This is Beth. As promised, February features friends with dark hair. First up, Kate and Kate—both work at a neighboring museum, both like beverages.
Cheers!
This is Beth. Over the years my hair has varied fairly dramatically in color—browns, reddish-browns (purplish to orangish), light browns—but I’m new to the very dark. And I wonder (here with very dark dye):
How dark is very dark? At what point does brown become black? Does “brunette” include very dark, black hair?
You decide.
This is Beth. And it’s February.
1. The Do—Dark. Very dark. Inspired by famous females with shadowy tresses:
New this month: inspiration from closer to home—friend and colleague Andrea generously gave me permission to share her image:
(Pics of others I know who have very dark hair to come in future posts.)
I’ll be doing my take on a very dark do soft & wavy most of the month, if the hair cooperates.
2. Music (what was playing at the salon during the doing of the do)—Note: music plays all the time at Bang, I don’t get to pick do-appropriate songs. This time what I heard, noticed, remember: Marvin Gaye Let’s Get It On and Al Green Let’s Stay Together. Like.
3. Drink (what I sipped at the salon during the doing of the do)—Note: I do get to choose the do-appropriate drink—I bring the mixin’s and mix. This time, Black Russian, the tall/dirty variety.
Ice/Kahlua/vodka. A splash of cola makes it tall and/or dirty. Yum.
4. The Theory—Mysterious. Exotic. Stereotypes include: stormy, intense, angry.
5. Reactions—I’m pretty sure I can’t pull off exotic, we’ll see…
P.S. Title song: Led Zeppelin’s The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair (I do declare, yeah, she’s got long black wavy hair).
This is Beth. With a few more month-one tidbits.
Driving—I got a ticket on the way to do the first do. Speeding captured by photo radar.
Makeup— I added tinted moisturizer and eyeliner to the just-mascara look I’d been sporting since the mid-to-late ’80s. No one really noticed.
Theory—Early in the month I was presented with a book (thank you Derek and Jilly): The Roots of Desire: the Myth, Meaning, and Sexual Power of Red Hair by Marion Roach. Had planned to mine it for some good information to share before the January experiment drew to a close, but time ran out.
And, sadly, I didn’t gather much in the realm of personal anecdotes.
This is Beth. The reporting continues.
Overall people seemed to like the do I dubbed January Orange. Paraphrasing: you can pull it off, it’s a color you should go back to. Mostly from people who know me or see me fairly frequently. I didn’t get much of a reaction from strangers or individuals I don’t see much. The day after the doing of the do (when the color was most intense) the dentist asked politely if I’d changed my hair. A few days later a server mentioned I look different as he checked my ID (yep, got carded).
Far more interesting, though, is the small sample that indicates Liz and I were able to spread a tiny bit of joy. For example, we heard:
“Seeing you guys just makes me smile.”
“Happy hair.”
“You look like you’re ready to party, let’s go.”
And the best—sitting next to a colleague as she read a post for the first time. She laughed out loud. More than once.
We started this project as a distraction from seriousness and sadness in the world. There’s a lot of that going around right now. Any little smile, grin, bit of laughter is welcome.
P.S. The branded combs seemed to be a hit too.
P.S.S. In other comb-related news—While walking her dog, Liz came across an unfortunate squirrel in a mysterious position:
We recreated the scene with our product:
(Brought to you by changingthelocks.com.)
Changing the Locks is now on twitter (@ChangingLocks ), if you are into that kind of thing.
(As the month ends, the reporting begins.)
This is Beth. Reflecting.
Starting the little hair/blog project—I’d already published 17 posts by the day of the first do. Who knew I’d feel the need to write so much? Blogging=interesting outlet. I also captured the pre-January do – here with Kara and Michelle:
Funny, one sports similar start style, the other closer to what I might end up with at year end.
Do done and documented—Fabulous photographer Neal brought equipment to work to capture the January Orange:
Neal shot a couple other coworkers too, unfortunately Liz had the Eisenhower Tunnel as model that day. (Yes, Liz helped photo I-70 sites including the tunnel for an upcoming exhibit; they even stopped traffic.)
A less experienced photographer took my new Facebook pic:
At at Jane’s request, I tried going curly for a weekend. Not so great.
The January hair reminded me of some foods, for example:
Mid month color boost The orange seemed to be fading fast so I got myself over to Bang. They call it a gloss. Monica recommended “Curry” with a little bit of something else mixed in… The result was still in the fiery red zone, darker:
A nice change to get me through to the new February do (debuting within the first week of the month).
P.S. Thanks to Mana, Jack, and babes for snapshot taking. Special thanks to Neal for expert photo taking:
P.P.S. Special thanks also to January guest bloggers Michelle and Bill!
This is Beth. The January do inspired folks to mention and send links to some fabulous redheads:
Singers Florence Welch, Neko Case, and Tori Amos; stylist and blogger Tiffany Pratt; artist Yayoi Kusama.
And my favorite image, sent by B.Erin (watch for her upcoming guest post):
Finally, how could I forget? Disney:
This is Beth. I wish I could see Red Hair (film).
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Red Hair is a 1928 silent film starring Clara Bow and Lane Chandler, directed by Clarence G. Badger, based on a novel by Elinor Glyn, and released by Paramount Pictures.
The film had one sequence filmed in Technicolor, and is now considered a lost film except for the color sequence at the UCLA Film and Television Archive, and a few production stills.
This is Beth. Liz and I don’t know all that much about blogging. As museum exhibit and education folk, we also have limited experience with merchandising. We do, however, know how to research and order online.
Don’t be surprised if we hand you a comb next time we see you!
Changing the Locks 