WHY YOU SHOULDN’T DYE YOUR HAIR
AND MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID
I have three different colors in my hair. When I was younger and less stupid, I had flowing golden brown hair that shined like Khloe Kardashian’s cheek highlighter. Today, after being so predictably influenced by the social culture of our world, my hair is burnt, lacks every ounce of flow, and somehow gives off this matte dead look. The first time I highlighted my hair, my hair dresser brushed his hands through it, gave me one look through the mirror, and said, “Honey, you need highlights.” Of course, honey didn’t need highlights at all. But my Chanel bag and I had dollar signs written all over it, and this hairdresser cared only about making a few extra bucks. Little did he know he would literally ruin my hair forever.
Me, I’ve been like this my entire life. I am always looking for the next best thing, the next product to make my skin shine brighter, the next outfit to stuff in the back of my closet and never wear after the first time. I can safely say that besides a few of my nature-loving girlfriends, every young woman my age goes through the same issues. We have to remember one thing, though. Less is more. Usually. In general, you really shouldn’t touch your natural gifts. Now is the sentence where I am supposed to add that, of course, everyone is naturally beautiful. But, not everyone is naturally beautiful, and whoever isn’t can really do well with a little renovation. A blowout here and a dab of lipstick there can do wonders. But still, just a dab. The beauty is there somewhere, and we shouldn’t smother and ruin it with the useless products corporate America sells us. The point is this: for the most part, love what your mama gave you.
I keep trying to tell myself this, and somehow I still end up with three colors in my hair. My hair looks something like this: there’s this gorgeous natural brown color barely growing out of my roots, which immediately meets this horrible rusty brownish red, my attempt to hide the previous highlights I once had and go back to my “natural color”. Then, after this failed attempt to return to my roots, I went ahead and re-highlighted the highlights I meant to get rid of. And now I am back to square one, desperately wishing I had never touched my hair in the first place.
The same happened with my skin. It was perfect, glowing, rich and healthy, so, of course, I unecessiarly bought three different kinds of Lancome moisturizer and smothered my face in them. I became allergic to the night cream, or maybe it was the day cream, or the mid-day cream, or whatever cream they sold me, and my face broke out into mini-mountains of pimples. Since that day, I’ve been desperately seeking a way to get my natural skin back, and after piling make-up all over my face only to see my acne worsen, I decided to stop. I stopped it all. Stopped the creams, stopped the drying lotion, the acne medication, the cover up, everything. I waited for my skin to rebuild itself, on its own. That’s what my skin needs, I thought. I’ll let my body heal itself. And it did.
Not.
My skin is still horrible and I am in dire need of a good dermatologist if you happen to know one. The point is, if I hadn’t been brainwashed by pop marketing culture in the first place, I wouldn’t have even been in this acne ridden face and matte hair situation to begin with. So as I sit here taking a break from straightening my tri-colored hair and not learning my lesson, I recommend to my readers, if you haven’t already ruined yourself, please don’t.