Brown
Do you like the color brown? What do you think when you think of the color brown? Many think it is a drab color. Or not really a color. Like black. Or like white.
I have brown hair. And brown eyes. And, since I have gotten older, I have brown spots on my skin. I call them freckles that have grown in size. Some call them age spots. Who cares what they are called. They are brown spots. And I like them. They give me character. Don't they?
Over the years I have tried to have different colors of hair. Way back in the 60's when 'frosting' came into fashion I tried that. A snug cap was pulled over my long, brown hair. It was like a swimmer's cap but full of tiny holes. Do you remember those? Then a hook (somewhat like a crochet hook) was used to pull small sections of hair through those tiny holes. When we had pulled enough hair through the holes the bleach was mixed and put on the hair that was hanging outside of the cap.
Oh my gosh! I am telling you I only did that ONCE. What they forget to tell you is it takes forever. Like somewhere around 2 hours for us. And it hurts like hell. I am tender headed and pulling that hair through those tiny little holes, using that tortuous little hook, hurt like hell. You have to remember this was more than 40 years ago. Thank the Lord we have come a long way with "highlighted" hair.
I have had red hair. My hair tends to red highlights anyway. I have had an almost purple hair. I have had heavily highlighted hair that made me almost blond. But three years ago, when I started on my care-giving journey with Richard, I stopped coloring my hair. Now is is more white than it is brown. And that is okay with me!
What color is your hair? Have you done crazy things with the color over the years?
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I have had red hair. My hair tends to red highlights anyway. I have had an almost purple hair. I have had heavily highlighted hair that made me almost blond. But three years ago, when I started on my care-giving journey with Richard, I stopped coloring my hair. Now is is more white than it is brown. And that is okay with me!
What color is your hair? Have you done crazy things with the color over the years?
I do remember frosting, though never did it myself :) I used to be brown, now I'm a mixture of gray and brown. When I colored my hair, I went with a light brown type color. My banker, who has some streaks of purple in her hair, thinks I should add some blue streaks to mine.....we'll see :)
ReplyDeletebetty
I think blue streaks would be wonderful! Harley did the fire-engine red streaks once. Growing out was painful though as they first turned orange and then pinkish and then ugly. Nothing we did seemed to help with the growing out!
Deleteinteresting post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Shorty!
DeleteMine is quite dark brown but it's full of grey so I have it coloured with highlights. Trouble is, once started .....lol
ReplyDeleteThat's why I stopped. It was just too much to keep up while I was caring for a dying husband. And one it turned 'salt' and 'pepper' I wasn't as shocked as I thought I would be
DeleteHi Paula - No is the answer!! However I've stuck with my hair colour ... and now it's distinctly salty ... it's not my strength -haven't much of it ... so care for it without messing around ...
ReplyDeleteWash and colour and go - seem to be advantageous if one's hair is strong enough .. cheers Hilary
Yes, it is important to not mess with hair that is not strong enough!
DeletePaula,
ReplyDeleteI have very dark brown hair and I've never tried to dye it mostly because (as you know) the options are so horrible and scary-sounding. I've often thought of adding highlights but until recently I also periodically donated my hair to charity every couple years so that made it not worth it (since then they can't take it.) Now that I'm getting old(er) though, maybe. Personally I've always loved my hair color. Brown has so many varieties. My eyes are brown and green and red. I guess that's one of those things I struggle when describing characters in fiction - because just saying brown sounds so blah but there is so much there. This gives me something to think about. Thanks! Peace!
Anne
annehiga.com
I haven't ever grown my hair long enough to want to donate it. I wear it very short! So much easier. I can see why it is hard to write about brown.
DeleteI had to renew my drivers' license last month. When they handed the new one to me I thanked them for continuing to call my hair brown.
ReplyDeleteLOL!
DeleteLike you, I've got (had?) dark brown hair and eyes. Never really wanted my hair any other color, and I'm not ready for it to be silver yet.... I have a great colorist, and my hair today is still brown, but a few shades lighter than my original hair. I suppose at some point I'll have to let it go silver, but not yet...
