A month ago, I wrote a story titled, "How to Get Lucky Blue Smith's Platinum Blonde Hair" in which I interviewed expert hair colorist Alexis Unno about going from brown to blonde the right way. And around the office, we had been talking a lot about Lucky in general, as our editors who were over in Europe for fashion week kept telling us how totally bananas teenage girls were going for the 16-year-old Utah native. (We don't doubt that for a few people, his takeover of our Snapchat account for 24 hours remains the only reason they added us.) So after my interview with Alexis went semi-viral here on GQ.com, a few people got the idea that we should up the stakes and shoot a video of the process. But who would be brave enough to volunteer and sacrifice their hair to the platinum blonde gods? Well, why not me?

I figured the look would make me do a double-take in the mirror a few times, but I also thought it would look cool, and that if it didn't, hair's hair and it will grow back. Plus, is there a better time to dye your hair blonde than when you're in your '20s and get to do it as part of your job? That said, nothing could really prepare me for the way people reacted once I emerged from the other side of the peroxide-filled haze. So, here's what everyone in my life did the first time they saw my shiny new locks:

MomOther than "Did it burn?", the most common question I've gotten recently is, "What does your mother think?" I guess people want to know because Jewish mothers have a reputation for worrying/being mortified when their sons do anything even cosmetically risky. (For what it's worth, my mom was actually born Christian, but later converted to Judaism, perhaps to meet her innate neurotic ways.) Anyway, she was totally Cool Modern Mom, by which I mean supportive and excited. The only thing she wanted to know was if my scalp was okay, and if I would send her a link to the video when it went live so she could share it with all of her friends and embarrass the hell out of me.

Step-DadHas not stopped calling me "Billy Idol" for the past two weeks.

DadHe still doesn't know because I think it's going to be hilarious when he sees this post.

Guy FriendsNames I've been called, in order of least to most annoying: Jared Leto, Goku, Guy Fieri, Kim Kardashian, Slim Shady.

Girl FriendsNothing like dyeing your hair blonde to make you understand the power of inflection: "It looks...good," "It looks good!", "It...uh...looks good, ya, it looks good."

RoommateHe was sitting on the couch with his girlfriend when I came home, and immediately laughed his ass off. (So did his girlfriend.)

Co-WorkersIt's hard to gauge whether or not co-workers are being honest with you when they say, "You can pull of the look!" or "I wasn't sure how it was going to look, but now I really like it." That said, the reactions from everyone have been generally positive. Even our editor-in-chief Jim Nelson said, "I dig it" when he passed me in the hall, and that's all the validation I need. At the end of the day, no one wants to be remembered as the jerk who teased the dude who dyed his hair, especially when said dyeing was technically for work.

Social MediaSee all the ruthless commentary here. And here.

Women With Whom I Potentially Have a Romantic InterestThis is really what you wanted to know. How did girls I met in bars, took on dates, or generally socialized with react? I figured my luck with either drastically improve or take a complete nose dive, or at the very least my hair would open me up to a new category of women who otherwise wouldn't look twice at me, but as it turns out, everything's pretty much been the same. Let's just call the data "inconclusive." Is it possible that women don't really care what color your hair is so long as you're a confident, intelligent, well-mannered young man? Perhaps that question is too intellectual for a blonde like me.

Jake Woolf is a writer who has covered men’s style for over ten years and has contributed to GQ since 2014. A graduate of Parsons The New School for Design (good school, long name), he also has bylines at Robb Report, HighSnobiety, Pitchfork, and the defunct #menswear website Four Pins... Read moreWriterXRelated Stories for GQHair