This is the me most of you are familiar with:

Earlier this year, after much thought and discussion, I decided to revisit the idea of having some blonde streaks in my hair. But adding that little bit of brightness didn’t bring me the same kind of satisfaction it did ten years ago. I felt like going just a little further out of my comfort zone, inspired by this fabulous woman:

I just couldn’t shake the idea of doing something drastic, although I wasn’t positive pink was the way to go.

Life is short, and most of us waste too much time worrying about propriety and conforming. As Arlene Dickinson said in the talk I attended the other night, “You wouldn’t spend so much time worrying about what other people thought of you if you realized how little they did.”

And so I decided it was time for a change, courtesy of my stylist Kay at Flaunt Boutique.

Once the bleach was on, there was no turning back. Stage one is platinum, and stage two is calming it down with some toner.

The last stage was committing to the colour I ultimately chose…violet!

And here is the final result:

I’m still getting used to the new me, but I feel great about this decision. How my mother is going to feel when she arrives from Australia for a visit at the end of the month is another matter!

Instead of worrying whether clients will still be able to take me seriously, I’m going to focus on a side benefit that just occurred to me: no more trying to think of how to describe myself to new clients looking for me at a restaurant or coffee shop!