Making You Feel Blue

I recently underwent life-saving emergency surgery that required blood and plasma transfusions. Once I recovered enough, I went to a hair salon and dyed some of my hair electric blue, as it was something I have never tried before and I figured, “Why not? Life’s short.” The crown portion of my hair is still my natural color (a dark, dark brown that looks pretty close to black) so the blue portion “peeks out” from under the black layers. Many people have offered their compliments, while others point out that it’s “different” without adding to it, meaning they don’t like it, but they don’t want to be rude. This lady at the store I was in, however, had a different approach.

Customer: *Looking mildly disgusted* “Blue hair?”

Me: *Keeping my usual positive attitude* “Yeah, I like it a lot! And to be honest, I wasn’t sure if it was going to look the way I had imagined when I got it done.”

Customer: “And what does your mother think about you having blue hair?”

She put a lot of emphasis on the “mother” portion, and she was now looking at me as if to make me feel ashamed. I realized she probably thought I was still in high school, as I do look rather young for my age.

Me: *Same positive attitude* “Well, since I’m a thirty-two-year-old, grown-a** woman, she doesn’t really care much.”

I heard a snicker from someone else nearby. The lady then tried to go poker face, but she was already flushing red as she walked away with a mixture of bitterness and embarrassment. I’m still getting compliments on my hair, so this look may just be here to stay.