For a few months now I’ve had purple hair and by far it’s the thing on my body that’s gotten me the most attention from both random strangers and longtime friends. Not since I misguidedly wore the green pleather lederhosen I’d found in a Lower East Side thrift store to my job as a talent producer for a short-lived TV show have I received so much attention for an item on my person. But this kind of focus I’m pleasantly surprised by, as opposed to the former, which made me rethink slightly what my definition of quirky office wear was. The feedback aimed at the color of my hair has been nothing but self-affirming and delivered almost 100% by other women—a fact that reminds me how us females primarily dress for each other, not men. Although I feel that attitude has been hard won with age and confidence: the two driving forces behind my current hair color choice.
It all started when I decided to give in fully to the gray. For a couple of years, I’d been cultivating a pretty good Susan Sontag–like streak, but I was ready to let the whole mishegoss take over, and was making some pretty good headway when I went to the Brooklyn Museum and saw the David Bowie exhibit. Oh, David, seeing you as the Thin White Duke, silver and red streaks running through your updo, not to mention being surrounded by a legion of young ones sporting platinum hair, made me impatient to get some edge.
Not wanting to enter the valley of damage with stripping my hair, then dying—because that’s the other thing about getting older, I’ve got no patience for that kind of painful salon crap—I needed an alternative.
Enter Overtone. Holy crap, people, this stuff is brilliance! It’s a conditioner. It’s vegan and cruelty free. It’s semi-permanent and is actually good for your hair. It comes in a gazillion awesome colors and isn’t expensive. They also have sample sizes so you can find the color that works for you or just switch up your look at random. I’m so in love with this product that I might marry it. (And am in no way sponsored or contributed to by them. This is just pure me:joy.) Although neither the pastel, vibrant, nor extreme silver really took on my head, the purple for brown hair rocked it and for a couple of months now I’ve been purpling it up every week.
When people say they like my hair it’s been a great exercise for me to not become an Overtone sales human and just accept the compliment; to be fine with the attention and feel solid enough in myself to embrace how I appear to others. I’ve always enjoyed standing out for my fashion choices, it’s how to respond when someone says something nice that I always trip over. But as my commitment to being better to the planet in a way I feel is within my grasp and on a life topic I’m passionate about (sartorially speaking), this feels righter than right. So I take it in, say thank you, and usually manage to slip in an Overtone mention. Unless doing so would cause an accident if we’re, say, walking in traffic or holding up the line at the Shake Shack. Staying on point with the earth and my look is both satisfying and challenging, and also soooo worth it.
How about you? Is there something that makes you feel bold, fierce, and good on the planet when you step it out into the world? And also, curious about whether you dress more for the ladies in your life than for the men (after making sure you feel good in yourself, of course)?
Does This Make Me Look 
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