I was in high school and college during the new British Invasion of punk and new wave. I was fascinated by London’s King’s Road and longed to saunter along the street with brightly colored hair and a quirky but cool thrifted outfit.

After years, okay decades, of being too timid, I finally dyed my hair blue!

I’m happy with how it looks (or I was once I started paying for a pro to do it). But there are some things to know before you take that plunge.

• High maintenance. Some stylists recommend only using “cool water” when shampooing your hair – translation: cold showers.
• I forget that I have it when talking to people and wonder why they are looking at me strangely.
• Your employer may not like it. I waited until I was preparing to leave anyway.
• If you have never bleached your hair before, cough up the money and pay someone to do it. I didn’t lighten enough my first time and my hair ended up so dark it looked almost black with blue highlights. I’ve just barely gotten the darkest parts cut off finally.
• My natural color is dark brown with gray mixed in. I think white hair showing at my temples looks good with the blue, but only a few weeks after coloring my gray roots show up in my part like a skunk stripe in photos.
• One of the biggest hassles is the color leeching or bleeding onto my white sink, my fingernails, and shirt collars. If so much as one tiny hair gets left on the side of the sink for too long, I may have to scrub with Clorox to get the tiny blue outline off.
• Cost of touchups is over $200 plus tips. Maybe it would cost less if I did it every 6 weeks, but then I’m paying more often.
• How you feel about yourself before you change your hair is mostly how you’ll feel about yourself afterwards. After the novelty wears off, you’re still you.