Like old times...

When I was in high school, and for the first few years of college, I had this whole punk-rock kind of style and mentality. I liked it. In all honesty, I still kind of do. It just seemed to fit me better than anything else, and over time, I've made it all my own. I liked crazy belt buckles, studded leather belts, my favorite band t-shirts, jeans so holey they were falling apart, and music that made me want to jump around or get in a fight.

For my high school prom, I wore my black leather studded belt and nautical star buckle with my red prom dress that I designed and made myself. I had long hair and dyed the tips of it red like the dress, giving me red curls in my up-do, along with strips of a different old studded belt woven through the curls. I think I looked pretty awesome, and my date made the look complete. He had a red suit with a black satin tux-style stripe down the side of his pants, black satin lapels, completed by a Rancid patch among a few others hand-sewn onto it in various places. He wore a black pair of Chucks. I wore a pair of high-heeled Converse-style shoes (that I still have because I love them so much). We looked fantastic! I wish I could find pictures of that night, because we were the best looking couple there and we stood out from everyone.

During my freshman year of college, I tried out fluorescent orange highlights once, and with my long hair, they looked awful. So I asked my friend who had dyed it to chop it all off. She'd been in hair school, so she knew mostly what she was doing, I think. Later on I even dyed my whole head that bright orange color. I loved it. And I somehow got away with it on BYU campus.

I've worn whatever I wanted for just about my whole life--well, from about 5th grade on, when I really started to become interested in clothing and fashion. I've dyed my hair numerous times, dozens of colors, had it in countless styles and lengths, and I've had a lot of fun doing all of that.

I've always liked the fact that people tell me they wish they had the guts to do some of the things I do. I guess I feel like I add flavor to the world, doing some things not many of my friends would, whether with my hair, makeup, clothing, or whatever else.

When I went on a mission, I put a lot of that behind me, because I needed to look the part of one of the Lord's servants and have other people recognize me as such. Short spiky hair and studded belts doesn't  really fit that criteria. So I grew it out, wore skirts, collared shirts, and sweater vests for a year and a half, and it was well worth the sacrifice. What an incredible time of my life those short 18 months were!

So I've been back in "real life" for over two years now. I've kept that former style of mine toned down quite a bit. But recently, I've just been having this.... this........ crazy urge to pick it up some more, once again. So here's my most recent splurge:

I got stop-sign-red highlights. 

I think it's fun. And my favorite part is noticing how people react when they see me with this color of hair. Some do a double take. Some point it out right away and make sure it wasn't some mistake my hairdresser made. My favorite is when people talk to me like nothing is different, not mentioning the elephant in the room while staring at it the whole time. So what if you wouldn't do this or think it's tacky? I think it's fun, and I like it.

I really just wanted to let everyone know, my hair is bright, bright red right now. 

It'll fade, but for now, it matches the color of my shirt.