I am not extremely spontaneous. I think the seed was planted three years ago at Starbucks when a colleague and I discussed whether or not a female minister in her 30s could pull it off and/or get away with it. She challenged me and said that of course it was OK, her mother is also a minister and she had seen female pastors who had done it. I was going to a women's clergy conference the next week and was to report back to her on the number of Pastors I saw who had dyed their hair an "unnatural color". I was actually quite surprised at how many ladies, young and old, who were ministers in several denominations similar to mine, who had blue, pink and purple hair. When I told her she smiled at me and said, "So what's stopping you." I did not really have an answer. I just felt that it was not "right" for me. It was not apart of my clergy image. I was the pastor who wore heels and a suit every Sunday, not the pastor with blue hair (and a nose ring - something my roommate from college still has, but I could not bring myself to do, even then).
I have never been a "wild and crazy" girl. I am generally a rule follower and definitely not a trend setter. I am a 5.0 petite woman. Who is commonly mistaken for someone at least 15 years younger than I am. No one believes that I am turning 40 at the end of the summer. I have always worked to look and act like someone those around me can respect. Someone who can garnish the authority needed to lead a church. In pastoral ministry I have worked to gain credibility and respect. I wear heels to give me the height that most grown women have. I wear suits when it is not the norm for my congregation, so that when a visitor walks into the congregation knows which person is in charge and does not mistake me for anyone other than Pastor.
These past six months, when I have been seriously dreaming and planning about my sabbatical and what I was going to do with myself for three months. It was February I think when I asked a fellow minister on my district. "Do you think I could dye my hair this summer?" "You know like green or blue or purple." Her response was an enthusiastic, "YES."
So for months now I have been planning, the week after District Assembly, my first week of Sabbatical I was going to dye my hair. I have a Pinterest board and everything of the colors I have been considering and of how I wanted it to look. Several of my friends knew I was planning on doing it and a couple of people from my church. My hair is the longest it has been in four or five years, so if I don't like it I will get a pixie cut and be done with it.
It is "electric teal." I had it professionally done. I did not want to look like I rubbed a jolly rancher in my hair. It took much longer than I expected. And I was a bit nervous. My hairdresser would not let me look in the mirror until he was completely finished and I had butterflies in my stomach the whole time he blow dried it. And then he did a big reveal. He did just the under layer, so if my hair is down, you can almost tell that there is teal under there but you would have to be looking. If I pull my hair up, the under layer is TEAL!
It is completely different, I know it sounds silly but this is me living on the edge. And there is a small part of me that wonders what some people will think. But the fact is I LOVE it. It is so fun and so eccentric and really is me stepping out and doing something different. Trying something new.
Marking my sabbatical as a time that is completely set apart. There are so many things that mark this time as set a part, but I think, for me this is the most tangible. I have teal hair. I am no working to portray authority, power, respectability. I am trying something new, seeing if it is me. Until the most "out there" thing I have done was to get a pixie cut, something else I loved and will most likely do again (that was my "if I hate it" plan for the hair dye). I know some people do much crazier things the but THIS is me wild and crazy. This is me stepping out on a limb, trying something new, being adventurous. And I like the crazy me. I like the adventure. This is fun. And I know there will be people who disapprove, or don't like it, or think that this is a bit much for a woman on the cusp of 40, but you know, let them think that. This not nothing irreparable, it is not even permanent. It is fun and it is for now and right now. I have sabbatical hair.
I have never been a "wild and crazy" girl. I am generally a rule follower and definitely not a trend setter. I am a 5.0 petite woman. Who is commonly mistaken for someone at least 15 years younger than I am. No one believes that I am turning 40 at the end of the summer. I have always worked to look and act like someone those around me can respect. Someone who can garnish the authority needed to lead a church. In pastoral ministry I have worked to gain credibility and respect. I wear heels to give me the height that most grown women have. I wear suits when it is not the norm for my congregation, so that when a visitor walks into the congregation knows which person is in charge and does not mistake me for anyone other than Pastor.
These past six months, when I have been seriously dreaming and planning about my sabbatical and what I was going to do with myself for three months. It was February I think when I asked a fellow minister on my district. "Do you think I could dye my hair this summer?" "You know like green or blue or purple." Her response was an enthusiastic, "YES."
So for months now I have been planning, the week after District Assembly, my first week of Sabbatical I was going to dye my hair. I have a Pinterest board and everything of the colors I have been considering and of how I wanted it to look. Several of my friends knew I was planning on doing it and a couple of people from my church. My hair is the longest it has been in four or five years, so if I don't like it I will get a pixie cut and be done with it.
It is "electric teal." I had it professionally done. I did not want to look like I rubbed a jolly rancher in my hair. It took much longer than I expected. And I was a bit nervous. My hairdresser would not let me look in the mirror until he was completely finished and I had butterflies in my stomach the whole time he blow dried it. And then he did a big reveal. He did just the under layer, so if my hair is down, you can almost tell that there is teal under there but you would have to be looking. If I pull my hair up, the under layer is TEAL!
It is completely different, I know it sounds silly but this is me living on the edge. And there is a small part of me that wonders what some people will think. But the fact is I LOVE it. It is so fun and so eccentric and really is me stepping out and doing something different. Trying something new.
Marking my sabbatical as a time that is completely set apart. There are so many things that mark this time as set a part, but I think, for me this is the most tangible. I have teal hair. I am no working to portray authority, power, respectability. I am trying something new, seeing if it is me. Until the most "out there" thing I have done was to get a pixie cut, something else I loved and will most likely do again (that was my "if I hate it" plan for the hair dye). I know some people do much crazier things the but THIS is me wild and crazy. This is me stepping out on a limb, trying something new, being adventurous. And I like the crazy me. I like the adventure. This is fun. And I know there will be people who disapprove, or don't like it, or think that this is a bit much for a woman on the cusp of 40, but you know, let them think that. This not nothing irreparable, it is not even permanent. It is fun and it is for now and right now. I have sabbatical hair.
These are from yesterday, right after I had it done.
But, TODAY my hair matches my outfit.
Squeeeee.
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