Colour Me Happy
LOVE IS THE BEST MEDICINE COLUMN
I love experimenting with hair colour.
It might have been different if I’d been born with honey blonde hair, or midnight black, or rich chestnut, or flame red – then I would have been a very happy naturalist.
But being born with what I call medium-grade rat – not too light, not too dark, not too interesting, not too anything other than indistinct – I’ve felt no compunction to stick with the colour I was born with. And I have to say, the urge to whack on a scalp full of dye and see what happens, purely because my own colour is not so fabulous, is something I’ve come to appreciate. Put simply: change is fun.
Over the years, I’ve been through most of the traditional colours – variegated browns, every red from burgundy to copper to strawberry, a smorgasbord of blonde from gold to platinum, and the darkest shade of chocolate through to blue black. I’ve done two-tone, highlights, lowlights, permanents and semis, flirted with deep purple rinses and had a few pinkish moments.
In fact, there was a period of my life where I went through so many colour changes, my work colleagues joked I must have been in the witness protection program! When I look back at photos of myself from those days, I’m torn between laughing and wincing. But the truth is, I regret not one thing.
Which is probably why I enjoy plotting my characters’ hair. Fair or dark? Naturally, or by choice? Short or long? Straight, wavy, curly? Neat or tangled? Do they spend time worrying about their hair, or dash a comb through it and go? Fiddle with it or leave it alone once it’s done? Like or loathe going to the hairdresser?
Just answering those questions, I already have an idea about my characters. And in the interests of full disclosure, I’m going to answer those questions about myself:
Naturally dark Fair by choice
Depends on the month but currently collar-length
Wavy
Tangled
Fiddler extraordinaire
Like the hairdresser, but it’s about the ends result, not the experience
At the moment, I’m sporting a mid-range bob in red gold (I think it’s a reaction to writing a few too many redheaded heroines, and perhaps a little obsession with Demelza Poldark). I am, however, already thinking ahead to early 2016 when I’m contemplating going pixie blonde (think Mia Farrow in the 1960s).
Is it a coincidence that the heroine I’m currently writing sports a baby blonde pixie cut? Hmm, I’m starting to see a pattern. I’d love to hear if you’re a naturalist or an experimenter. Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with one of my most recent redheaded heroines…
He suggested a ‘friends with benefits’ arrangement…
It was going to be:
Two nights a week
Strictly confidential
One month only…
It might have been his proposition, but lawyer Kate Cleary is so buttoned up she whips out a contract for them both to sign! Seeing her in her high heels and stockings, all Scott Knight can do is sign and quickly move on to the implementation stage!
Kate couldn’t be more jaded about relationships. After all, she’s in the business of ending marriages! Millionaire architect Scott might be seriously sexy, but he’s also a complicated enigma—one she’s quickly becoming determined to solve…even if that means breaking the terms of her own watertight contract…
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