It's Not Permanent

1.

"Sherlock, what are you doing?" John reached for the doorknob. "If you've set the hand towels on fire again-" He came to a stop as he opened the door. "... Are you straightening your hair?"

Sherlock glanced up, his fingers twisted around one of his curls. In his opposite hand, there was what seemed to be a hair straightener. A mini one. Was that travel sized? Where had Sherlock even gotten one?

"Yes," Sherlock replied simply, guiding his hair into the straightener and leaving it there momentarily. When he pulled it through, it wasn't quite perfectly straight, but straight enough that it didn't spring back into its curl, and-

John couldn't help but stare. "... Why?" he asked eventually.

"I'm testing hair products."

"... Of course you are," John replied shortly.

Sherlock's hair wasn't really long enough to have a drastic, drastic difference, but... floppy-haired Sherlock did look a lot different than curly-haired Sherlock.

"Thankfully," Sherlock said, setting the hair straightener down with a clack, "my hair is naturally curly so it'll go back after a good washing even if the product doesn't work." He shook his head, a little wildly.

John snorted. "You look stupid."

"For the sake of science, John," Sherlock said, standing. "Like I said, it'll be back to normal soon."

"You hope," John muttered, and left Sherlock to his hair care experiment.

2.

John didn't think too much about the smell. He was used to strange smells at Baker Street. Be that as it may, when Sherlock trotted out of the bathroom after his shower, wrapped in his blue dressing gown and a smug smile, John ended up doing a triple-take.

First because: Sherlock was out of the shower. The movement in the kitchen arrested John's eyes.

Second because: Why did Sherlock's hair look not-black in this light? So it was dark brown, but it usually looked black.

Third because: Sherlock's hair was auburn.

"What the hell did you do?" John demanded, twisting around in his chair.

Sherlock looked around, smiling proudly. "I dyed my hair."

"Why?"

"It's for a case." Sherlock reached up to pull on one of the towel-dried ginger locks that were already beginning to dry into curls. "I'm too noticeable otherwise."

"Sherlock, you-" John took a breath. "You dyed your hair red. How is that not noticeable?"

"Because everyone expects me to have black hair. Which," he added, pouring himself a coffee, "my hair is not black to begin with, goes to show the popularity of stupidity nowadays. No one will recognise me."

"Number one, your hair looks black anywhere except in certain light," John said patiently. "And number two, did you really bleach and dye your hair for a case?" he continued incredulously.

Sherlock shrugged. "It's not permanent. I'll just dye it brown until it grows out natural again."

John shook his head and reached for the newspaper again.

3.

When Sherlock showed up from a case with honest-to-goodness extensions in his hair, curls that fell down to his shoulders, all John could say was

"You have got to be kidding me".

Sherlock rolled his eyes. "It was necessary, and thankfully temporary. Help me with the clips, will you?" he asked, shrugging out of his coat.

John sighed. "Get over here."

Sherlock perched himself on the chair, fingers fumbling through the mane of hair that he was currently sporting.

"Sherlock Holmes," John said absently, smacking Sherlock's hand away before he could get anything tangled, "you are wearing clip-in hair."

Sherlock shrugged. "Worse things have happened."

John hummed, scraping his nail over one of the clips. "I'm tempted to leave this in and braid it. Just for a picture of you for blackmail."

Sherlock seemed to scoff. "That would accomplish very little, seeing as how Lestrade has pictures of me in drag."

John almost choked.

4.

"Umm... should I ask?"

Sherlock frowned. "Probably not."

"Case?"

"Case." Sherlock wrinkled his nose. "I swear it's like a half a bottle of gel. Not to mention the hairspray. I smell like a... beauty parlour," he said vehemently.

Sherlock's hair was completely slicked back.

John believed him entirely on the half bottle of gel and the hairspray. He wasn't sure how Mr Messy Curls had managed to get it slicked back like that to begin with.

"Well," John said pleasantly, looking back at the laptop, "anything for blending in." He tapped out a few more words on his blog post.

"I will be so glad when I wash it out," Sherlock muttered, fastening his cufflinks. "The sooner this party is over, the better."

"Have fun," John said cheerfully. "Oh, and your tie is crooked."

"I know, John!"

Sherlock couldn't do ties. John thought it was hilarious.

"Come on, then," he said, gesturing him over.

5.

"Not again."

"Isn't it awesome?"

John didn't know whether to sigh because Sherlock was saying awesome or because Sherlock had blue highlights in his hair.

"I always wanted highlights when I was a kid." Sherlock was positively beaming. "My colour's growing back, but since it's still kind of bleached, I thought I'd try some highlights and-"

"And you decided blue was going to be a good statement for going out on cases," John continued.

"Oh, it washes out after one go, it's fine." Sherlock waved his hand dismissively.

John raised his eyebrows. "And what happens if we get called out on a case in an hour or two?"

"Then I'll wash my hair-" Sherlock stopped. "Wait, did Lestrade call?"

"No."

"Oh." Sherlock rolled his eyes. "What a letdown."

"But blue hair," John reminded.

"Blue hair," Sherlock agreed cheerfully.

When John looked up again, Sherlock was looking at his reflection in the spoon from his tea. Now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

"Of course it will, the colour washes out," Sherlock retorted, but dropped his spoon back into his tea.

+ 1

"John..."

"Oh, stop it."

Sherlock sank a little lower in the cab.

John glanced over at him. "Seriously, Sherlock, stop pouting."

"I'm not pouting," Sherlock muttered. "I'm outraged."

"Yes, we had a wonderful display of that at the barber's."

"It's too short!" Sherlock exclaimed, his hands flying up to tangle his fingers into his curls. "He cut it too short, I knew I should have waited for my usual-"

"It's not too short," John retorted. His patience was starting to wane a little bit. There was only so much that he could put up with, especially over Sherlock's hair.

"It's too short!" Sherlock fired back. "It's too short, you can see that, it should be here," he gestured wildly at a point on the side of his head, "but it's here," he continued, pointing at his hair, "and it looks stupid."

John sighed heavily.

"My hair is my best physical feature, John! What don't you understand?"

"Hell, Sherlock, what does that matter? You aren't going out on a date anytime soon, and I thought you didn't care what people thought."

"I care what I think!"

John rolled his eyes.

Sherlock thumped his head back against the seat. "... I look ridiculous."

"You look fine," John replied.

Sherlock sighed theatrically, sliding down even further in his seat. "Can't even ruffle my hair anymore," he muttered, definitely more to himself.

John had to bite back a laugh, and turned to the window to hide his smile. "It'll grow back," he said brightly.

He saw the death glare that Sherlock shot him reflected back in the window, and then he couldn't help but laugh out loud.

HAPPY SETLOCK :D Because the biggest thing about this Setlock is Benedict's hair (which actually I'm not too worried about, I'm more thoughtful about what this episode's going to be about and if it's going to air in the US at the same time of the UK), I decided to write about Sherlock's hair. We love it. He loves it. What's not to love?

(Also: NO disrespect intended to anyone over hair choices; keep in mind that they're blokes and John doesn't possess the same level of adoration towards hair that Sherlock does, in my headcanon. ^^')

I do not own Sherlock. Thanks for reading!