So for a few months my daughter has been bugging me to put blue streaks in her hair. I put it off, not because I didn’t think she should have them but I figured it would pass.
My views on the hair thing have definitely changed over time. When my children were younger and I saw teens with colored hair I would think, “No way would I ever allow my children to color their hair.” But I have since developed a different view.
First, I have come to realize that hair is a small issue compared to what I could be dealing with. I could be facing much more serious issues but I have been very blessed with some great teens.
Second, it’s temporary. It’s not like she’s getting a permanent tattoo or something. And knowing how quickly her tastes change, it is likely to be a one time thing.
Third, she feels like I “get her.” I don’t try to correct her or dismiss the things that are important to teens. I understand and I certainly remember some of my own crazy hairstyles back in the 80’s.
So finally I said yes. My husband, you might be surprised, is the one who took my daughter to pick out her hair dye.
So this past weekend my best friend’s teen daughter came over to do my daughter’s hair. She has colored her own hair a number of times so she has some experience.
Now the first thing my daughter said to me was, “She has to bleach some of my hair so the color will stay.” My daughter has a beautiful chestnut brown hair color and I immediately told her, “I don’t think that’s a good idea.” While I could have said no and put my foot down, I thought that perhaps she might be able to make an informed decision on her own.
I explained how bleaching strips your hair and you cannot do anything about it. No, I didn’t bother to tell her that she could try to dye her hair back to the same color; I wanted to instill a lesson here.
But she was insistent and thought she knew best and so I let her do it. So the other teen bleached part of her bangs and some of the underside of her hair in the back. When my daughter’s hair dried, she was shocked at the difference. Now it didn’t look terrible, in fact the color is beautiful but I don’t think she really comprehended the change it would bring.
Time was running short so thankfully (as it would turn out) she only had time to dye the underside of my daughter’s hair. My daughter kind of liked the blonde in her bangs so was going to leave it and see how the blue turned out.
Well guess what? The bleaching in her hair and the applying of blue made it turn green. It was really, really hard to not say “I told you so.” She should have just applied the blue and never bleached it. But the good news was that the green wasn’t very noticeable since it was in the back and the underside of her hair.
Needless to say she decided not to dye her bangs blue…oops, I mean green.
I just chalk it up to another lesson learned. What about you? What are your views on teens coloring their hair?
Related Articles:
Give Your Teen Opportunities to Make their Own Decisions
She’s Her Own Person, Gloves and All
Decisions, Decisions: When to Step Out of the Way