How to Find a Book Without the Title or Author: The Complete Guide

How to Find a Book Without the Title or Author - www.ashleecraft.com

Recently, I’ve been obsessed with figuring out the names of books I read when I was younger. It’s part of a grander obsession of mine to remember + document things from my past. For a couple of years, I’ve been keeping kind of a running list of books I had memories of, but no idea what the titles were.

Over the past few weeks, I remembered a bunch more books that I had to know what they were called. Just like when you hear the melody of a song in your head but you can’t remember what song it is, trying to remember the name of a book is the annoying kind of thing you’ll lie awake thinking about, & the kind of thing that will keep bothering you & gnawing at your brain until you find the answer.

If you remember a book but you have no idea what the title or author was, here are a few tips that I used to help me figure out what every single book on my must-know list was called. It feels so good to finally know!

Normal Google Search. This is a good general place to start in any book search. If you can remember any words from the title or character names, this can be a great way to find the book. Years ago, I remembered a book I’d read from the library. I remembered that the cover of the book featured a girl sitting in a barn with a dog, that there was a character named Jenny & one named Sam, & that the book was pretty old. Initially in my searching, I only remembered the main character’s name was Jenny, but later in my search I remembered Sammy as also being a character. I knew the plot of the book & that there was a character with an old-sounding name that began with an “H” who the main character told stories about to some younger characters. After searching various combinations of the keywords “Jenny Sam book invisible”, I found Jenny, Sam, & the Invisible Hildegarde

If there are any books, series, or authors that keep showing up in your search that definitely don’t have to do with the book, try advanced search to exclude those words. Also, the more combinations of potentially relevant keywords you try, the better off you will be. You can also try searching for things like “book about _______________”, & add as many relevant keywords as possible. The more details about the book you can provide, the easier it will be to find it. Think about including keywords regarding things such as professions/ages/genders of characters (teenage boys, lawyers, kids), features of characters (if they were friends, animals, a club, etc), time frame story takes place in (1950’s, war time, futuristic), place (magic world, England, Florida, old barn), intended audience or details about the book itself (children’s book, old book), or things characters do/what happens (go to the beach, club for conversations about ideas, guy gets murdered). The “book about ____” format helped me remember The Famous Five series, which I had been searching for, & “ladybug book with transparent pages” brought up Ladybugs & Other Insects (With Transparent Pages).

Google Image Search. Much like the aforementioned “Normal Google Search”, searching for any keywords you can remember about the theme of the book – even if they seem quite random – can help you find the book, especially when coupled with using Google Images. The title alone might not ring a bell, but when coupled with seeing the title & cover, you might experience a “EUREKA!” moment.

In one of my searches, I remembered a series I had sometimes read. It was about some preteen girls who time traveled into the past to have adventures, based upon (I believe) a treasure chest in an attic. After searching some keywords relating to this topic, I found The Magic Attic Club books, which was what I had been looking for. Additionally, this worked well when I wanted to find a book I’d read as a child, which featured a colorful, artistically-drawn rooster on the front. Relevant keywords & the utilization of Google Images brought up Barnyard Banter, a book I enjoyed a lot when I was three years old.

Library Records. If you got the book at the library, finding it may be a little easier. If it wasn’t too long ago, even if you no longer have a library card at that library, searching for keywords relevant to your book could bring it up in their system. Some libraries allow you to view a complete list of every book you’ve ever checked out. Searching this list could be helpful, provided that you still have an account at that library.

I was searching for a book I’d read about four years ago. I remembered it was kind of science-fiction themed, as I was in the phase where I read sci-fi books & books about physics/time travel/chemistry/astronomy extensively. I remembered reading it in the fall or winter, when I was in my phase of being obsessed with the band Queen, so I must have been reading the book sometime between September & March of 2011-2012. The book was about some kids who lived in England/Scotland, who, during the war (presumably World War II), were sent to live on a farm with relatives of theirs. The book had really beautiful descriptions of things, & I unfortunately had to send it back before getting very far into it.

After the above methods of Google searching things like “book about kids England farm war” didn’t bring up the book, I decided to look with the library system. I got the book when I lived in a different county, so I couldn’t view those library records. The library did however email me every week regarding books that needed to be renewed. After looking through the emails they’d sent me in the designated time period, I found the book, which is called A Traveller in Time. You could also try describing your book to a librarian, who may be able to find it for you.

