Making yourself over - do you ever change your look?

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Do you ever change how you look?

I've done it a couple times over the years because I've gotten so bored or restless... not with my look specifically but with life. I'm a redhead but I've recently dyed my hair black. It hasn't been black since high school when I did the industrial music pre-goth vampire thing as part of my rebellious obsessed-with-death phase. I'm not reverting back to listening to Rage Against the Machine or NIN - but would actually like to grab some Soundgarden from iTunes now that I'm thinking of it - and it's a more appropriately raven haired adult woman look. I've learned how to do brunette make-up and bought the different palette of cosmetics. I even switched from Calvin Klein's Obsession to Tommy Hilfiger's TommyGirl perfume. (Scent is a big sensory thing with me.) I'm currently trying to economically shift my wardrobe from happy cowgirl a-line skirts and friendly tank tops to a bit more country rock 'n roll. I would really like to get the tattoo that I've been planning since I was 15 and once I get a bit more tone on my abdomen, I'm getting my navel pierced as a reward.

I feel more comfortable in my skin right now, like I'm doing the right thing for me. I haven't felt comfortable since my dad died last year. After he passed away, nothing felt right and I've been crawling inside myself for months. Now I'm starting to feel good. Not pretending to be someone I'm not.

Has anyone else ever done something like this, even for different reasons? What were your reasons? If you haven't ever changed your look, have you thought about it?

I change my look when I feel I am unable to change my life. Seeing change in my reflection seems to lift my spirits and I'm less prone to isolating myself when I am stressed.

I think its ok to change your look to comfort yourself as long as you are attending to the things that are bothering you to begin with.

Feeling pretty is nice.

Not really, unless you count starving off and regaining massive amounts of weight.

The only way I change my look is when I change my style of clothes.... which I need to do again b/c my goal is to eventually get rid of ALL my hammie-downs.

Yup, I change my look...

In school I did this a lot and always looked different to my friends. I've been;
Punk - complete with spiked black and white hair and random junk through my piercings.
Hippy - lots of tie-dye flowing dresses and crystals, long purple tinted hair.
Goth - old-school full white skin, black make-up, jet black or blue tinted hair, with crushed velvet and lace corseted dresses.
Smart - bobbed hair, smart pants and tops, occasionally dressy suits.
Teacher-ish - lots and lots of brown corduroy and brown big buckled leather shoes.
Brightly coloured - lots of brightly coloured paisley tops, the more ugly and bright the clothing the better.
Cheerleader-ish - big soled shoes, wore my hair red/ginger, primary coloured mini-skirts and cropped tops (then Spicegirl's spoiled that!)
Charver - florescent Sergio Tacchini jacket and sports clothes, fake gold jewellery (this look didn't last long!)
Boy - I lived as a boy, all baggy boys clothes and huge mens shoes, short hair.
I've probably had other looks, and many changes to my style. Looking back in all fairness as bad as my 'friends' were I was still always free to explore my looks and sub-cultures like this. I don't think I used to change due to not being comfortable in my own skin, or even about trying to fit in. I spent many years in my early childhood being mute, during my teens I still struggled and a lot of my personality was hidden behind low self-confidence...clothing became a way to express myself when I wasn't able to do it verbally - it was me wanting to show my bold side, willingness to try new things, and showing people the sort of styles and subcultures I was interested in.

I tend to make changes when I break-up with partners - the last big break-up gave me very short highlighted hair, the one before that saw short hair, brightly coloured halter-neck tops and a lip piercing.

Right now I stay in the same look just because I can't afford to change, the most I've changed is my hair which was natural for years but now has bright purple streaks (first ever time bleaching or dying a particularly bold colour) - it was after watching Scott Pilgrim and desperately wanting my whole hair dyed red, but I can't afford the upkeep of keeping my whole head dyed like that, and I thought red streaks were too common so went with purple...done at home so looks a mess...but still a way to make some sort of change, which was the point. If I could I would be going more for rock-chick meets Chola look...I'm still trying to figure out if I should get my tattoos or not.

I think I would feel more comfortable if I could get into the look I want rather than being stuck with a style due to poverty...although not sure it would last long as I feel old, getting into my 30's I'm not sure I should be dressing the way I do any more but that instead I should be dressing less casual and more smart or mumsy *shrugs*

Last edited by Bloodheart on 11 Mar 2011, 9:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I've gone from a tomboy to the the paris hilton look to goth to you name it. At the moment I'm in between girly, tomboy and goth but would like to get more into the goth side.

I know what you mean. I'm an actual soccer mom and I'd LOVE to have purple hair. It just wouldn't mix with the kids' school and their extracurriculars and then church. I'm different enough as it is. And, yes, it'd be wonderful to be able to just go to the store or go online (Hello modcloth.com!) and just buy whatever I want to make the look complete. But, you know, I also want a place to live, electricity, water, a phone...

