Colouring Your Hair And The Journey Of Life

Naturally born with dark brown or black coloured hair, colouring our hair for the first time can be a life-changing event. Colouring one’s hair is an event that helps find meaning in one’s life. Some also see it as a deeper message for change.  While some prefer salons for professional work others retreat to the comfort of their home. Coincidentally, each stage of colouring our hair can resonate with the various changes you go through in life, starting in your 20s.

Read on for hair and life tips because ‘new hair, new me’ is true!

Fight with the tangles: Life in your early 20s (Combing)

Step one of colouring your hair is untangling your hair (yes until the very end). Untangling your hair through constant combing will ensure that the strands are separate from one another. When a teenager moves to their 20’s, they too will have to untangle themselves from their usual ways and prepare for change. Untangling yourself would mean finding and exploring yourself by spending time with your hobbies and new experiences. Like your hair awaiting a new colour, you begin looking forward to a new change in your life. Untangling yourself will help you understand yourself better and begin combing through your life.

Learn to let go: Life in your mid 20s  (Slight trimming)

Trimming your hair before you colour your hair will ensure that broken hair strands are out for good. Learning to let go may be hard because your hair may become shorter, but damage-free for sure. So, during your 20s do not shy away from dropping dead weights like your toxic friends or bad habits that pull you back a notch. Trimming away the unrequited love and moving on from your ex may be hard but it’s surely for the best. And lastly, when you begin the ‘trimming’ you realise that you are happier than ever. Isn’t it?

Strip the colour: Life in your late 20s (Bleaching)

Applying a colour lighter than our original hair colour will require some magic from the bleaching department. The bleach peels off the upper layers exposing the innermost light layers to be coloured. Similar to what life does to a person in their mid-20s. While in your 20s you spend ‘combing’ and ‘trimming’ your life, the mid-20s will expose you to incidents and life situations that will bring out the best in you like a toxic relationship help you find your self worth once you break off. You also become a little closer to your parents as you start understanding them better than in your teen years. Bleach uses a lot of heat for peeling and the rigorous pain your bad decisions and college gives you will definitely shape you for the best. While the serum protects the nutrients of the bleached hair, make sure you find your serum that will help you keep your sanity. 

Also read: TYPES OF MALAYALI CONSOLERS (AKA AASHWASIPIKALLS)

Pathapikyal: Life in your early 30s (Washing) 

Washing your hair and shampooing it will make sure that the bleach is washed off and ready for the big change. Washing off and slipping away from the family pressure to get married and boss’s pressure to meet deadlines becomes a character trait. Also, little pathapikyal and pattikkal becomes your motto. Sucking up when necessary and giving a reality check when necessary will help you adult successfully. Also, if you lay awake at night thinking of your bad decisions in your mid-20s, wash them away too!

Play Holi with your hair: Life in your mid 30s (Colouring)

Choosing which colour you want your hair to be is harder than choosing a life partner. Now you are in your mid-30s, still rushing to meet deadlines but more relaxed about your life. While some may contemplate settling down, others want to explore life. When the first drop of the hair colour mixture is dyed on your hair, the adrenaline rush is incomparable. You begin to understand the importance of taking pictures and celebrating your moments and memories. While some hold their child’s small hands and teach them to walk, others get over their fear of dogs and yet others go out and travel. Bringing in the work-life balance is as important as understanding the difference between colouring your entire hair and trying out the highlights. What’s in it to lose?!

Also read: DID YOUR LIFE TURN OUT THE WAY YOU PLANNED?

The final product: Life in your early 40s (Blow-dry)

When you sit in front of the salon mirror or stand by the mirror in your house, your heart thumps with anticipation to see the final product — “Does the coloured hair suit me?” Your mid-40s (on the way to the early 50s) gives you the same feeling! You realise that you are on a similar path as your parents as many of you have now become parents yourself and some others have made peace with your parents. The unpleasant memories of childhood, teenage and 20s are not blocked out but confronted with grace. You begin to accept the consequences of your decisions just like how you look with the coloured hair. The blow-dry fulfils your fantasy of looking like a movie star and blows away the broken and damaged hair. This age brings your loved ones closer to you and helps you ‘blow away’ toxic and hurtful people. 

In the end, a few months later, the colour begins to fade and you retrace some of these steps. And when you get a chance to recolour, you either pick the same colour or a different one, because you finally realise that there is no guidebook to life. You will always have a second shot at life. So, have you begun ‘colouring’ your hair?

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