Amazon Search. Amazon searches can be helpful in two different ways. Amazon is better if you have more relevant keywords which are part of the title or a major theme/topic of the book. If you have an idea of the topic or important word in the title, you can search Amazon for that, then narrow them down by category, age range, or other specifications, which can be helpful. I remembered a funny fiction book I had gotten from the library when I was obsessed with reading about manatees. I searched the keyword “Manatees” on Amazon, then narrowed my search to fiction. I found the book Key Manatee this way. I also used this search method to find a non-fiction children’s book about Salmon that I read when I was eight years old. I searched “Salmon”, narrowed it down to juvenile non-fiction, then looked at the publication dates for books published before 2003. This was how I found the book, which is merely titled Salmon.

Google Books. This was perhaps the very best search method I found, especially for books which I could not find based on the other methods alone. Google Books allows you to search the full texts of millions of books, & any keywords you came up with relating to the book you’re searching for are going to be especially helpful here. Here are three types of searches I recommend in Google Books.

  • Try searching Google Books by theme keywords. I remembered a paperback chaper book my mom had read the first few chapters of to me when I was about six years old. I remembered the cover, but the other methods of searching had not helped me find the book. All I could remember about the theme was that it had four main characters, & that the first character the book discussed was a girl sitting on a swing who got turned into a frog, & that the whole theme of the book was “be careful what you wish for.” I searched Google Books for “be careful what you wish for frog”, & discovered the book was called The Wish Giver: 3 Tales of Coven Tree.
  • Search Google Books for actual quotes from the book. Yesterday, someone around me made mention of the phrase “go jump in a lake”, & I was eating a piece of cake, which compelled me to connect the phrases & remember a quote from a childhood book. “Go jump in the lake, said the chocolate cake.” I remembered a poetry book for children. There was a poem about food with the aforementioned chocolate cake line, a poem about snow covering everything in a city, & a bunch of other kind of funny poems about things. The first poem in the book included the lines “Gooseberry looseberry gooseberry jam.” I searched Google Books for these quotes, & rediscovered Blackberry Ink.
  • Search any random keywords from the text that you can even begin to remember. The most frustrating, & long-lived book search I had been engaged in was a hunt to find a book I’d read when I was eight years old. The book had a lion, possibly other similar animal characters like giraffes or elephants. There were four animals characters in this book and they were friends who had some sort of club where they met in this tree house or by this tree. The book was about having good morals, like being honest & having self-esteem & such. I also remembered it had somewhat glossy bright white pages, was a medium sized book, had illustrations every few pages, & the illustrations were fairly realistic & well-drawn. I had been looking for this book off & on for a few years, & no amount of Google searches was bringing it up. After my luck yesterday in discovering the above books in Google Books, I decided to give it a try. The keywords “lion tree house virtues” or “lion tree house club” weren’t bringing up the book. Some part of my brain vaguely had an idea of the word “golden” being used on one page of the book. I searched “lion golden friend”, seemingly random keywords, & amazingly, The Treasure Tree: Helping Kids Understand Their Personalities came up, & it was the exact book I was looking for.

Rare Book Search. BookFinder.com allows you to search common & rare books alike, including out of print books, using a combination of keywords, publication dates, etc. It seems to have a lot of books & give pretty extensive search results, & if you find your book on here, it shows you somewhere you can buy a copy of it. I tried using it to find The Treasure Tree before I knew what it was called, & although I didn’t see it on there, I feel this search engine is a valuable tool for any book lover to know about.

Social Media, Friends, & Family. Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Goodreads, Yahoo Answers, & other forums are another good way to find out what a book might be called. I didn’t get to the point of describing the book on social media & asking for suggestions of what it might be, but I think it could give you some great suggestions regarding what your mystery book could be. With some of the books I remembered, I didn’t really know what they were about as much as I remembered the way they looked (like in the case of the Salmon book), but provided you knew the general theme or plot of your mystery book, social media might be a valuable thing to try, especially if you still cannot find your book from all the other methods. Talking to family or friends about your book may also help you figure out important details or keywords about your book, & they may even be able to tell you what it is.

With these tips, I’m sure it will only be a matter of time before you know what the mystery book that’s been bothering you for the past five years is. You will finally be able to feel relief in knowing exactly what it was you were searching for, & relax as you read your now not-a-mystery book. Until the next time you remember an obscure but for some reason, important book from your past.

