Thursday, May 8

the dreads

When pregnant, I made the decision that as soon as the baby was born, my hair was going to change. Something new, something I always wanted, one of those hair changes that just wouldn't go over fantastically at work considering what I did for a living when I made it to the baby-makin' stage of life.

Being paid to be a square squashed my want of tangible reminders of rebellion. I'm such a wuss.

Anyhow, when with child, dreads seemed like the logical choice. I had some dreads when I was 19 done on the library lawn by this punk guy named something original like Dan the Punk or Punk Joe. Whatever. He worked for smokes and it was fun sitting in the early summertime sun having my hair teased, backcombed, mussed up, and knotted beyond all recognition.

Of course maintaining it was impossible for a teen who loved bathing and spritzing as much as the next fluffyhead gal, so the dreads didn't last long, save for one that didn't respond to my daily assaults of deep conditioner. I kept it as long as possible. I called him Ted.

Each time I think of dreads, I think of The Doughboys and how much I wanted John Kastner's hair. For that matter, I wanted Slash's too but I digress.

Logical dreads were not to be had when the child sprung from my loins. Mostly because I had no time to have them done with a bambino hanging of my breast and PPD eating away at my initiative. And the dreads that formed naturally from the nose-dive in hormones were sparse (no seriously, I had two naturally knotted ones in my hair that made a hairdresser cry out in horror - not that it's hard to make a hairdresser cry in horror over my head). So I moved to the next logical, lazy, cabin-fevered choice - home hair dye.

I dreamed of having bright blue or cherry red hair. Off to the store I went, buying the best colours I could find. It is sheer luck that I live across from one of those hair salon stores that is actually open to the public.

Tubes and tubs of crayon worthy colours were bagged, bought, and dragged home. Test patches were done in hopes that I didn't need to use a peroxide treatment first.

Yah, I have medium dark brown hair that takes colour well but not that well. Blue made dick all difference and red just faded fast. Big sigh for the girl to lazy to peroxide her hair. That's something for the salon ($) and meant high-maintenance - something I wasn't prepared to do. I gave up.

The bag of dyes went to the back of the closet.

That was over two years ago and I tripped across the bottles and tubs this past weekend. Seemed kind of fitting that I started thinking about the hair again just when I started feeling that way again.

Identity theft by triads makes one want to exert their voice in the most strangest ways possible. I'm thinking a salon visit is in order.

In more positive news, I changed a light bulb yesterday. Not a high-skill task unless you are a punch-line to a joke, but to my pre-schooler (wah? she was a toddler last week) - to my child performing this chore garnered a "wow" with a deep suck in of breath (totally genuine). She then exclaimed "Mommy, you made it work". Yes my little Tim Gunn, I made it work. A little beam of pride burst from my chest and parted the dark clouds. I love this kid so freakin' much.

20 comments:

Amy Urquhart said...

Ted the Dread.

Snort.

Kyla said...

Are you going to have cherry red hair for BlogHer?

And on the praise of children subject...I am constantly getting lost when BubTar and I go places and then I have to call Josh for help fixing it. Anyway, one time I fixed it without calling anyone and BubTar was all "Mom! You did it! You got us lost and then you fixed it all on your own. The very first time you ever did that." He was so excited for me that although it felt like I was being patronized by a 5 year old, I still felt a little proud of myself, too. LOL.

Chicky Chicky Baby said...

You would rock the blue hair! I can't imagine the dreads (always thought they just looked dirty but I'm a bathing freak) but I would love to see you in a totally funky color.

kittenpie said...

Great how they can just make your day like that, hey?

And I keep wondering about cherry red hair... but given my pink skin tone, I wonder if I wouldn't just look like a strawberry sundae in the end, which, not what I'm after. I have had cheery red streaks at one point, but they didn't show up enough to bother keeping up, and the white blond chunks at the front that I had for a year were, well, a)maybe not conducive to the job hunt I started at the end of that year and b)a pain in the ass to maintain. So now - meh. Boring. I did chop my hair short again after pumpkinpie was born though, once I stopped being so big I'd look like a bowling pin with the resulting smaller head.

Mayberry said...

Yeah, try out some colors now and pick the best one for BlogHer!

Mandy said...

I've done a few wild colours in my time. I love it. Reds are hard to keep in though, even with peroxide. You gotta keep re-dying.

My mom asked me when purple was coming. I guess I've finally broken in my parents and it's only been 36 years!

karengreeners said...

my exboyfriend had dreads, though they were not that nice. my sister, who has beautiful, thick wavy hair, rocked awesome dreads for years.
for you, i see bright red. fun!

Jess said...

You will look AWESOME!

(NOT that you don't already, but YEAH! I can see the bright-hair girl personality peeping out!)

Heather said...

I've never been brave enough to even do color. Dreads sound intriguing though. I do have long hair...

Way to fix the light!

Don Mills Diva said...

Cheery red would be awesome.

I'm not a fan of dreads on white people. I spent lost of time traveling and on the backpacker trail and in every hostel in every country there was always some prentitous hippie Dutch guy with long blonde dreads eating his banana pancakes, reading his Lonely Planet and bragging about how he bargained down all the locals so he could live on $2 a day. ICK.

SciFi Dad said...

I once had burgundy hair. I just used Blondissima to lighten before I coloured.

(There, now I'm giving haircolouring tips. My emasculation is complete.)

Janet said...

I kind of love that you named your dread.

There is a young woman that I often see in my neighbourhood who rocks a full head of waist-long dreads. Every time I see her, though, I imagine how she will look with a shaved head for I presume that's the only way to rid onself of authetic dreads in the end. Hair dye? Much easier.

ms blue said...

I had a roommate that had dreads. His bathrobe was kind of smelly so I lost all appreciation for the hotness of dreads.

What about the pink streaks? If you want help, I can create some magic with your hair. There's nothing like gossiping with wine while changing your friend's hair colour.

Ali said...

i don't get dreads. they just seem a little dirty to me. i'd go for crazy color! you could totally pull something like that off! ;)

Run ANC said...

I'm feeling the need to do something drastic to my hair, and soon. I've had the same haircut for at least ten years. And the same colour. I hope I don't f*&k it up royally though. (Is it ok to swear here? I am really protective of my hair..)

NotSoSage said...

Oh, John. It's been so long. What does your head look like now?

Ahem. Oh, hai.

Uh...I'm partial to cherry red myself, and with your colouring. Yowza! Besides, it's easier to maintain. Blue kind of fades to grey-green relatively quickly...

Want pics!

MsPicketToYou said...

So I did dreads in college (and when I also went to Dead shows in a real VW bus) but the truth is I still looked like a preppy kid from Connecticut -- but with matted hair.

There is a part of me still that wants to be that girl, but hell yes, the wow mommy you found my favorite socks when no one in this entirely huge world could? Seriously makes my day.

Dreads or not.

mamatulip said...

Love the segue from dreads to lightbulb changing.

Anonymous said...

"my little tim gunn" - that really made me laugh. it came on without warning. good thing I wasn't drinking coffee at the time or it certainly would have come out of my nose.

Kat said...

I just got two electric blue extensions. Inexpensive without all the work of dying and re-dying your hair. highly recommend it!!