i was a blonde from birth (1969)-2003.
34 long years of suffering stereotyping, unfunny “jokes”, career discrimination based on an assumed hair colour/lack of intelligence association, and the nickname “blondie”.
i recently dyed my hair dark reddish-purple. and it changed my life ...
... (yes, of course i find that hard to believe, too).
as a blonde facing the bog-standard male expectation of ditzy slash bubbly but brainless “barbie”, my tendency to speak my (quite scary) little mind (often at volume) earned me a reputation as being a formidable bitch.
as a redhead, whilst i do not deny that there is still the male “ideal” of the “fiery redhead” to be faced, this time i find it easy, even pleasurable, to adhere to.
there is a row of “blondes” getting their “regrowth done” that i glance at sometimes as i pass them; enclosed fishbowl-like in the steamy hairdressers’ window next to my grocer.
i view them with all the horror of a refugee from an unjust country watching women voluntarily go there with no idea of the horrors they will encounter.
so i wait until i’m safely back in the car before i laugh.