Blonde: hair color or attitude to life?
After 30 years as a blonde, ChroniquesDuVasteMonde WOMAN author Meike Bruhns colored her hair brown - and suddenly everything was different
"Dyeing yourself is like buying a light bulb," Heidi Klum once said. She is right. How much, I realized half a year ago. I had turned off my light, on purpose. After more than 30 years as a blonde I had my hair chocolate brown. At brunettes I always liked the natural nonchalance with which they wear their hair color. Brown-haired are so unpretentiously beautiful. That's what I wanted to be too. At first I found that the dark hairs of my green-brown eyes lit up mysteriously and made my pale winter complexion appear noble, but that did not last long. Especially since nobody else noticed. To be honest, nobody noticed me at all.
Not only that my friends recognized me only on demand. No one on the street smiled at me or turned my head as I passed. Suddenly I was overlooked at the bakery, and police were no longer able to excuse traffic tickets. I felt different too. Graumäusiger, insecure and somehow mischievous. Blond, I quickly realized, is far more than just a color. It is a way of life. And a light, happy one.
The hair color blond is not for the shy
For most of us, blond is not a destiny, but a conscious decision. There is no reliance on the gene pool, as chances are worse than in the lottery. Of the six billion people in the world, just three million are blond by nature, and even many of them are eager to improve. Simply because you feel better and more confident when the hair is shining. "The great thing about bleaching is that you can change so little with so little," says English hair guru Orlando Pita, who once turned Madonna into a pop icon. The dark Miss Ciccone was still easy to miss, with the highlighted Material Girl it was even harder and impossible with the platinum blond "Blond Ambition" bombshell.
Blonde hair is not for the shy. They attract looks automatically. Like neon sign. How much I got used to the attention that a blonde woman experiences every day only became clear to me when she was suddenly absent. Especially since I had never understood myself as BLONDE. At least since blond women in the 90s replaced the East Frisians, the name has a similar aftertaste as the words Politesse or masseuse. I think Pamela Anderson is more of a blonde than Hillary Clinton, but they both have a lot in common: both are inherently dark, and the more successful they became, the brighter it became on their heads. Coincidence? Rather not. Maggie Thatcher grew more and more blonde the more powerful she became, and who looks at photos of Angela Merkel as environment minister, notices that the Chancellor is also getting bluer.
Careers can be made with this hair color.
Despite all blonde hair jokes, no other hair color can make such a good career, whether as a bathing-girl or a politician. What is the point of being good when nobody is looking? Although brunettes are considered smarter - and if so! The impression left by a smart blonde is all the greater. "Underestimating makes much easier in negotiations," says Dolly Parton, who has grown from being a poor-child to one of the most successful - and richest - women in popular music. Blond is not only an eye-catcher, it also raises confidence, researchers have found. That should be the eyes. On blue and green, the pupil looks bigger. That seems sympathetic.
Maybe that's why laundry detergents, cars and chocolates are better sold by blondes. Even brunette newscasters are not so often represented, and print magazines are more likely to blonde title girl than dark. This preference is already old. Titian, Tintoretto and Botticelli painted their goddesses with blond whale hair. Mary and the baby Jesus are mostly dark blond and buttery yellow on paintings. And in fairy tales, the one with the gold braids at the end always gets the prince.
80 percent want blonde hair
In order to have more fun in life, Roman women smeared lime in the hair in antiquity or weaved the blond curls of their Germanic slaves on their heads. Since the English pharmacist E. H. Thiellay and the Paris hairdresser Léon Hugo introduced their "Eau de fontaine de jouvence d'or", hydrogen peroxide, at the Paris World Fair in 1867, it has become easier for electoral blondes. Hairdressers all over the world live on the magic formula H2O2. Almost 80 percent of all customers, whether in New York, London, Los Angeles or Paris, want to be blonde.The Berlin star hairdresser Dieter Bonnstädter, ex-chief makeup artist of Yves St. Laurent and Versace, runs a "Blond-Dyer salon". Luckily, he says. Being blond is expensive. If you want to look noble, spend in Germany on average between 300 and 400 euros (!) A month, estimates Bonnstädter. The Germans are getting off lightly. In London, a dose of Edelblond costs up to 300 pounds, in New York up to 500 dollars. That läppert. If you do not want to see a dark approach, the woman is back in the salon after three weeks, all others are back after eight weeks at the latest.
