Red Hair Fantasies

July 5, 2015 at 8:15 am (Life) (Anne of Green Gables, artificial, Astrid Lindgren, auburn, blonde, brunette, cats, Charles De Lint, Charles Vess, colour, copper, fake, family, faux, going grey, hair color, henna, heritage, Jo March, Katherine Hepburn, L. M. Montgomery, Little Women, Louisa May Alcott, Ludwig Bemelmans, Madeline, Mark Twain, maroon, Mary Queen of Scots, mouse, myth, myths, personality, Pippi Longstocking, propaganda, Queen Elizabeth I, red hair, Scotland, Seven Wild Sisters, strawberry blonde, superstition)

I am a faux Redhead. My hair colour is artificial, an imitation, not genuine.

I love red hair. Right now, my hair is mostly red with patches of grey at the part and temples.

I resent the fact that you might think my hair colour is not genuine. I may not have been born with red hair but it does define me.

I’ve wanted red hair since I was a teen. I was born with blonde hair (I am so not a blonde) which slowly evolved into mousy brown. I didn’t call my hair mousy, I called it chestnut brown, – everyone else got my hair colour and personality mixed up. I was a very quiet, unobtrusive slightly skulking mouse of a child.

All the book heroines of my childhood had red hair.

The infamous Canadian Anne.

Pippi Longstocking with her parrot and pirate papa.

Madeline, the smallest of the 12 little girls who went out in two straight lines.

Charles De Lint’s Seven Wild Sisters.

Jo March (as portrayed by Katherine Hepburn) in Little Women.

Also, My favourite feuding queens both had red hair.

Redheads were feisty and true to themselves. I wanted to be one!

I am not an impossible redhead. I have the pale colouring for it. I do not come across as a faux redhead at first glance. Red hair runs in the family. I have ancestors in Scotland. I have a cousin with natural red hair who won freckle contests in his youth. I have a nephew who goes all out strawberry blonde if he works in the sun too much. Red hair is superfluous on men!

I experimented with red hair for the first time when I was in my early twenties. I was a bridesmaid in my younger brother’s wedding so I decided to colour my hair with henna. Which was a long and messy process that I got done in a hair salon. I have long hair and I read so I don’t mind spending the time getting my hair dyed by someone else. Plus, I hate messy!

Then I got married to a man with an aversion to redheads because one had bullied him as a child. He believed the propaganda that:

redheads were evil, wanton, and hot-tempered. Throughout history, they’ve been subjected to discrimination and fearful prejudice, being viewed as untrustworthy, mischievous, temperamental, and lustful. In ancient Egypt, red hair was seen as so unlucky, red-haired girls were burned alive. According to Greek myths, redheads turn into vampires when they die.

British tradition says that on New Year’s Day, your first caller will bring you luck. Brunettes bring the best luck, blondes bring none, widowers are bad luck, and redheads bring the worst luck!

Even before our divorce was final I was back to dying my hair red. I went strawberry red, copper, maroon, and auburn. I’d just find the perfect shade and then I switch hair stylists. I’ve gone through a lot of hair stylists – either they would move or I would.

I discovered I was definitely not a strawberry – that colour was too light and flighty for my personality.

Maroon was too purple. I didn’t want purpley. Maroon was too dark of a red for me. Maroon was too serious. Maroon was yachts and polo shirts and croquet.

Copper was too bright. It sparkled in the sun too much and drew attention to me. I didn’t want attention. Copper was the two guys walking behind me discussing how much fun & trouble I would be in the bedroom. True but I didn’t want that aspect of my life pointed out so rudely in public!

Auburn was just about right. Auburn was me – a reader, a quiet doer, a book heroine just waiting to happen. Auburn with low copper lights is my go to red right now and probably will be until I decide to finally go all out grey.

Which may be soonish. Sometime after I finally get all this long, over-processed hair cut short.

Then I will be grey and I will have to recreate a new me.

Are we who we appear to be?

Are we what we appear to be?

“While the rest of the species is descended from apes, redheads are descended from cats.” – Mark Twain