But this time, when the all-too-familiar feeling of needing to know what a book is called fills your mind, you won’t have to feel helpless. This time, you are armed with the knowledge & resources to track down your awesome forgotten book, & you will be able to find it both quickly and accurately. Happy book searching!

How to Help Yourself Feel Better When You’re Under the Weather

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This article was originally written as a list of things to do when you had a cold, as far as vitamins & supplements & things to help you get over having a cold sooner. Unfortunately though, I ended up being sick for two whole weeks, first with the cold which sparked me to write this article, & then just when I starting to feel a little better from that, I caught a nasty flu, which I am finally over. A few days ago, it was so nice because I finally started feeling normal again.

Because of these factors, the point of the article became this : when you’re not feeling at 100% for whatever reason (even if you’re just tired & stressed, & not actually sick), what are some things you can do to support yourself during the healing process? I realized that sometimes the only way out is through; sometimes you have to trudge through the depths of something to get to the other side, & there are no shortcuts. Healing is often one of those things. As much as we would like a quick fix, instant feel-better button, sometimes we just have to let things run their course.

While you are letting things run their course, you might feel powerless. You might feel like there is something more that you should be doing to change your situation. You might feel like you should be doing better than you are, but let me tell you this – you are doing just fine!

Admittedly for me, when I don’t feel well, it makes me uncomfortable mentally because the version of me I display to the world is often focused on being fierce, strong, & flawless ALL THE TIME. It’s just the way I am. When I don’t feel well, I feel like I’m betraying this persona. If you feel like this, you’ll feel better if you recognize that this isn’t a realistic ideal to expect at all times, because literally NO ONE is perfect / healthy / happy / capable / etc all the time – not celebrities, not random strangers you see, leaders, all the cool people you see online, etc (although sometimes this is the version of these people we are presented with). In other words, please try to remember that it’s perfectly okay not to feel 125% awesome every single moment of every day. 

Since last year, I’ve been working on being more compassionate towards myself when I don’t feel perfectly fantastic in whatever way. This means I’ve stopped blaming myself or being angry at myself (if my _______ was better, this wouldn’t have happened), trying to figure out “why” (it must be because I didn’t do such & such thing), or in any way implying that it happened because I wasn’t good enough for some reason. When you don’t feel your best, it is especially important to be gentle with yourself.

Here are a few ways that I find helpful as ways of being gentle with yourself, & therefore, allowing yourself to heal.

★ Take care of yourself physically. This may not always feel good when you’re not feeling good, but it really will make you feel so much better. Try to stay hydrated, even if you don’t feel like drinking water. Drink tea & warm broth & organic veggie & fruit juices. Get plenty of sleep. Try to stay nourished by eating healthy things when you feel like eating. Take vitamins (especially Vitamin C & Vitamin D). Eat in a way which feels intuitive to what your body is craving, but try to stay away from extra salt & added sugars. Eat plenty of fruits & veggies, which is hopefully something you try to do normally anyways, because eating well makes your life better.

★ Don’t push yourself to do too much if you don’t feel like it. This one was a challenge for me when I was sick, because I take pride in being highly productive. I had to remind myself that it was perfectly okay if I didn’t feel like doing all the things I normally did, & there was nothing wrong with putting a pause on being productive. I spent a lot of time lying on my back staring at the ceiling, cuddling with my dog, & lying around places. I felt bad at times about the fact that I wasn’t getting stuff done, but I had to remind myself that resting was the thing that would help me heal the soonest, & was the most supportive thing to do

★ Drink lots of tea. Tea is the closest thing to a hug in a food or beverage. Drinking tea makes me feel comforted & relaxed, & as an added bonus, it’s hydrating & helps you feel better. I avoided tea with caffeine, which is something I typically do anyway, & ended up drinking a lot of flavored herbal teas involving chamomile or lemon.

★ Rest as much as possible. I had to go to work some of the days I was sick, but on the days I didn’t work, I went to my room & took long naps. I snuggled with my dog on the floor & slept, & I fell asleep in a variety of cozy, safe places in my house, acknowledging the fact that I was tired & realizing how rest would help me feel better. When I wasn’t sleeping, I tried to take it as easy as possible. I sat on the couch & used my computer, watched television, surfed the internet, & watched YouTube videos. It was very restorative, & I think that in my normal, healthy life I need to devote more time to taking breaks from things & just relaxing.