But that's not all: being blonde is work. While brunettes can also let the styling grind, bleached hair wants to be permanently nurtured and cared for. "Otherwise it will look like straw," says stylist Bonnstädter sternly. Some of his blond celebrity customers come in between just to look after and blow dry. Because it looks more beautiful then. So why do women do, why am I doing this? Quite simply: The glamor factor of a blonde woman - assuming appropriate hair dryer and brush insert - is simply unmatched.
Film diva Jean Harlow was the first to make a career in Hollywood thanks to the brilliancy of her hair. In the black and white films of the thirties, her hair, bleached to cotton ball consistency, looked like a halo. Marilyn Monroe became platinum blonde for the timeless style icon. Marlene Dietrich, Anita Ekberg and Faye Dunaway are as dark-haired as hard to imagine as Hitchcock films without the blonds Grace Kelly, Kim Novak or Tippi Hedren. Catherine Deneuve, ChroniquesDuVasteMonde Bardot and Ursula Andress became dreamwomen of whole generations, not least because of their blond maiden teeth.
Gwyneth Paltrow's flaxen-haired smooth hair is actually darkly curled, Goldie Hawn's mane at best pale brown as well as those of Meg Ryan, Michelle Pfeiffer and the now short hair of Sharon Stone. Depending on the desired image change, it is sometimes darker, sometimes brighter. Because blond is not equal to blond for a long time.
Unlike redheads, blackhaired or brunettes, every blonde can choose her own as seen by others. Depending on whether it bleaches platinum-blond or gold-blonde, coarse-grained or fine, flutes or blows smooth, it can be cheap or noble, simple or smart, oblique or serious, ice cold or cuddly. Everything, without having to say a word. How much the tint can change the type, can be seen well at Julia Roberts. Between the elegant, lonely film diva Anna Scott from "Notting Hill" and the supermarket assistant lawyer "Erin Brockovich" are worlds apart. No matter which message a blonde decides, she can be sure that she will arrive. And that you will remember her. You do not believe that? Honestly: Do you still remember who the two dark angels were next to Farrah Fawcett, whose blond mane we will probably remember for a long time after her death?
But why is it that some blondes look like high society while others are super cheap? The secret, says blond expert Dieter Bonnstädter, lies in the dark. "The finer they are, the more they capture the light reflections, so the hairs look alive and very noble." Through-dyed or block-wise highlighted hair, on the other hand, can look cheap, especially if the woman is older than 30 and not a rock star. Thus, the young Madonna unit bleached super sexy, the 50-year-old colors and yawns.
"That's at least four colors," enthuses Bonnstädter, explaining: "Noble-haired hair looks as if it has naturally grown that way - only better." That's how I feel when I leave Dieter Bonnstädter's salon. Better. Much better. "Blond is addictive," the stylist had said in a conversation. "Once you have decided to do it, you will want that color again and again." Right. As the first heads move in my direction on the way back to the office, I know exactly: no more brunette experiments!
Care tips for blonde hair
Your bright strands look dull or shimmer green? Whether your hair is natural blond or chemically lightened: chlorine, seawater, product and limescale deposits can cover it like a dark veil. In contrast, care products with purple or golden pigments help to neutralize the unwanted glow and bring the blond underneath again (eg "Blonde Glam Color Enhancer" for either platinum or ash blond hair from Redken).
You would like to become blonde? Perfect for those who just want to get a bit lighter and not become the hydrogen blonde, shampoos and conditioners with natural chamomile and citrus extracts (eg "Sheer Blonde Go Blonde" shampoo by John Frieda). Each time you refresh the color a little more and after about three washes the difference can be seen.
You want more volume? Most blondes have a lot, but thin hair. Is that too strained and needs extensive care, it is also weighted and hang flat down. Meanwhile, there are more and more products that are extra light (eg."Gliss cure Total Repair weightless shampoo" by Schwarzkopf or "Elvital repair & fullness 5" by L'Oréal Paris). To remove stubborn care or styling residues gently from the hair, special deep cleansing shampoos are ideal (eg "Pur & Invigorating Shampoo" from Guhl).
