I decided to lighten up a bit and get it cut.  In my humble opinion, I prefer being a blond, but it was cool to see what I looked like with some brown.  I will say I was in shock for a good day because I never pictured myself as a brunette before. I understand that some in the albinism community are 100% against dying hair because some people use it as a way to hide their condition.  I dyed my hair back at the end of elementary school and middle school because I was being bullied every day for how I looked from age 10-13.  However, in 8th graded I realized I missed my nature hair color and stopped dying it.  Looking back, middle school itself is just difficult because everyone’s body is changing, but when you look “different” from the norm, those features are noticed much more frequently. Spending three years of my life as a strawberry blond is not something I’m proud of, but it is also important to point out that acceptance occurs in stages. In high school I just dyed my eyebrows, which gives me some color (again I do this this wear makeup).  I’m I was clearly in denial in middle school.  Nonetheless, I am disappointed that some members of the albinism community always assume that PWAs with dyed hair are always in denial.  I will say one of the benefits of super blond hair is that you can add whatever color you want sans bleach!  At 24, I dyed my hair for fun.  I mean I still had a lot of blond with a reverse ombré. (Plus one guy at NOAHcon thought it would be smart to say “Your roots are showing” and he wasn’t expecting me to respond “thanks I’m aware of them.”). The reality is people dye their hair all the time regardless if they have pigment or not.  Heck, my sister who is a natural brunette decided to add more red highlights in her hair for a couple of years without thinking about being in denial of how she naturally looked.  I’m sorry to write such a long post about this, but I want to make it clear why I decided to dye my hair and point out that hair dye can be a big deal to some PWAs.