★ Find your favorite fuzzy blanket. Wrap yourself in your favorite fuzzy blanket & sit around. I spent a lot of time wrapped up in my incredibly soft owl throw blanket, which made me feel better because it is both fuzzy, & is covered in owls. This is something comforting I do for anxiety-related issues as well.

★ Light a white taper candle & focus on directing healing light to your immune system, or whatever part of your body is bothering you. I also lit a tea candle in my Himalayan salt lamp, & when both candles were lit, I put some of my favorite healing crystals (like amethyst) around them. While I was at this, I lit the fairy lights in my room, & the combined effect of both types of lighting was beautiful. (Safety note : make sure all candles are put out before you doze off.)

★ Realize that the most judgmental person regarding you being sick is probably actually yourself, & not anyone you interact with throughout the course of the day. Most people didn’t care (or seem to notice) that my voice was squeaky & weird sounding, or that I maybe didn’t feel like doing everything I normally did. I had to remind myself that it probably wasn’t as noticeable to others as it was to me.

★ Stop blaming yourself. Try to show yourself & your body love + acceptance, & try not to be frustrated with yourself for the fact you don’t feel your best.

★ Taking lots of long, hot showers. These made me feel cozy, & the moisture & warmth helped my sinuses. Even though I am not normally a fan of taking baths, I took one very relaxing bath with Epsom salt & an amethyst crystal.

& for when you start feeling better :

★ Take all the sheets off your bed. Wash them. Wash any blankets that you feel are gross, & your pillow too if you want. Pick up all tissues, dishes, cough drops, & all other grossness from your room & dispose of them. Tumble linens you don’t want to wash in the dryer to hopefully kill some of the germs & to freshen them up. Open the window to your room & let some fresh air in, if the weather is appropriate. Cleanse your crystals in the sunlight or moonlight. Burn incense to cleanse your space, if you don’t think it will bother your sinuses / lungs. Pick up any extra items on the floor that are making your room look messy, & then stand back & admire your fresh, cleansed room.

Let yourself enjoy each milestone of feeling better. When you can finally sleep without propping your pillow up, or when you finally start feeling like yourself again. Remember to take care of yourself, take it slow, & most importantly, allow yourself to heal.

How to Dress Like Bob Dylan, Part II

Working Bob Dylan’s electric style into your wardrobe.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products that I recommend. When you click on an affiliate link to a product on an external website, I will receive compensation if you buy something. Thank you for your support.

The Effortlessly Cool Dylan

 

At the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, Bob Dylan did something bold : broke away from his folk roots & played his first-ever rock set live on stage. This was radical, as many had hailed him as the definitive symbol of folk music, & all of a sudden, he was transitioning away from what he’d always been. Reinventing himself. & that, I believe, is one of the most inspiring things about Bob Dylan : the way he confidently became something entirely different & didn’t give a damn what folk purists thought of his decision. He did what he wanted to do & what he thought was cool.

This was the beginning of Dylan’s “Electric Phase”, which spanned from 1965 all the way until his motorcycle accident in 1966. This is perhaps my favorite of his fashion eras, because this was when Dylan wore a uniform of suits, skinny pants, Chelsea Boots, untamed curls, & Ray Ban Wayfarers. Dylan, in this phase, was undeniably cool looking. Undeniably sleek, with a splash of rebellion & a lot of class.

 

ELECTRIC PHASE

The Electric Bob Dylan

 

ITEMS FOR THIS LOOK 

1. Black or White Dress Shirts. Any neutral colored dress shirt will work. Dylan wore dress shirts extensively during his electric phase, mostly under blazers & with skinny pants. I love adding dress shirts to outfits when I want to make them look sleek + refined in some way, & I find them very comfortable. Wearing a dress shirt is a great place to start & will add a nice, classy touch to your electric ensemble.

2. Polka Dotted Button Down Shirts. In some photos from the mid-60’s, Dylan wore a black & white polka dot shirt, similar to the one on the left. The larger the polka dots, the more retro & therefore authentic it will look. You could also wear a white & black polka dotted shirt like the one on the left, because it stills captures the sleek vibes this outfit radiates.

