I’m not a natural blonde. My hair color isn’t even blondish. It’s light brown. The kind of light brown that absorbs light instead of reflects it. Maybe you’ll get a few highlights on a very very very sunny day. But otherwise, it likens more to the color mud than anything else. Swamp mud.
Needless to say, my natural hair color makes me look naturally gross. My skin looks paler, dark circles more apparent and my eyes- which are blue but not crystal blue- more like cobalt blue (or that blue that sometimes looks black?) seem to reduce in size when paired with my natural color. People have to look closely when I tell them I have blue eyes. And then they’re like ‘oh yeeeah! You do have blue eyes’. My eyes are, in a word, unremarkable.
However, blond hair does good things for me. So I stick with it.
That said, even though I’m not a natural blond, I’ve still managed to be the butt of a few ‘dumb blond’ jokes. (there really is no way to escape them is there?)
On one such occasion, however, I totally brought it on myself.
When I was seventeen I borrowed my boyfriend’s car. It was a big boat of a thing and I was used to driving my parent’s tiny Plymouth Sundance, so naturally when I got spooked by an oncoming car, I chose to veer off the road down a small forested incline instead of stay in my lane. (logical, right?)
At just that moment, a couple of guys drove by and helped me out- got the car back on the road. I thanked them profusely, got back inside, and proceeded to drive the rest of the way home...
..with the parking break up.
..with the parking break up.
I totally burned through the back tires. I didn’t know what the noise or difficulty was!!?- I’d never used a parking break!
When my (then) boyfriend took his car to be repaired he explained that his girlfriend was the culprit. The mechanic laughed and asked “Is she blonde- with a name that ends in an ‘e’ sound? Cathy? Sheri? Stacey?”
“Katie,” he replied morosely.
Apparently the mechanic’s girlfriend had done the same thing to him years ago and they had a good laugh at my expense.
The bastards.
But I suppose I can’t really blame them.
Anyone else have a moment that gave blonds a bad name?
42 comments:
Blonde looks good on you! I never would've thought you weren't a natural!
I've always thought this stereotype was kind of silly, but your experience is rather funny. From a psychological perspective, this is an example of the illusory correlation; people who believe in the "dumb blonde" myth attend to instances where blondes do silly things, but probably not as much to instances where people with other hair colors do silly things. And I agree that blonde looks great on you.
Go ahead blame them, blame is good for the soul :)
Wagging Tales - Blog for Writers
Blondes (natural or otherwise) are beautiful!!! Yay for them even those whose names ends in e! Raspberries to silly car mechanics! :-) Take care
x
LOL! how funny! Hmm, I've never really been blonde. Only for a very short amount of time. It looked horrible on me. My natural colour is exactly like yours. But I dye it black :o) I think it's the chemicals in the dye that makes me do stupid things. lol
Blonde is definitely your color! And yes, the dumb blonde jokes have followed me my whole life (especially at the mechanics), and not because I did anything particularly stupid, but because that's just what people think.
Blond looks great on you! Anyway, the dumb blond thing can be a handy excuse when you want to get away with something... that's what I've found. "Oh, I didn't realize I couldn't/had to..."
If people are going to stereotype, might as well take advantage!
I think that a lot of 'blonde moments' are confirmation bias. But then, I haven't been blond since my hair got really sun-bleached when I was six, (if then.)
I used to wish to be a blonde, and now that I have long streaks of WHITE (not gray... white) in my dark, dark brown hair, it gives me a salt and pepper look. For a while I dyed my hair a deep auburn, but in the end, kept returning to my roots. Haha. Sorry about the pun.
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I like what Sarah said about only remembering the episodes which confirm the blonde bias -- and conveniently forgetting all the instances of blonde genius!
I would not have guessed you weren't naturally blonde! You certainly look it.
My natural color is the same as my daughters -- dark, dark, dark brown. I've lightened it up to reddish brown. I tried going back, but I think it makes my face look old and washed out.
