Mostly the hair change has been taken in stride by my friends and coworkers.  Mostly.

But I’ve had a few fun encounters – such as walking across the courtyard at work and waving to someone who never makes eye contact and behaves as if I’m focusing on someone behind them.  This was someone who sat behind me for six months and I talked to on a daily basis for that time, as well as meeting with weekly for over a year after our desks moved.  A few days later I got to talk to them, and as soon as they heard my voice, just like there was never any mis-identification, we got to talking as normal.

Even better was at a party last night.  End of the night, someone I knew but wasn’t close with had been ignoring me all night.  No big deal, it could have been because I didn’t accept his Facebook friend request a year ago, it could be that we’re just not in touch at all, no big deal.  But end of the night he came up to a group of us, made a point of saying good night to everyone else including my husband, but ignored my goodnight at first, and then finally shook my hand and introduced himself.  So I did the same and his eyes about bugged out of his head – then he turned to my husband and said “You were right, I didn’t recognize her at all!”

This does make me realize, the darker hair is perfect for an American McGee’s Alice costume…