Growing up is hard to do... but Aussie reader Jasmine navigated her punk-girl teens and came out the other side feeling confident, bright and ready for a very different look! Read her awesome story here...
Jasmine says:
Growing up I always felt super uncomfortable with myself. When I got to about ten years old, I turned tomboy - this was influenced a lot by my new found love of punk music, and for a while it felt right. The thing is, once you've established yourself as a bit of a misfit, it's hard to break out of that mould. It felt like if I was any more different, I would be shining the beacon of bullying on myself even more than it already was. So... for years I stuck with being a tomboy, even though I wanted the world to know I really loved Hello Kitty, pretty dresses and the colour pink!
When I left school, I realised I no longer had to feel pressured to stay the same. I didn't have the same eyes on me, and nobody was there to question any sudden changes. It wasn't easy - I'd been wearing black jeans and band t-shirts for eight years, so putting on a skirt felt odd to say the least! Slowly, I gained the confidence to get girlier each day, and it felt a little bit more comfortable as I went along. I gained a lot of inspiration from amazing people online and wove all of that inspiration into my own style.
The fact that I loved pink never wavered. I had dyed my hair lots of colours in the tomboy years, but had never quite had the courage to do my whole head of hair. Now, I decided to bite the bullet and do it. Bleach sucks, and so does getting hair dye everywhere, but the end result was worth it! I love pink so much that I have had bright pink hair for four years now - I'm twenty one - and I even colour my eyebrows pink to match! Perhaps because of my sense of fashion, which is a mix-up of vintage/ pin-up/ rockabilly, and my hair, I get a lot of interesting looks from people. Most people are nice, but even if they're not it doesn't matter; this is the only way I really feel like me.
I'd like to encourage anyone I can to be their own authentic selves, whether that means dying your hair blue, pink like me, brown... wearing quirky dresses, wearing big boots or just wearing a different hat every day! Sometimes it is hard to feel comfortable enough to truly express ourselves, but take it one step at a time. You will find your colours, just as I found mine!
Cathy says:
I love this post SOOOO much. Jasmine first messaged me to tell me how much my books meant to her during her early teens - which meant a huge amount to me. I also loved her distinctive style, and asked her to share the story with you... I hope you like, and hope you agree that being yourself is ultra important, whatever form that may take. Do YOU have a unique and unusual style? Would you LIKE to? COMMENT BELOW to tell me more!
Growing up I always felt super uncomfortable with myself. When I got to about ten years old, I turned tomboy - this was influenced a lot by my new found love of punk music, and for a while it felt right. The thing is, once you've established yourself as a bit of a misfit, it's hard to break out of that mould. It felt like if I was any more different, I would be shining the beacon of bullying on myself even more than it already was. So... for years I stuck with being a tomboy, even though I wanted the world to know I really loved Hello Kitty, pretty dresses and the colour pink!
When I left school, I realised I no longer had to feel pressured to stay the same. I didn't have the same eyes on me, and nobody was there to question any sudden changes. It wasn't easy - I'd been wearing black jeans and band t-shirts for eight years, so putting on a skirt felt odd to say the least! Slowly, I gained the confidence to get girlier each day, and it felt a little bit more comfortable as I went along. I gained a lot of inspiration from amazing people online and wove all of that inspiration into my own style.
I'd like to encourage anyone I can to be their own authentic selves, whether that means dying your hair blue, pink like me, brown... wearing quirky dresses, wearing big boots or just wearing a different hat every day! Sometimes it is hard to feel comfortable enough to truly express ourselves, but take it one step at a time. You will find your colours, just as I found mine!
Cathy says:
I love this post SOOOO much. Jasmine first messaged me to tell me how much my books meant to her during her early teens - which meant a huge amount to me. I also loved her distinctive style, and asked her to share the story with you... I hope you like, and hope you agree that being yourself is ultra important, whatever form that may take. Do YOU have a unique and unusual style? Would you LIKE to? COMMENT BELOW to tell me more!
Self identity is a little tricky for me because I have borderline personality disorder, one of the symptoms being an unstable sense of identity. I didn't know that as a preteen and teenager but I found myself bouncing from style to style as a kid, desperate to find somewhere I fit. I wanted to be a goth when I was about 8, I had brief flirtations with punk when I was 10 and 11 (dyed my hair purple and wore a beanie completely covered in badges which became a defining feature). I also got into cross-dressing at that time, I'd tuck my hair under my hat, adopt a wide legged stance and call myself Tyler. 12 and onwards was mainly emo with hair that went from long to short, from purple to black to blonde. I was "normal" for a bit at 14 although that was because I was a test subject for my friends who would do my make up and hair like them. At 15, I was not really emo, more kind of toned down grunge clothes with dramatic emo make up and a side fringe. I'd draw pictures on my face with liquid eyeliner, a small spiderweb or heartskull next to my eye, I had strange habits. Then I discovered lolita and started wearing my hair in bunches and replaced my smudged black eyeliner and white foundation with pink blusher and white eyeliner to make me look more doll-like. My wristbands and dog collars were replaced with Hello Kitty jewellery and petticoats to keep my dress in the right shape. And then I got into punk. Tartan trousers, motorbike boots, band T-shirts and mohawks. My hair had went from blonde to blue to pink and back to blue by this point. I'd given up on school uniform and it had given up on me so I'd turn up in calf height boots, black jeans, a school tie barely recognizable under the badges, a band T-shirt under my shirt and an oversized camouflage jacket, also adorned with badges and safety pins. Fun. I've kind of been punk ever since with brief forays into other styles. I think this is where I fit in best. I took to cross-dressing full time in 2015 and I'm much more comfortable this way. I'm still not really sure who or what I am but I cling to the things I do know and I certainly have lots of interesting stories of the way I used to dress! I like to think people will remember the small angry kid who showed up on non-uniform days in an interesting neon pink tutu and bright yellow jeans combination and wore mini-kilts with too many zips and chains to school discos.
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