3. Skinny Trousers / Skinny Jeans. Black or other dark-colored skinny jeans or pants will work excellent for this outfit. Skinny pants look SUPER GREAT with heeled boots, as pictured below, & plus, they’re highly versatile & can be worked into pretty much any outfit, so if you don’t already have a pair, you should think about getting some. A good pair of skinny pants will look casual when you need them to, but can be dressed up for more formal occasions. As mentioned in Part I, you could also wear a dressier pair of shorts like these Dickies shorts or these Style & Co twill shorts for your outfit, depending on the weather & your preferences.

4. Black Skinny Blazer. Bob Dylan in most photos from this era could be seen wearing a blazer, both on stage & off. There is a lot of great footage of his utilization of blazers in Don’t Look Back, the documentary about his 1965 tour. Blazers are another one of those go-to basics that I think everyone should work into their wardrobe, in whatever cut & color suits your personal style the best. Adding a blazer to this outfit makes it look instantly classy. It makes you look like a cool, important person, & it looks sleek as hell. As you can see, Dylan’s wardrobe during this phase consisted of a lot of great basics.

5. Chelsea Boots or Riding Boots. I love Chelsea boots because they look very, very polished & chic, but also add a more rugged touch to an outfit. They have a medium but sturdy heel, something I love to see in a shoe. Wearing heeled shoes makes you taller & therefore can add a special air of confidence & badassery to your outfit (especially if they’re shiny & leathery like these), & a solid, sturdy heel means that you can still run/jog if you feel like it, without falling over. Which is always a plus.

6. Ray Ban Wayfarers. The iconic sunglasses of Bob Dylan. Other rock stars of the time, such as Roy Orbison, also frequently wore the Wayfarers, but no one made them look as cool as Dylan did. Wayfarers are THE choice in epic & badass sunglasses. Legend has it that putting a pair on makes you instantly look ten times cooler & will help you win friends & influence people. Kidding (kind of), but seriously, Wayfarers are a timeless classic & have that rock star look to them which glams up whatever you wear them with. Obviously the actual Ray-Ban version is nice (pictured left) but you can find inexpensive knock-off ones (right) which look pretty much the same & cost under $10.

7. Leather Clutch. Any kind of leather purse in a chic design & a bold neutral color or pattern will look great with this outfit, but there is something nice about these leather clutches that just goes with the minimalist theme of this look. Because clutches are small, they won’t overpower the rest of the outfit or make you look too accessorized. A clutch in black looks sharp, but I also like the checkered one, because the pattern of it reminds me of the houndstooth jacket pictured below.

8. Houndstooth Jacket. Dylan wore a houndstooth jacket in multiple photos from 1966, like this one and this one. Houndstooth tends to look more old fashioned than some patterns, but if you wear it with the right outfit, it can look classy & modern. If you’re not feeling the retro-jacket thing, go for a houndstooth accessory, like the scarf featured above (which, I must note looks exactly like the one Dylan wears on the cover of Blonde on Blonde) or a houndstooth purse.

9. Suit Vest. Classy & sleek, & when worn without a suit jacket, classy-casual. Dylan wears a vest like this in the iconic Subterranean Homesick Blues video. Suit vests are another piece of clothing that I love the look of. Wear the vest unbuttoned over one of the aforementioned neutral colored dress shirts, & then pair it up with a pair of blue jeans & the Chelsea boots to match his outfit in the music video perfectly.
For some more inspiration, here is a video of him playing Maggie’s Farm at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965.

Read How to Dress Like Bob Dylan, Part I: Folk Phase.

How to Dress Like Bob Dylan

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products that I recommend. When you click on an affiliate link to a product on an external website, I will receive compensation if you buy something. Thank you for your support.

Bob Dylan in November 1963

Bob Dylan, 1963

When I was sixteen years old, I discovered folk music, & more specifically, Bob Dylan. I was a somewhat angry, emotional teen at the time, & felt outraged by all the wrongs in the world. I was also trying to find my creative groove, because I was learning to play guitar & I wanted to write songs, ones that weren’t cheesy sounding. I also wanted to try my hand at poetry, because I was working on being an author. I had just transitioned from being in my Beatles phase, where I obsessed over The Beatles & early 60’s pop, but had been finding happy-go-lucky melodies about holding people’s hands & other love-related themes a little too bland for my current emotions.

