Blue Dye Research Paper

When my friends and I gather to play a game of Never Have I Ever, I tend to be one of the first people to get out. However, I always have a card in my pocket that can knock out a large portion of my female friends:

I have never dyed my hair.

Or at least, I had that card until I threw it away when I, on a whim, bought purple dye from CVS and made my friend Gabrielle dye my hair purple in one of the McBride showers. (Sorry, custodians.)

Now, I’ve been thinking about dyeing my hair for a while. I always admired girls with the courage to dye their hair bright red or pastel peach. My friend Jackie has been trying to convince me to dye my hair blue. However, something always held me back; whether it was my parents, social anxiety, or just some little fear that I would look bad. But, when I arrived at Kenyon, I started contemplating the change. And when we stopped by CVS to pick up

Dyeing my hair purple gave me a sense of liberation I never felt before. I felt daring, but not rebellious. I didn’t dye my hair as a big middle finger to my parents or society. And after dyeing it, I became in a way freer.

I love the way my hair looks. In a way, I start to believe I was actually meant to be an illustrious purple fairy. A couple days after, I dyed my hair, my friends and I walked down to the river to goof around to take pictures. My friend Annmarie is an incredible photographer and she took a ton of photos of our little adventure. As I look through the pictures, I am stunned by how ethereal and confident I appear. And I think it stems from the hair. Dyeing my hair, in essence, empowered me. It bestowed upon me a sense of autonomy and freedom. I felt like an adult, not some punky kid who decided to dye their hair purple in the midst of their screw-the-system scene kid