My best friend is blonde and she's pretty much one of the smartest people I know. Her math skills astound me! But of course she's been the butt of many dumb blonde jokes. Some stereotypes are hard to escape.
You totally look like a natural blonde, btw!
Katie, I'm as brunette as can be, and I've done/said my share of stupid things. For example, there was a huge power outage the last time my husband and I went to Aruba, which meant our hotel was unairconditioned for the better part of three hours. We went out to the only restaurant with a functioning kitchen and as we at our dinner outdoors, a van drove by with the door wide open. When my husband asked, "Why the heck are they driving with the door open?", I blurted out, "It must be hot in the car with no airconditioning." Except, yeah, cars don't need electricity in order to have airconditioning.
I realized my mistake as soon as I said it, but my husband has never let me live it down! And- unlike you, I'd look terrible as a blonde!
Sounds like something I would do. haha.
Curse, kick myself, and desperately try to cover my natural blonde :-/
~2
I never would have guessed you were anything but blonde. My friend that is a blonde does some pretty crazy stuff, but her color isn't natural so I don't think that counts.
I had to laugh at this...I am not a blonde but a couple of weeks ago I went to the eye dr. and he prescribed new contacts. I put them in to test them and toldhim I could NOT see a thing. We couldn't figure it out and finally he asked me where my old contacts were and it dawned on me I'd left them in...he said to me, 'it's lucky you aren't blonde'
haha..funny dR.!
:)
Happy A to Z!
HAHAHAHAHA! I almost spit out my coffee when I got to the “Is she blonde- with a name that ends in an ‘e’ sound? Cathy? Sheri? Stacey?” part. Excellent story.
Sorry, natural redhead here. But I'm thinking about dying my hair a darker shade of red, then getting lots of blonde highlights, almost to the point you see two colors. What do you think? Could I qualify for blonde on odd days of the week maybe?
MM the Queen of English
Lol. So funny. Well, at least your name’s not Bambi or Candy, those names when combined with a light hair color tend to be the butts of the most blonde jokes.
I think you look great as a blond and the pic clearly shows you have BLUE eyes. You're also a very funny blond, much like one of my co-workers, named Leah (brother Luke, ha, ha)who never fails to make us laugh with some of the stories she shares - some of which her bf might not entirely appreciate her sharing! But they're funny! The two of you are very entertaining :)
I can't imagine you as anything other than a blond, Katie. I'm blonde (both natural and enhanced) and have never minded blond jokes. If we can't laugh at ourselves then who can we laugh at. :)
Since I'm sitting here with dye on my hair, I can relate. Not that I'm a blonde. I'm a redhead. Hated it in high school and dyed my hair black. Sort of a greenish black. Totally Goth. Now that my hair is, um, aging, I try desperately to recreate that red I used to have. Funny how we're never happy with what we've got.
Plenty, my friend, plenty of moments. But I'm too smart to divulge, haha. I love this story. You look great by the way. I know what you mean about needing highlights though, I'm the same way.
I always wished I had been blonde...my hair and eyebrows are really dark!! I would have been a hilarious blonde, you on the other hand look like you were born blonde.
I’m now following you on GFC and I hope you have a chance to check out my blog!
Monica
http://oldermommystillyummy.blogspot.com/
LOL...that was a funny experience, and you really look like a natural blonde.
Well, just wait until you're gray headed like myself. Won't be any blond jokes--they'll all be "you must of had a senior moment". By they way, I drove around with my parking brake on way before my hair began to fade.
I'm not a female blonde. In fact, I'm a male brunette. (Though we ARE both English teachers and writers.) But I've done some seriously dumb things. Let's see, what's not toooo embarrassing? When I was in the 6th grade, after I watched some kids using pens as pea shooters, I did something very embarrassingly stupid with some peas and my nose. We'll just leave it at that. Suffice it to say, my creativity didn't work. Good luck with your writing!!!
