I Went Black Girl Blonde And I'm Never, Ever Going Back

I Went Black Girl Blonde And I'm Never, Ever Going Back

I'm a black girl who always, always wanted to be blonde. Not white woman, Marilyn-blonde. It wasn't a projection thing. No, I remember, at a very young age, wanting specifically to be Tina Turner blonde. Needing to be this.

I watched Motown 25 and saw vintage footage of caramel-skinned Mary Wells singing "My Guy" with a towering, wedding cake of a honey-hued bouffant wig, and felt like that look was my calling. And then later, in the late Nineties, when Mariah, J. Lo, and Tyra made the all-over tawny-toned moment so sexy -- you know, hair color that's practically identically to your skin color (golden-bronze skin, golden-bronze hair) -- I decided that was it.

I was born with the wrong hair. My dark brown, chestnut-blah locks were a mistake. I was supposed to have hair like "Crazy in Love" Beyoncé, dammit.

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