ReplyDeleteIt took some guts for me to go 'silver' I like that better than saying 'grey' But I am so glad I did it because it is so much less of a hassle!
DeleteI had forgotten about the pain of those stupid caps! Under my brown, I'm about 75% gray, but I just am not ready to make that transition yet. Isn't it funny how we can all relate and bond over hair coloring stories:)
ReplyDeleteYes, it hurt! No one tells you that!
DeleteI remember my mom and her best friend doing the cap thing to each other to give highlights or frost. I have always kept my real color for years. Until last month, I put a semi permanent Black cherry rinse and so not it has some dark dark pink tint and I love it! I should have been more experimental a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteI started messing with my hair in my teen years. That is a lot of years of coloring, bleaching, dyeing. Glad I can be natural now!!
DeleteYes that cap was torture, but I loved frosted hair!! We did it ourselves at home sometimes...much cheaper:) I have grey hair or shades of gray all color...but not purple or pink or blue like some old ladies. Lately I have been admiring that hot pink hair but growing that out would be a major pain:)
ReplyDeleteI only did mine at home once. Once was enough with that kind of pain. I am not as tender-headed as I used to be. But having it done at the salon with foil is so much easier. I don't think I want all those cool shades I am seeing either!
DeleteMy hair is sort of a dark ash brown, at least I THINK that's what it is! I've been coloring my hair for so long I can't remember. If I didn't color it it would be salt and pepper! So my hair color right now is Light Golden Brown by Loreal!
ReplyDeleteSounds very pretty!!
DeleteHi Paula! I actually love the color brown, like in chocolate, and the brown which emerged when my sweet kitty Oshi would sit in the sun. Her seeming black coat, blossomed into a lush brown! I usually will wear browns, and I am big on Earth tones, so I'm a happy brownie :)
ReplyDeleteI never got to frosting my hair, though I sure as shootin' died the heck out of it. Reds mostly, and a few times so dark brown, it was almost black. I have also buzz cut my hair back in the day (70s) and it has also been long, long, long. It's been mostly curly though now-a-days, it tends toward straight, and I have so much less hair now, I'm pretty much a baldie, which makes me want to buzz it again.
I enjoyed your B day post! Off to check out A.
Note, this is Fimnora aka Quantum Hermit... this is my blogger ID.
I have been a variety of reds in the day! I am not a lover of the color brown myself. I don't think I have ever owned any brown clothes. Crazy, huh?
DeleteI meant to say, Enelinwen is my blogger ID. Fimnora is my wordpress ID. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm coming to check you out right now!!
DeleteYikes, how I remember the pain from having my hair frosted. Once was enough!
ReplyDeleteBrown is one of my favorite shades on the color wheel... I consider it comforting, somehow. But where I longed for lovely chestnut-y hair like Jaclyn Smith, mine was about as shiny as stale dishwater.
While I'm still working and can afford it, I have colored auburn(ish) w/ blond highlights. I'm fascinated and, at the same time, scared to death what I'll look like going natural (white).
Haha! I agree, once is enough! I love your description of your hair. Mine was nothing to brag about either. That is why I messed with it for so many years. I should update my picture here so you can all see what I look like now. Maybe I'll do that another day!!
DeleteI love the color brown also - especially dark chocolaty browns. When I was little - all I ever wanted was brown dresses. I slowly moved away from it (and got stuck on purple when I was older). Now I rarely wear either. But want to get back to them! My hair is dark brown... I had highlights at one time in a caramel color and loved it - but too much expense and hassle!
ReplyDeleteLinda in VA
Reminded me of this poem:
DeleteWHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN I SHALL WEAR PURPLE
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Taken from the book
When I Am An Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple
Editd by Sandra Martz
Papier Mache Press--Watsonville, California 1987
Having thin hair, I colored my premature gray hair blond. Then I decided to face the gray. Surprisingly, some of the blond did not grow out. Some parts of my hair had not completely grayed.
