My hair history

Yesterday I saw this hilarious post by Gillian from elevatormusik & was inspired to dig out my old photos and cringe/laugh/regret my old hair decisions!

My hair is naturally red (gingery/auburn) so as I was growing up I was always told how lovely it was & that I should never EVER touch it. So I had long red hair til I was about seventeen years old. Then I went to uni & realised that I was a grown up (ha ha ha) & could do what I want. So I did. CRINGE.

Age 17 - 19

1. My first big hair change! A couple of months into uni I went into my hairdresser with a photo of Willow (from Buffy!) and asked for her hair. Didn't really work. I look like I have 90's curtains. Sob.

2. I let this grown out a bit and hacked shorter layers in. Also started wearing blue eyeshadow (!).

3. Decided to dye it all a dark brown with big bits of pink all over. Was terrified to show my dad (shouldn't have been, he was actually very nice about it). What an awful haircut. It's just so shapeless?

4. I then dyed it almost black (WHY?) and add blue bits in that faded to a horrible green after a few weeks.

5. When I was too poor to redye it I just had massive yellow patches all over my head. Here I am with my pal Patrick from Fall Out Boy. Note the wrist warmers.

6. I joined myspace at this point & thought this was a perfectly acceptable photo to take. Oh lord.

Age 19 - 21

7.  Kept dying it dark brown with random colours in it. Where are my eyebrows?

8. And let the colours fade to a weird white/yellow when I couldn't afford to buy hair dye. Worringly, this hair isn't too far off what I have now.

9. I'm in third year of uni at this point & I decided to start wearing hot pink eyeshahow to match the pink bits in my hair.

10. Dyed the whole thing a weird red colour (which had odd lighter patches throughout). Scowled a lot at this point apparently.

11. Finally made a sort-of sensible hair choice, and dyed it a lovely chestnut brown (that actually looked okay with my skin tone). I reckon if I ever dyed all of my hair again it would be to this shade!

12. Then I got bored, chopped it all off and discovered the joy of a blunt fringe!

Age 21 - 24

13. Attended a "favourite decade" fancy dress party where Craig & I were the only people who had dressed up. Hahaha. My hair was boring and shoulder length.

14. The chestnut dye grew out (and I didn't ever bother to try and cover the regrowth) so I had my natural colour for the first time in four years! Went back to a middle parting (bad idea).

15. Became addicted to wearing it long and super straight. Didn't use any protecting products & caused ridiculous levels of damage to my hair.

16. Tried to wear it wavy, but felt a bit unsure about it. Hence the scowly face!

17. Chopped in a short diagonal fringe. Bought Riley!

18. Started wearing it in a sweeping fringe again. Still trying to learn how to style it wavy (the curls in this photo were a total fluke!).

Age 24 - present

19. Cut my fringe SUPER short and a bit spikey. Shaved the other side of my head slightly (annoyingly don't have a photo of this, but it was fun!).

20. Grew out my fringe and FINALLY learned how to curl my hair (and not look like I'd been dragged through a bush). Stayed in New Zealand for almost a month & my hair lightened up quite a bit in the sun.

21. My hair naturally went a bit darker in winter. Cut in a blunt fringe again. Finally sorted out my eyebrows!

22. Badger hair appears! Dyed a big section blonde and absolutely loved it.

23. My fringe is getting shorter and shorter, blonde panel more prominent.

24. Present day! Still in love with my weird badger hair & now dye a little bit white blonde on the other side too. I can't imagine not having a blunt fringe any more (and this journey back in time has taught me to avoid centre partings!).

Well, that was fun. If a little embarrassing! If you have any old hair photos to share then please post them in the comments & we can all laugh at each other. My poor, over-dyed, over-heated hair! I promise I'll be nice to you from now on...