A Blonde Dark Skin Living Her Best Life

The dark skinned women can’t wear blonde train, at least on twitter, is still chugging along strong, fueled by healthy doses of misogynoir and the need to police women’s appearances. It’s been backed by several pseudo arguments- blonde hair is white culture; blonde hair is ratchet; the usual round up of things you one has come to expect on topics relating to dark skinned women wearing anything really (odd, isn’t it?). But, my response to it all is that I’m out here living my best life as a #blondedarkskin .

I remember the day I got this wig, (It is a wig, btw sorry if that wasn’t clear) I’d walked into my local beauty supply store looking for my favorite 60 inch Marley braid hair to relive my empress twists days. The way the store was set up, you had to pass by all the wigs to get to the back board that the braiding hair was hung up on. On my way through that hallway of Remi, Peruvian and FreeTress Equal, my eyes caught two blonde wigs just chilling on their mannequin heads, and I knew my Marley braids and I would have to reschedule.

I tried on the first wig, it was a super light blonde- think Danaerys Targaryen- and I lowkey loved it. It was such a stunning contrast against my skin and I liked the length but I also really wanted to try honey blonde too. I tried this one on and was immediately sold on it. I liked how the undertones of gold in this color brought out the gold in my skin; and I also appreciated the dark roots ombre-ing into the blonde color because it made it look a touch more natural. I bought it with no hesitation, and it became the third addition to my growing wig collection.

The hair is by Outre, it’s called the Jada wig, and the color is DR4/27 I believe. It originally came down quite long, about 20 inches or so but I gave it this blunt cut because the synthetic hair coupled with that length was just a tad too much heat for me.

I’ve had this wig for about two months now, and have worn it in boiling Accra weather, sweating into it all around my neck et al but it’s still in fantastic condition. I am super impressed especially considering it’s a synthetic wig.

Back to my point about black/dark women and blonde though, I hope this post inspires you to try it if you’ve been wanting to but have been afraid to. I, myself, was always worried about how it would look on me and didn’t think it could be flattering but seeing so many other dark women post their blonde photos on twitter and instagram gave me the confidence that I needed to give it a shot.

The world we live in sometimes works so hard to keep dark black women ashamed of how we look or forever confined to certain prescriptions of self adornment to look acceptable but I say truly, forget that. I think it’s important to feel in charge of your body and your appearance, and to be able to experiment with how you look. So if you’ve always wanted to try red hair, or try dressing like a minimalist or wear only boho chic accessories- do it because it makes you feel confident and happy, and don’t worry too much about it.

As always, sending you love and light,

Amoafoa.