ReplyDeleteI'm satisfied with the gray. I will say dark hair is as special as blonde or red. You certainly don't get to keep that vibrant color long enough.
I had freckles as a kid. Now they are age spots and I wear a sunscreen to keep them down. I don't think I will ever love them. Plus I wear a cap outdoor, skin cancer prevention.
Ann Bennett @annbennett12
Too Much To Choose From
Science Ladybug
Really, all hair colors are special, aren't they? I don't mind my age spots. Nothing I can do about them. So I might as well like them.
DeleteOh, those painful memories this post evokes. The old way of doing highlights, perhaps. Yow.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by at Nickers and Ink.
Happy A-Z!
Nickers and Ink Poetry and Humor
Thanks for stopping here today!!
DeleteBrown is my favorite color. I think it is warm and comforting. My hair is very dark but now that I am older I get some lighter highlights in it to try to hide some of the gray. I was trying to let the gray grow in but Frank very nicely started suggesting that I make a hair appt. LOL
ReplyDeleteReally! I don't think I have ever found someone who has brown as a favorite color! I remember when you told us that Frank wanted you to cover the grey! Funny!! Richard once threw a fit about me cutting my hair. I told him I would leave it long when he could grow hair!! LOL
DeleteName a color and I've had it but I only did that streaky thing once. Never again.
ReplyDeleteOnce was enough, eh?
DeleteBrown, eh? Well my hair is brown and that's what it has always been. I'm holding out for a beautiful white like my grandmother's, but who knows if that will happen! Love the WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN piece. I think I am going to spend my pension on brandy (or sherry), too, but I will skip the summer gloves. I did that growing up and just can't do the summer glove thing anymore.
ReplyDeleteI love that piece too! Somewhere I have a book by that title! I'll have to see if I can find it! I will skip the gloves too. Although I can't remember wearing gloves as a child (except when it was cold and once on Easter)! I would imagine they would be very hot!
DeleteRed. I was born with brown hair but I always wanted red hair. In my late 40's I took advantage of the fact that my hair was greying, to apply red hair color, and I had that for about seven or eight years. Then I mellowed into my natural hair color - lovely silver. I really like it.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind my grey either!
DeleteI'm a natural brunette with copper highlights. I did the glitz thing about twenty years ago. Then a little later I tried auburn and almost go purple. Then I tried blonde and got orange. LOL Then I started using a color very close to my own natural shade. But I have not died my hair in about 9 months now. Thought it needed a rest. I, too, have generous amounts of grey streaked through it. But I"m sure one day I'll look in the mirror and then stop and grab a bottle of my fav dye on the way home.
ReplyDeleteRevisit the Tender Years with me during the #AtoZChallenge at Life & Faith in Caneyhead!
I totally understand that trying blonde and getting orange. My hair is awful to try to take the color from so that we can get the blond highlights! Usually gets that orangy look first!
DeleteBrown is the color of chocolate. And my eyes. And my hair since it darkened from the auburn it was when I was a kid. (I still call it auburn, though.) And brown was a color I was told I should wear when I had my colors done in the '80s. (Remember that fad?) So, I still do wear it. And like it.
ReplyDeleteYes, chocolate brown. The best and only time I really like the color brown. My brown hair has (had) a lot of auburn in it too! I do remember doing the colors in the 80's. I didn't think you were that old Liz!!
DeleteI used to be involved in theatre, so I have been every color. I keep it pretty standard red, but have ventured to a maraschino cherry extreme. I've been blonde, brunette, and once when I played Lucy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, my hair was a deep chestnut! Love it.
ReplyDeleteI have friends who are involved in theater. It sounds like a lot of fun!
DeleteI've only coloured my hair twice - once for my daughter's wedding nine years ago. That was to cover the bits of grey but strangely the progression to grey is very slow. At 65 my hair is still mainly brown, although not as thick as I would like. Maybe the grey hairs keep falling out! i still don't know whether to colour or not. My mother did, my grandmother did and my daughter does but I don't think I can be bothered.
ReplyDeleteYou are very lucky not to have much grey. They say it is really a genetic thing!
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