Growing up as a dancer, I started experimenting with makeup and different hairstyles very early on. I loved the creativity behind makeup and hair styling and how each look lent itself to aspects of my performance. When you’re on stage at a competition, it’s not just knowing the steps and following the rhythm, it’s the confidence that comes out of you when you turn on that switch and everything comes together – the hair, the makeup, the costume, and the dance itself.
As I’ve stepped away from competition dancing and into entertainment, the sentiment is the same, except now, I’m not playing a part on stage, I’m usually just being me.
I tend to dye my hair when I’m craving change, and I’ve noticed I usually pick colors that match the feelings I’m hoping to inspire within myself with my new look. In the past year, I tried on a lot of different colors for size.
In early 2021, I was a bright blonde. Blonde to me feels young, carefree, and fresh. I was newly 17 and think I was hoping to inspire a vibrancy within myself that I associated with this hair color. I had so much fun being blonde, so much so that I tried to go back to it later in the year but my hairstylist and friend Kelly advised me against it since my hair couldn’t handle the bleaching, but more on that later.
Then came the red. Red to me was kind of punk rock in a lot of ways. I was definitely experiencing some teenage angst and a lot of feels and they really came out in this hair color. I loved how it turned all of my casual looks into more of what felt artistic to me. I had so much fun playing with my outfits and makeup during this time because it was a lot more challenging to incorporate a funky hair color like this. I didn’t love it when it faded out to pink but she’s still cute!
When summer hit, I was dealing with a lot of feelings of loneliness but also rebirth. In the words of Amy Winehouse, I went back to black. Black for me was a return to easy maintenance because I was spending a lot of time outside, in Hawaii, letting the ocean and the sunshine restore me from the outside in. It was exactly what I needed for the time, but then I was back to wanting to spice things up.
When I tell you I was determined to go blonde again, I do not exaggerate. I sat down in Kelly’s chair last Fall and told her I wanted to be a bright platinum blonde from root to tip (like this picture on Instagram, except not a wig!). She very quickly and kindly humbled me and let me know that if she bleached my hair root to tip it would all fall out—and she would not have that on her conscience. So, we settled on blonde highlights that focused mainly around my face. She was cute, she was fun and flirty but she wasn’t quite right, so in December, just before my 18th birthday, Kelly and I sat down once more to plan out what I wanted to look like entering the new year.
This hair color was different from the others, because instead of trying to establish a vibe with my hair, I wanted it to match the one I already had. I feel more myself than I have in a long time, and I’m coming into my womanhood and my career in a way that makes me feel confident in who I am. I wanted my hair to reflect the comfort I’ve found in my own skin, so last month I visited Kelly again, and we went for a rich chocolate brown, with caramel highlights around my face, blended in through the bottom. Now, my hair feels so much more me-warm, natural, a little more grown up with some fun flair around the edges.
I don’t check my social media comments too often, but I have seen comments here and there asking me to share the specifics behind my hair color so it’s easily replicated. So, just for the fun of it, I filmed a BTS video of everything Kelly and I did to my hair this time around. The video goes live on my Youtube this Friday at 3 PM PST if you want the details on what to ask for next time you’re in the salon to get this look! <3
