Extreme Makeover: Tui Edition

Over the weekend I underwent somewhat of an extreme makeover. For nearly 22 years I have been a blonde, and in the last year or so I'd been getting progressively blonder. The weekend saw that change, for what may be for good. I became a brunette. This was for two reasons, one, to be less conspicuous during my solo travel in South East Asia in a few months time, and two, it is just too damn expensive to be (an artificial) blonde.

Prior to doing the deed, a late night discussion with friends raised the subject of how people seem to get treated differently, and also act differently themselves, depending on their hair colour. I was skeptical as to how different it could be so was tasked with social experimentation to see whether the hypothesis is correct or not. A few more nights out need to be had before any real conclusions can be reached but my findings so far are leaning towards me agreeing with the theory. I think a lot of it comes down to peoples preconceptions of how a hair colour reflects someones personality, which for me seemed silly as I’m the same person whatever hair colour I have, right? Not necessarily, to quote Louis, “since you have changed a fundamental element of your self image then that could have repercussive effects for how you then conceptualise the 'new' you”. And in addition to that, when people begin to treat you differently based on how the “new you” looks, consequently you are going to give an altered response in return.

I will however say that I’ve only had positive feedback since the change. In saying that, I am slightly doubtful if someone would be ballsy enough to say to me at this point that they liked the “old me” better. It’s definitely sparked some interesting responses though. For example “Holy crackers!”, “You look like a man eater now”, “Can I give you a compliment? You are beautiful” (from a random guy in a bar), “My little Tui is a woman now”, “Um Hi... OMG HI!!”, “Do we have a temp working today?” etc etc.

So if anyone is after a flood of compliments, change your hair colour, it’s a sure fire way to give the old ego a boost!