What's wrong with black hair?

Ever since I was 16, I've been doing various types of Inquisition-style torture to my hair, such as dyeing, relaxing, highlighting, rebonding, dyeing... Everyone knows that the hair maketh a person - not the clothes. I could be wearing something really gorgeous but if I had hay for a hairstyle, it sort of cancels out the effect.

My hair hasn't been black for a very long time. It has gone from red (no Mahogany) to brown (Golden Blond) which shocked my mother half to death. Up til 5 years ago, they were so against me dyeing my hair that everytime I came home from a new hairjob they'd grumbled for ages. Now? Hmph! They'd shared a bottle of those over the counter type of dye to "cover the whites ma..." Whatever happened to "It will spoil your hair you know, and cause your hair to drop, maybe even cause cancer leh"?

I've been fighting the urge to visit the salon again, mainly out of habit. It's weird looking into the mirror and seeing a massive mane of black hair staring back at me. Yeah, when it's that long and thick and wavy and frizzy, it becomes massive. Like Medusa, only black. One of my classmates first commented on my hair when she came in from the back of the classroom and couldn't find me :"My God, I was looking for blond streaks... what happened to them?" Soon, another one commented :"Did you dye your hair black? It looks nice. Very punk." Months later, another :"Eh you dye your hair black is it? Looks funny leh." And then finally this evening :"You did something to your hair. You dyed it black? Go highlight la, better."

I mean, here I am, trying to save money (and my hair) and these people are trying to break the wall of my determination. J isn't exactly my pillar of strength either. "You look better with highlights. Black hair looks cheena (cina)." Hellooo? Last time I checked I was Chinese.

Sigh. I'm just trying to be stubborn. Back from my Bangkok trip in August, I know I'd be dragging my feet to the salon like a defeated soldier and begging the stylist to "Please torture my hair til it turns colour."