The Purple Hair Effect

Aug 1, 2017

 

I have a paragraph on my life coaching page that says

 

“Women I’ve worked with talk about becoming ‘The New Me.’ They get outside more, they get in touch with the exquisite language of their bodies, they try meditating, and sometimes they dye their hair purple. Women I know who have traversed this path of alignment talk about feeling calm, free, light, courageous and empowered. They feel like they’ve stopped striving for the sake of striving, and they talk about feeling truly alive again.”

And I think I wrote it – at least the purple hair part – because one of the quirky side-effects of my own transition into alignment was the compulsion to dye my hair some crazy-ass colours.

What it represented was my untethering.

 

My unhooking from what a woman in her mid-thirties with a “day job” (not to mention the two kids, a minivan and a house in the ‘burbs) should look like.

As I navigated my own alignment, I was beginning to find an unbridled version of myself that would not only sport purple hair but would go skinny dipping or dance under a full moon, if I felt so inclined.

Purple hair represented a natural rebelliousness that arises in women who get in touch with a deep sense of alignment and authenticity: this devil-may-care, expectations-shucking wild woman who follows her intuition and Does The Thing, even when it’s scary.

And the funny thing is this:

the purple hair thing is not just a turn of phrase; not merely a cute metaphor.

 

Several times now I’ve met with or called clients who have giddily announced, “I dyed my hair purple!!!” – enough so that I’m beginning to think this is a thing.  

That sense of renewed vitality, purpose and a smattering of rebelliousness that comes with finally feeling truly aligned and authentic in your life is immensely freeing…

…and deserves to be acknowledged with physical proof of your courage and wildheartedness.