Monday, February 23, 2009

How to properly interact with the world in general: Tip # 23

It is my strong opinion that if you notice a change in a person’s appearance and you are not prepared to complement them on said change then you should just keep your bleeping mouth shut.
I have been dying my hair red. This is a process. Like 80% of the women in America, my hair has not seen its totally natural state since sometime in the 7th grade so when I decided to dye my hair red I went to the salon and they told me “This will not happen overnight, you will have to get there gradually.” This is because I had previously dyed my naturally light brown hair a pretty dark brown. Then I had my stylist back in T-town fade my natural color at the roots into the darker ends to avoid having to bleach my hair. Anyway, the point is that the first iteration of “red” was still pretty brown. It was so subtle that barely anyone noticed.
The second phase of Project Go Red included some highlights in two different tones. This was much more noticeable but still, when asked to describe the color of my hair, a person would have said it was brown with various red highlights.
So on this third dye job, I went with an all over light auburn red and I have to admit it looks, well, awkward. The highlighted areas turned a bright copper and an almost orange color while the areas that were not highlighted turned the anticipated light auburn red. But then the lower part of my hair, the part that was dyed darker oh so long ago? It came out that dark auburn that looks purplish in some lights. So yeah, overall it is pretty awkward.
But a girl can only dye her hair so often. I don’t need poor coloring AND frizzy damaged hair. My husband does not understand why I do this since he likes my natural color but I would rather be odd than be boring so this is what happens sometimes. I am ok with that.
However, the annoying complaining girl at work I had to quit my lunchtime walks with? One of her annoying traits is a pretty significant lack of tact. I just ran into her in the bathroom and this was our conversation
Annoying office girl (AOG): Is your hair a different color?
Me: Yeah, I have been working up to Red
AOG: Oh, some of it looks kind of orange.
Me: Yeah.
AOG: I liked your darker color better.
Me: I wasn’t really a fan. I wanted something different. I have been dyeing it progressively redder for almost 2 months now.
AOG: Well you can totally tell its red now.
Me: Yeah, a few people have mentioned that but no one has said that they like it.
AOG: It’s cute!
At that point I walked out of the bathroom. So here is the thing. I KNOW my hair looks less than attractive at the moment. If this chick were my best friend and she thought I was super stoked on my new do, then I could see mentioning it but as my acquaintance you should not be bringing up changes in my appearance unless you 1) plan to complement me on it and mean it or 2) Are in a position to offer some help (a service or advice) and you know I will receive it well.
I could even give her some credit for insulting me if that was her intent. The thing that makes her so annoying is that she is absolutely clueless. She probably thinks she has convinced me that she likes my new hair color.
Life would be so much more satisfying if I were allotted one punch to the face per month to dole out free of legal consequences.

1 comment:

Rick said...

I have to admitt I have never had such an interaction with male friends, at the office or elsewhere. Though you need to change your hair and don't like boredom, I bet your husband does not find it so.