B-Blonde is as Blonde Does

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.

 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?