I have never dyed my hair.

Now, maybe I’m showing my age, but hair dye for the young is a conundrum. Why dye colored hair? I have students who dye their hair more than I wash my jeans. Now, maybe that’s more an indicator of my lazy laundering habits than their indecisive hairstyles, but it doesn’t change the fact that they frequently make lightly those changes which I’ve always considered quite permanent.

Simultaneously, the more I teach my multi-hued pupils, the more single gray strands of hair I have found. That sophomore who got her ring tangled in the string of her thong during class and started freaking out (Help! Help! I’m stuck. . . . I’m really stuck!) in her otherwise all-male classroom? Yeah. . . that’s gotta be responsible for at least one gray strand. And that, my friends, is par for the course as far as a-day-in-the-life-of-Cakey goes. Thankfully, despite all gray-hair-inducing trauma (major or minor), at the ripe old age of 25 I am still nowhere near salt-n-pepper, but it does make a gal think. As an undyed-in-the-wool,  natural-hair-hue type of woman, what will I do when I really start crossing that bridge?

The world of hair dye presents some fascinating possibilities. I am curious . . do blondes really have more fun? Do gentlemen really prefer them? Is a ginger really so glamorous as Gilligan’s Island led me to believe? These are dangerous questions that can take a girl in daringly-dyed directions unless she’s careful.  So, you might ask, what is holding me back? What is my anti-DYE?

Past Precedent.

As a firm believer in learning from history,  all I have to do is reflect on famous dye-jobs and there-in lies my answer! 

#1: Marilyn Monroe

While famously blonde, and clearly an attractive one, Marilyn just looks better with her natural color.   

#2: Drew Barrymore

Drew Barrymore should ABSOLUTELY always stay brunette, don’t you think? 

#3: Judy Garland

Judy should NEVER have gone out for those blonde-ish tresses. . . not to mention the bangs.

#4: Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte was naturally gorgeous as a brunette. As a blonde she looks like she’s getting sick, don’t you think?

It’s simple fact: These ladies just look better brunette.

And that is my ANTI-dye.

For now.