I've been fascinated with steampunk for a number of years now. I have a little piece here and there that I picked up from artists selling on Etsy via trade, but I don't know if I could pull off a proper steampunk look... or even afford to try.

If I could I'd be more babygirlboutique.com, pinupgirlclothing.com, modemerr.com, and lots of underwear and costumes from trashy.com...but lots of steampunk from Etsy.com too...oh the amount of money you could spend on Etsy.com buying steampunk clothing and accessories. Etsy is total ♥

...and now I'm gonna go spend a few hours looking through all above mentioned stores and drool

I love Etsy!

I mainly just browse though. Wish I had the guts to wear this...

The most I ever do to change my look is to cut my hair. I did this last year because I got sick of having hair more than halfway down my back.

I miss it now, so I'm growing it back out. lol

I only did it once. Used to have glasses and very long hair, and suddenly I got it cut by a fashion hairdresser, and I got contact lenses, and shaved off my moustache. My counsellor said it looked like I'd taken off my disguise - she pointed out that my previous look was hiding everything away.

She was right, the tortoise was leaving his shell. That was the last time I did anything so drastic......I wasn't unhappy out of the shell, and never went back, at least visually - the hair got less manageable with age, so I had to keep it short for tidiness.....I never went back to glasses, I grew the moustache again for a while to please a girlfriend, but I got rid of it again when it started making me look old. These days, the nearest thing to a makeover is when I buy another secondhand shirt from the charity shop. I'm quite happy with it that way, and I think I was too sold on looks before, it probably got me a lot more female attention, but they were screwed up emotionally and so was I, so I learned my lesson and got on with the more serious business of learning to relate to people instead of showing off my threads.

I like dressing up, but wouldn't want to do it in order to "create a new me," I'd just go to a fancy dress ball or something, and return to normal the next day. I have some of the (more normally female) insecurity about appearance, but I don't define myself by my clothes or hairstyle. I just sometimes find something I think I look good in, and leave it at that. I hate drastic, sweeping "solutions," I prefer gradual renewal.

Several months ago I buzzed my hair down extremely short for the first time in my life. I did it because my hair has been thinning diffusely and it is clearly male pattern baldness. I haven't actually lost any hair yet except for a receding hairline, but it has thinned all over more than enough for the "horseshoe" balding pattern to be clearly visible. Buzzing down is getting pretty common to do for young men who are losing their hair early, because it reduces the contrast from the thinning areas. Being a young man in his 20s or early 30s and having male pattern baldness start so early hits where it really hurts. I feel considerably better about it since I buzzed it, but unfortunately my head shape is odd and neanderthal-like.

Sort of. I used to wear a set of clothes that were like a uniform for me... the same type of jeans and pants, same type of t-shirts and casual/elegant shirts ... they were just different colors.

2 years ago I asked three women I know, of different ages, to come out with me and help me choose a new set of clothes. One was 14, the other 25 the third was 40. Just to see the difference in opinion between the three generations and their suggestions.

The idea was that if the three agreed on something then that was probably what I should be trying to get.

One entire day and afternoon later I came home with a couple bags full of clothes. Been wearing them ever since. I do admit they look a lot better than my old clothes and I get told some girls check me out (which wasnt the case before..and i get told this because I dont notice this stuff >< ) but that's about all the improvement it was.

One day though, when I got no univ. classes and no job i'll shave all my hair off and see that

I change my haircolor between various shades of red and brown. I had to be some more conservative clothes to work in, but that's about it. I'm still otherwise living like grunge never died.

I'm more like the apple guy.

Jeans
Black shirt
Black heels

Forever LOL

At my job, I have to wear a suit every day and I find it quite challenging to blend in with the way people dress. I have office outfits that are pre-arranged and just wear the same 15-20 outfits over and over again until someone points out to me that I need a new suit.

Luckily, I have a couple of close friends at work who understand my weirdness and are more that willing to help me get something new since I hate shopping and trying clothes on but I have to feel it first to make sure the fabric is right LOL

Its hilarious, I think.

Lol me too...I used to change hair colour all the time, I've been every "natural" colour from almost white to black, and a few "unnatural" ones, namely red, green , etc.
As a teenager I used to bleach my hair and use permanent red markers on them to make stripes...but grunge WAS alive then
Now I'm just blonde. Jeans, shirt and sneakers. Probably makes me look like I don't give a damn, which is not exactly true, I wish I could look good and wear makeup everyday, but right now...I'm a stay at home mum, I meet basically 3 people a month...Not worth the effort