’s kind of the point of my post. I hardly ever tell someone, “wow I like your hair” but I should do it more.

So the next week, I had purple streaked hair and a bunch of classes to teach in person and I was still feeling a little unsure of the whole look. But then some random people out in the world made a couple of simple comments. One student picking out threads said “ooh I love this color. It matches your purple hair”. And someone else said, “Your hair is so cool. I love how the color is so subtle but still fun.”

And those were really just a tiny something said in a moment to a stranger, but they changed my whole attitude. It was like by hearing them say “I love the color” then I could say “I do too.” Now I love the purple. I look forward to haircut day when we “re-purple”. The streaks fade and kind of blend in over a month or two so if you see me out in the world, they won’t always be as vibrant. But I know they are there.

I didn’t pick purple. Purple is not even close to my favorite color. But something about purple and kind strangers was exactly what I needed. And that’s why I’m writing this post. Because you never know when saying something as simple as “I love your hair” is exactly the thing that someone needs to hear.