When I heard Blowing in the Wind, I finally found something which resonated with me. Hurt & angry & disappointed, but also strangely hopeful at the same time. Then I heard the songs Forever Young & Like a Rolling Stone. I was hooked. I knew I’d found something great, something that really spoke to me. Something angry, something passionate, something emotional that really shook me to my core & made me question who I was & how I felt about the world. I was enamored by the creativity & poetry of his lyrics, & the folksy non-conformity of Dylan as a person. I was also inspired by his style : rugged, windblown, honest, earthy; & then in his electric phase, sophisticated & sleek, & incredibly cool, in a rebellious, honest sort of way. Now, I could give a big rant about how awesome Bob Dylan’s music is, & how his work has influenced mine, but that will have to be a different post.

This article will be about how to work Bob Dylan’s signature style into your daily outfits. This is Part I, which will be about his folk phase. Part II will be about his style during his electric phase.

FOLK PHASE

Bob Dylan's Folk Phase

 

From the time Dylan began playing in coffee houses, until approximately the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, when he “went electric”, his clothing style was simple, humble, working man’s attire. In this phase, Dylan was emulating his hero, Woody Guthrie, & therefore wanted a look which evoked the appearance of traveling hobos, migrant workers during the Great Depression, and a simple & less refined rugged honesty, qualities which were also present in his music at the time.
ITEMS FOR THIS LOOK

1. Plaid shirts. Plaid shirts in all colors will work great. Personally, I think red, blue, or gray plaid shirts capture the essence of Dylan best because they look the most rugged & add a nice masculine touch to the outfit.

2. Canvas / collared button down shirts. Earthy colors like beige or white are simple & best follow this look, but don’t be afraid to go for other colors as well. Remember, you’re doing your own take on his style, so adding your own touches, like a shirt in your favorite color, will make it even more authentic to what YOUR style is. As long as you add the unpolished, Woody Guthrie-inspired accessories like work pants and rugged boots, you will capture the vibe that you’re trying for. Although Dylan more commonly wore long sleeved button down shirts, if it’s warm out, you can always wear a short-sleeved version, or just roll the sleeves up. Personally, I love the look of rolled up sleeves. Masculine + rugged yet casual & pared-down.

3. Work Pants or Jeans. Black work pants are going to look the most like Dylan in his folk phase. I am personally a big fan of Dickies pants because they’re sturdy, quality pants, at a reasonable price. Because Dickies are actually work pants, they also add to the authenticity of the outfit. If you want to have the retro-esque “hard working” look of Dylan in this phase, wearing clothes that you could actually do labor in. Black jeans would also work, as would black shorts, especially black shorts which resemble work pants.

4. Work Boots. A good pair of work boots is a great thing to have in your clothing arsenal & can easily make any outfit a little more rough & tumble by wearing them. You could also wear another type of lace up boot if that’s more your style, or if you’re going for a very feminine take on the whole thing.

5. Brown Leather Jacket or Brown Fleece-Lined Jacket. Dylan wears a fleece-lined jacket, like the one on the right (in beige though), on the cover of his 1962 debut album, Bob DylanHe wears a different brown jacket on the cover of his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylanbut any brown jacket will work.

6. Newsboy Cap / Conductor Cap / Military Cap. Dylan wears a cap like this not only on the cover of his debut album, but also in many other photos from this era. The cap adds a nice little touch to the outfit, especially when paired with the style of turtleneck featured below. Very train conductor-ish.
 
7. Fisherman’s Turtleneck Sweater. Dylan is seen wearing this sweater in a lot of the same photos that he wears the conductor’s cap, & the combination looks very nice & cozy. I love turtlenecks in oatmeal / beige tones because they look simple, polished, & homey simultaneously, & very on-vibe with the worker aesthetic.

8. Duffel Bag Purse. A rugged looking purse, something along the lines of this, is a great purse to carry with any combination of the above outfits while still keeping with the feel of the outfit. I personally love the way the purse pictured looks because it appears sturdy, unpolished, & practical, & the combination of leather + buckles + canvas is a nice masculine touch.

If you were going to make this into a costume (or if you just want to add some real Dylan-esque vibes), add a harmonica + an harmonica holder, & an acoustic guitar. Or add those anyway, if you’re really feeling like a folksinger.