I have countless blonde moments, including yelling at people I thought were someone else, dropping my phone in the toilet because I thought it was a great idea to store it in my cleavage, walking into random walls at work and then apologizing, backing into friend's cars...I'm such a spaz.
You definitely look like a natural blonde. It's your colour. I'm not even blonde and I can remember having some blonde moments, so I'm not entirely sure it's a "blonde" thing.
When I was a kid I had pale blonde curls. They sort of melted into a light brown. Now, my first daughter has dark hair and dark eyes like her mother.
My second has light eyes, and pale blonde hair... I have to carry a picture of myself at the age of 3 to prove that she looks like me.
Matt Conlon dot com
Matt's Brew Log
Hi, Nice to meet you and thanks for stopping by for a visit. No so much blonde moments, being that there are so many blondes here in Norway. I hear more often, "Oh, she's American"
On another note:Sharing this post to all I come across with word verification-***** I want to read and visit as many people participating in the A-Z challenge but there are over 1000 participants. Awesome yes, possible for me to visit every person, every day...no. Do the world a huge favor and take off your word verification. If you don't know how to do that...click the following link to learn how. Thanks! *****
http://www.jenneethompson.com/2011/01/stop-killing-me.html
Nice to meet a fellow A-Z'er :) I love your blog design, and of course your first 2 posts in the A-Z challenge :) They're so much fun to read :) Thank you for sharing your blonde-moment :)
Hi Siv, I did take it off for a short period and recieved tons of spam. It didn't show up here but my email was full of it and those who recieved my blog updates's emails were full of it. So I put it back on. I'll try taking it off again and we'll see what happens...
Hi Katie
Good to make your acquaintance. Thanks for following me. Best of luck with the challenge and look forward to following you and your writing progress.
warm wishes
Debbie
x
My daughter is blonde. Last year we were looking out at our backyard. It was fall and the colors were turning and we witnessed a beautiful sunset. Two deer walked into our yard. They were beautiful and enjoyed a few moments, before they wandered off. The next morning, my daughter found me looking out the window. "Mom, it isn't time for the deer yet". I couldn't stop laughing and later explained. I loved her blonde moment~
I'm not blonde, but had the parking brake stick and had to drive home with it on. My Dad was not happy...I can remember this day, vividly!Sometimes my name is Ellie lol
I'm lucky enough to have only known one blonde who conforms to the 'dumb blonde' stereotype, and to be fair she is a perfect counterbalance to the number of blondes I know who are definitely not (though they may not be natural.... It's a conspiracy!)
younger daughter is blonde; when i catch her doing/saying something dumb, she says: shut up, dad, i'm having a blonde moment! :P lol
LOL you poor thing...
I was a blonde all through high school and it just naturally darkened..
I'm a new follower & a-z challenger :)
www.breannaanddave.blogspot.com
I'm a natural blond and too lazy to color it, yet. So far the light color helps camouflage the gray.
Although I possess a thick piece of paper with my name and the letters PhD after it, I've had my share of blond moments. Most recently I fell for an obvious April Fool's joke by my evil, evil husband-which then went on the blog. So there.
I'm not blonde, but I once drove halfway from London to Stonehenge in a rental car with the parking brake on. I had determined to go back and complain about the car before I realized my mistake. Fortunately I discovered it on my own.
I'd blame the whole "driving on the wrong side thing" but I'm sure that had nothing to do with it.
Dan
Don't let their words get you down. As long as you prove yourself and become better at what you do, and the fame and fortune come rolling, you will be the one to have the last laugh.
There is no one who hasn't suffered insults at one point or another, either racially, through gender bias at work, stereotypying and so on.
My natural color falls somewhere between blond and brown. Who are we kidding it could go either way. So I use it to my advantage. "I'm not boring I'm blond." Or "I'm not dumb, I'm a brunette."
this is a test, this is only a test
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