Mom Of Many Colors

One thing that has been consistent for me since my adolescence is the fact that I LOVE to torture my hair. Well, you all would call it torture and my hair dresser probably would too, but I wouldn’t. I would call it…experiementing or playing.

What are we talking about here? I love to color my hair, I love to cut it and I love to add extensions to it. The fact is that I love to change it — often. But, I don’t think my constant desire to “change it up” is truly about my hair. I mean, maybe? Maybe in another life I was an extremely talented and popular hair artist, but in this life, I’m just me — a thirty-one year old mom of three young kids.

Ever since I was young, I have always been a little “different,” for lack of a better term. I was never so far out of the box, but I was a little eccentric. Heck, I still am. Not in my mannerisms, those have been, and remain to be, very proper and aligned with “normal” etiquette, but in my style choices, makeup and hair preferences, I have always been unique. Again, I call it unique, but I am pretty sure that my husband and brother would call it quirky, right guys?

My constant chameleon-like behavior with regard to my appearance continued through adolescence and college. It has only recently lessened, as there is just honestly not a lot of time for it these days. It is kind of hard to color your hair with a baby in your arms or strategically place in your hair extensions with a toddler pulling on your arm. I do miss it though. I do miss having more fun with my appearance.

So, why is it that I have always enjoyed making changes to my look? Why do I like have a bleach blonde asymmetrical pixie cut one day and a long, brunette, bouffant pony the next? Because I think that change is important to my self-discovery and overall happiness and I think the same is true for anyone who, like me, has fun with change.

In my opinion, change is a form of self-acceptance; we are telling ourselves, and the world, that we love ourselves; each part of us and each of the many facets of our personality.

So why do I enjoy change, especially changes to my appearance? Here’s why:

— Because it is exhilarating and fun.

— Because it is draws people to me and I enjoy that human connection.

— Because it is therapeutic.

— Because I won’t know if I truly like the change, until I try it.

And why do am I comfortable and proud of modeling this kind of periodic change to/for my children?

— Because it teaches them that change is capable of encouraging personal growth, such as self-awareness and self-confidence.

— Because it exemplifies to them that change is an easy way to fix something that you don’t like.

— Because it shows them that change has the ability to build courage.

— Because they will see that changing your look can have the affect of changing your attitude and let’s face it, sometimes we all need an attitude adjustment.

Listen, I admit it.  Why I probably change my look up so much is that being stagnant bores me and kind of frightens me. Additionally, I think that in most facets of my life — like my marriage, my parenting, my need to be on a schedule — I am pretty rigid and inflexible and aligned with the norms. Yet, I have found this little sweet spot, of one area of my life, my appearance, where I don’t feel like its wrong or bad or scary to not conform to the norm, and I am relishing in that.

So which look do you all like best? Which look is me now? Hmm…