When I Dye My Hair Color

When I was 18 years old, I made the decision to dye my hair. My natural hair color is brown, and I did not dye it black, blonde, or even red; no, I dyed my hair a bright, in-your-face purple. The decision to dye my hair purple was not made because I love punk or rock music, it was not made because I dislike my natural hair color, nor was it made because I wanted to rebel again a person, persons, or society. Despite these facts, I have been stereotyped as a hard-music genre loving outcast who dislikes society. This stereotype was not helped by the fact that, at the time of my first hair dye job, I wore a facial piercing. The truth is, I am a quiet introvert who dyed my hair because I thought it would be a cool experience. I thought, “why not try something new,” and after it was finished, I enjoyed the way it looked.

What I mean by that is that I have never had my unnatural hair color be called ridiculous, insane (negatively), or stupid by anybody my age or even from my mom’s generation; though, I have heard those descriptions of me from those from an older generation. I have gotten both compliments and criticisms on my hair color, but I have never gotten a criticism to my face from someone from my generation. This is most likely because of a shift in the symbolization of colored hair. In the modern world, colored hair is becoming more linked to pop music than to that of punk or rock. I have learned from working in retail that people want to share their opinions, even to a stranger who is bagging their groceries. I have found that the elderly is much more likely to even comment on my hair color than younger people are. Though all this is true, I have also gotten plenty of compliments on my hair from the elderly as well. This just continues to show that stereotypes are not