Hair Color of the Character That Bit You

I’ve often wondered why women and girls color their hair. And why, increasingly, men and boys do too.

I’m not talking about covering gray with a color close to your natural one. I mean a drastic change, which I admit to making every couple of years now. It didn’t start until long after I graduated from college, because it simply looked like too much work, when I already had a perfectly serviceable color. (Why do girls as young as middle-school age start altering their hair color–and why do parents let them? That may be a topic for another day.)

Highlighting, frosting/tipping, stripes of another color, all-out bleaching, Vampira black, and that burgundy color that’s found nowhere naturally on a human head. I personally haven’t tried them all, but they are so common that most of us don’t take a second look any more.

I tend to change color when: something major in my life such as employment, where I live, or a relationship changes; I feel my true personality isn’t reflected by my hair color; or I simply want to do it for fun.

I’ve been Marilyn Monroe blonde–short too. Was told I looked like Madonna, which I didn’t care for. I’ve been a fiery redhead when I had anger and aggression issues (no offense intended toward redheads). And when I wanted to look exotic or ethnic like Sophia Loren or the Native American women I saw on a trip to Santa Fe, I chose a dark brown.

So maybe I like playing a character when life becomes a little too ordinary or other changes get me down, and I use hair color to do it. I may even change color to become one of my characters in a future novel. Other writers, when attending writing events, deck out in costumes depicting their chosen genre. Some of my wonderful fantasy-writing friends enjoy wearing elf ears.

And there’s nothing wrong with us. Really.

Do you use hair color, makeup, dress, or anything else to escape from the ordinary or play a character from a book?