For more inspiration on this look, here is a video of Bob Dylan in 1963 playing Blowin’ in the Wind live on television.

And, a video of him playing A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall in 1963. This video has a nice slideshow of photos from this era.

Read How to Dress Like Bob Dylan, Part II: The Electric Dylan.

How to Get Dip-Dyed Red Hair

I wanted dip-dyed hair for a long time. Here’s how I did it at home.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to products that I recommend. When you click on an affiliate link to a product on an external website, I will receive compensation if you buy something. Thank you for your support.

How to Get Dip-Dyed Red Hair

For a long time, I was super-inspired by photos & people I saw throughout the day who had ombre hair. I absolutely loved the way it looked & knew that I wanted my hair to look that way.

How to Get Dip-Dyed Red Hair

A few months ago, I tried doing this look with a light reddish brown color, but as the dye I used wasn’t a high-lift variety & the color was somewhat similar to my natural color, the color didn’t show up very well unless I was in bright sunlight. I was disappointed by the results, but decided to give my hair a break for about six weeks before dying it again so I didn’t dry it out too much. I decided to learn more about the process of dying hair ombre & which dyes would give me the results I wanted. Additionally, I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to have the ombre effect done with red or blonde dye.

How to Get Dip-Dyed Red Hair

I eventually settled on red, & I’m so glad I did! After selecting a high-lift dye that I ended up being pretty satisfied with (Garnier Ultra-Color Nourishing Color Creme, Ultra Color R3 – Light Intense Auburn
), I followed the directions on the box & let the dye sit in my hair for about 30 minutes or so, if I’m remembering correctly. I applied the dye using the applicator in the box. I tried to concentrate most of the dye on the very tips of my hair, then blended it upwards both by using my fingers, & twisting the strands of hair to force the dye upwards in a blended manner so there wasn’t a harsh line between where I dyed it & my normal hair color. If you want to learn more about how I did it, read this article that I found incredibly helpful.

How to Get Dip-Dyed Red Hair
At first, when I was rinsing my hair afterwards, I didn’t see that much of a difference, as my hair looked darker when it was wet & the contrast wasn’t so great. When my hair dried, I was very impressed by the boldness of the color. It actually was a lot more red than it is in these pictures, which I took probably four or five days after I colored my hair.

Unfortunately, the color started fading pretty much immediately after I dyed it. Every time I washed my hair, despite rinsing it thoroughly after I washed it, dye still rinsed out, & when my hair was wet, it actually made light orange stains on my bedding & several shirts of mine (thankfully all the stains washed out after I treated them with stain remover). The color also faded quite fast, which was kind of a bummer.

How to Get Dip-Dyed Red Hair

After having this happen, I read online about dyed red hair & learned that it is notoriously challenging to maintain, & that it is completely normal for it to fade quickly, even if you get it professionally done at a salon. I read that this is because the molecules of red pigment in the dye are larger than other colors of dye & therefore, the pigments can’t penetrate the center of the hair, so it kind of just clings to the outside. Learning this made me feel better about what my hair was doing because I knew the fading had nothing to do with the dye I used, the method I used to dye it, or my hair being abnormally resistant to dye. Now I know this isn’t the case. I also found some really great products that preserve red hair color. I’ve started using the John Frieda Radiant Red Color Protecting Shampoo (& I’m going to buy the matching conditioner soon; the store I went to unfortunately was out so I have to go back & buy some next time I have a chance) & it seems to be bringing out the red highlights in my natural hair color already!

How to Get Dip-Dyed Red Hair

My hair dye has since faded away almost completely, & I really, really miss it, because I loved how it looked SO MUCH & I realized that red hair looks good on me. So, I decided that I want to dye it again. I want to try using red Manic Panic dye, because it’s vegetable based, contains no harmful chemicals, & because of this, I’ll be able to use it much more often than regular dye without damaging my hair. I prefer natural products when a natural, cost-effective alternative which works well is available, so Manic Panic being vegan, not tested on animals, & relatively natural is a big plus for me. Another big plus for me is the fact that as opposed to regular hair dye, which has one application which you mix in a bottle & then apply, Manic Panic comes in a tub & therefore it can be used for more than one application, or can even be diluted by conditioner for touch-ups or to adjust how bold the color is. I’ll post photos on here once I use it & explain my methods!