A
female
age
30-35,
anonymous
writes:Simple question really, I've had long dark hair all my life and never had comments like this once I dyed it lighter.I'm tanned, but I'd say my skin is more olive due to being mixed race and I have brown eyes. My hair reaches just under my breasts so it's quite long and it's naturally wavy. With dark hair people alway knew I was indian or half indian anyways and it was never much of a guess.. But I've now got dark blonde hair with light brown in and it's made my skin tone and eye colour look different! My skin looks more olive and my eyes appear much lighter than they were before.I've had this hair colour for a month now and instantly all my friends said they couldn't believe how different I look. Which is true, I do look very different and I prefer the colour. But, i've noticed every night that I have gone to a bar or club, or sometimes when I've been in a shopping store.. Guys have always asked me what race I am, usually they already assume i'm indian. But this month I've been told I look italian, spanish, or arabic. And when I've said i'm actually indian instantly guys have been thrown back that i am and said I don't look it at all.My friends said that I do look exotic and they wouldn't say I look indian anymore. They said it's also because I don't have the usual indian features due to being half, but they said it's definitely the hair colour. So my question is, how can it be possible that having gone this colour could make me look a different race and my features to look so different? Are only european girls known for having light hair and olive skin is this why? I just can't make sense of why because of this I don't look indian anymore...
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reader, anonymous, writes (24 January 2014): When you say Indian, of Native American heritage or from India? Everyone is presuming you're of Asian decent.
I am bi-racial, and I am of Native American heritage.
If your features are mixed with another race; you will accentuate the lighter race by lightening your hair.
Those features that identify you with the darker race may soften, and become more subtle.
I am often asked am I Arab, Puerto Rican, Dominican; even Samoan. It's amazing that it even matters. I wore my hair waste-length years ago; and my ethnicity may have been more apparent to strangers. I understand they are trying to associate my less distinct features, and golden-tan complexion with a race. I hover in too many places!
I remember a funny episode on Jerry Seinfeld, where the cast were all trying to indirectly ask a guy his race; without offending him, or getting it wrong. They tried to make him say it without directly asking him. It was hilarious. I've been in that situation. I dodge the question for fun.
It's just curiosity.
If people ask me my nationality, I prefer to extend a hand and give them my name. I don't think it's polite to ask a stranger his/her race. As if it matters when you don't know them otherwise.
It's a diverse world. I've had exotic features all my life.
So it has never occurred to me to ask another person their race. It's unimportant. I'm proud in any case.
A
female
reader, Honeypie +, writes (24 January 2014):
 Look at Beyonce or Shakira? (to name a few) Neither of them are "natural blonds" but they both use the lighter hair color and it DOES make them stand out.
And like Cindy said, the MAJORITY of people from India have black hair/dark hair.
Most people have certain ideas of which color goes with which ethnic background and honestly, some have no idea they just assume.
One of my friends is native American - people assume she is from India - Another is Cajun, people assume she is Irish.
Europeans are quite the genetic melting pot. So you will find blonds, brunettes and redheads all over, but most people think the further north you go Denmark, Norway, Sweden the blonder they get. And lighter skin - English, Irish, Scandinavia. Olive complexion is more associated with the Mediterranean.
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A
female
reader, CindyCares  +, writes (24 January 2014):
 It's a matter of perception. There aren't many Indian women with natural light hair , I suppose,- or even with dyed light hair, I still have to see one outside perhaps of show business. So it's normal that one would associate Indian= black hair ,not black hair = not Indian.
Of course, if one thinks about it, today lots of women dye their hair so nothing prevents a girl from being Indian AND platinum blonde. But mental associations are hard to die, so it's not the first thing that comes to mind.
It's the same for other ethnicities too. For instance, I am a fair skinned Italian ( like 70 % of Italians, I must say - that of Italians as " olive skinned " is another CULTURAL perception, in real life , I have never seen an olive skinned one north of Naples . All the others are just fair skinned, -and milky white in the North ). Since when I dyed my hair red, I have been taken for Irish countless times.
Why ? It's still me, still my Mediterranean face nose and eyes . But, the mental association is : red hair, light skin, a few freckles too,in the summer :) - oh then this means Irish.
We don't just see though our eyes, we also see through our brain and the "pre-recorded " infos it contains.
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