Where Did that Red Hair Come From?!

For some unknown reason, Los Angeles seems to be light in the area of natural redheads. Seeing a redheaded child is pretty uncommon. So when Miss M, my first, was born with hair so red it could be called orange, she stood out in a crowd. It was really cool that she was unlike most other kids because it made her the center of attention and I had fun with that. It also had its disadvantages because I was talked into the whole "we need redheads for commercials and print ads so we need to get her an agent." We spent quite a bit on photos and getting an agent through John Robert Powers as a result. Despite hubby's objections, I insisted; I didn't want to look back when she was older and ask "what if…?" What a heap of crap that ended up being. Needless to say, we have a stack of ZED cards to wallpaper her room when she's older and no contracts to show for it. (Shut up hubby, I know you've got that "I told you so" laugh going right now.) I prefer to focus on the advantages of her red hair when I can. Repeat. When I can.

When I was little, my hair was orange also. As I got older, it started to lighten up into more of a strawberry blonde. Apparently it doesn't look at all red anymore because people would look at Miss M, look at hubby, look at me then ask "WHERE did that red hair come from?!" Pfft. At first, I politely responded "Ooh, We get that a lot. My hair was that color when I was little." It was tolerable the first hundred times. After that, it progressed to "Mine was that color before the kids made me grey."

These days, the red in my hair is mostly gone and has been replaced with lots of grey/white hair. Everyone says they think it is blonde (how polite)… with the exception of Miss K. Last March, MIL was in town for a visit and we all decided to go to lunch while Miss M was at preschool. As we're sitting in the booth, Miss K – 2½ at the time – decided to strike up a conversation about color. She pointed at MIL and said "Grammy, Your hair is black." Then she pointed at DH and said "Daddy, Your hair is black." Then she point at me and said "Mommy, Your hair is white." I thought DH was going to die from laughing. Before the end of MIL's visit, I had my hair colored at a salon.

Miss M's hair has already started to lighten up some so it's closer to red than orange. That, coupled with the fact that redheaded children are in full supply here in the Midwest, I don't get nearly the amount of questions as when we lived in Los Angeles. At least now the comments are about her hair color in general as opposed to its origins… that's so much more bearable than being forced to admit I'm getting old and grey!