The first time that I dyed my hair was in 8^th grade, 6 years ago, where my almond color hair turned orange, not a pretty fall sunset orange, but a carrot-fresh-out-of-the-ground orange. It was not a pleasant sight to see. But I kept it, despite the major similarity to looking like there was an Oompa Loompa party happening on my head. All throughout high school, I kept that hair color while my natural hair began to grow out, until there were 5 months left in my senior year of high school. My hair had grown to the middle of my back, the longest that I had ever had it, but with the bottom half still being the shade of a weird orange color and the top being a luscious almond color, I knew that it was time for a change. I cut 6 inches off my hair, where it began to just brush the top of my shoulders.

With my new haircut, I felt that I could conquer the world, but knew there was something missing, so 2 weeks after graduation, I dyed it an electric, vibrant blue. The dramatic change soon gave me the confidence to have my hair in various shades of blue, green, red, pink, and purple. Since that first jump into the world of wild hair colors, I haven’t gone back.

Here are 3 reasons why you should take the jump too:

1. Major Confidence Booster

Now I’m not talking about any old confidence boost, I’m talking this-will-make-you-feel-like-Beyoncé’s-rendition-of-Single-Ladies confidence boost. While having your hair a crazy color will make hair flips like Beyoncé much more entertaining, it will also boost your confidence to an entire new level. 3 weeks after I dyed my hair blue, I had a major leadership conference to attend, I was worried that various, very important, business people would not take me seriously due to my crazy, but flawless hair color, but I was very wrong. My confidence began to soar when I would receive compliments or walk into a room seeing that I was the only one to take this dramatic risk. That’s the thing about confidence, it begins to reach new heights when you begin to do things to please yourself, not those around you, and I was on cloud nine with my blue-haired confidence.

2. Become More Carefree

Learning to not care what others think about you is a long, never-ending road that is full of frustration. Dyeing my hair has taught me to not care what complete strangers, or even friends and family, think about your appearance because if it makes you happy, that is the only thing that will ever matter. Though there have been those who are negative about my hair choices, it has only shown me that being your true self will make you the most beautiful version of yourself.

3. Positive Influence

This change will have such a positive impact on your life and perhaps even your outlook on life. Suddenly, I found myself no longer caring. No longer caring about what others thought about my outward appearance, realizing that if they were true to their word in loving me, that they would not care about my hair, and would continue to love and care about me. This newfound positivity in my life soon gave me the courage to take other simple risks, such as wearing more dramatic makeup or changing up my wardrobe a bit. I have fallen in love with the new positivity that has begun to blossom into my life, just from a simple box of hair dye.

Before this journey of unicorn inspired hair, I always thought to myself, “Why can’t I be the courageous risk taker that stands out in a crowded room?” well, I now look back at that and realize we all have the power to take risks to boost out confidence and positivity, we just need to take that faithful leap into the unknown and see what happens. I can say that maybe dyeing your hair a crazy color isn’t for everyone, but believe me when I say that doing something out of the “norm” to boost your own outlook on life is. So go out there beautiful people and take a little risk because it will be worth every single penny.