What I see in the mirror: Kristin Hersh

I don't look in the mirror. I grew up as a hippy kid; we lived on a commune, and I was naked unless I was cold. I was pretty much an animal. I'm still a tomboy and a dork. I don't get my hair cut – I just shave it every few years and it grows back. I go back and forth between brunette and blond to avoid being recognised. I've got four kids, and when I'm in the park and my dog is peeing in the sandpit, I don't want people to see me all shitty-looking and think, "So that's what Kristin Hersh looks like." I'm a housewife, then. As a band [ Throwing Muses ], I thought we could change things a bit by being obviously dorky, natural people. My fashion sense is so bad that a magazine once did a mock fashion spread on me, with things like, "A hat your grandmother wouldn't be seen dead in." It was hilarious. They were right. I do like my eyes. They're the same as my father's – so white blue that they freak people out. At least they work. I once got corneal ulcers on tour and my eyes filled with blood. For a while they looked cooler than ever – red and blue – but they couldn't stay that way. I was hours from going blind. I always thought I didn't need sight because I had music, but when I nearly lost it and thought about never seeing my children again, I began to take it more seriously. • Kristin Hersh is at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on 17 August. Her book Paradoxical Undressing is out now