The first time I dyed my hair a non-traditional color was at a party during freshman year of high school.  It was that lovely age where a party could have both cheesy decorations and alcohol (a combination that I wouldn’t see much of again until adulthood) and somehow I realized that the dye from the streamers would bleed when wet.  In my state of inhibition-free brilliance and creativity, I speculated that dampening the streamers and running them through my hair would make beautiful red streaks.  I was correct!  When I sobered up, I realized my mom would be furious (also correct!), but thus began my love affair with candy-colored hair.

And yet, it was years before I’d make a permanent commitment to the look.  In college, I was far too focused on running and academics to bother with such “superficial” things as beauty, dating, or partying (I got it out of my system, at least temporarily, in high school), and although I started being fun again in law school, I never went beyond clip-in strands.  And a junior tax/finance associate looking any more unconventional than I did already?  No way.  My clothes and my untamed curly hair were pushing the boundaries already.

But freed from those shackles as a newly fun-employed lawyer, I decided during my second week in Alaska to dye my entire head of hair hot pink!

The zoo was, fortunately, the closest I got to any personal encounters with a bear.

It’s tough to tell because my hair was wet – I got caught in the rain at the rescue zoo, but was unwilling to leave – but the shade was awesome.  I was thrilled with it.  I purposely purchased the stuff that would be washed out by the time I got back to Atlanta, though, because I wanted my beloved friend and trusted hairstylist Heather (at Bubbles, if you are in the metro-Atlanta area, and especially if you have naturally curly hair) to give me a permanent look.

Apparently I’m taking my style cues from Disney teeny-boppers now, because I messaged her this picture of Selena Gomez as my style inspiration:

The Biebs’ girlfriend (right?) but an undeniably gorgeous girl.  I added that I wanted a lot more purple chunks.  We had to bleach out my naturally reddish/dark brown hair, dye it overall a blueish-black shade, and add in the wild purple streaks, a process that took several hours.  But I’m thrilled with the results.  In keeping with my theme of crappy cell phone pics that don’t do the reality justice:

I am so glad that I finally went ahead with it!  And it inspired this collection of gals rocking the brightly colored hair look, presented with only one further comment:  if you’ve been mulling it over for a while, love the look, but are waiting for the “right time”… you have it on my official authority (ha!), the right time to do it is now!

A full head of purple that is subtle enough to look elegant.

The Olsen twins look amazing!

Blondes with pink hair steal my heart

Peacock hair color – turquoise, jade, royal blue, purples, etc. (via)

Blondes with pink hair : Brunettes with blue hair

Could Rihanna look any more badass? So sexy. (via)

Subtle teal streaks in dark curls. She is too pretty. (via)

Kickass dark green hair (via)

Silvery-blue streaks in black hair (via)

Haley Williams (Paramore) always looks awesome

[Addendum: I have no idea how I screwed up the html on this so badly. I apologize for the jacked up appearance of the picture layout. I'd keep trying to fix it... but it's Saturday and I'd rather lay on my ass and watch Supernatural, and then go drink. Lo siento.]