my hair color, my choice

So what if I want to have blue hair?

A few years ago, I never would have believed that my hair would be anything other than brown or blonde. But now, my hair has been red, green, blue, purple, and pink in addition to several other “natural” colors. And I would not have imagined how happy those colors would make me feel.

The first bright color was purple. It was for prom, as the color was just an accent color that matched the color of my prom. I just colored part of my hair so that there were purple streaks in my prom updo. Later that faded into pink, which I liked even more. For graduation, I got a gorgeous pink dress that matched my hair. I felt so put together when my hair matched my clothes.

After a while, I dyed it brown again. Then a month later, the color bug bit again. I dyed the bottom half of my hair blue for a concert. At this point, my hair was long enough that it reached the middle of my stomach. So a few days before leaving for college, I chopped it off at my shoulder and put a little blonde in it. It was a good hairstyle to start college, so no one judged me for having weird hair before they got to know me.

Then I got bored.

Eventually this led to me dying my hair blue (for a concert, again). I really like the color, but I felt like people judged me for it. A couple older women did not even attempt to hide their judgment. So I tried to cover up the blue, but it just turned green.

After a couple of botched cover-up attempts, I went with it. I bought more blue hair dye, then added pink, purple, and green in the mix. I was going for an ocean-like color. I just threw a bunch of colors onto a paper plate and put them into my hair willy-nilly.

Honestly, I loved it. I felt free and wild. I wore mostly black at this time, so the color was a good accent. As it got colder, I threw on a red flannel almost every day, which was a good look since the colors contrasted.

Eventually, I got my hair to a very dark brown so no color showed. Now it’s a lighter brunette color more true to my natural hair. But who cares? Why is it such a big deal that I change my hair color all the time? Who cares if my hair color is obviously not natural? Does that matter?

It’s always bothered me that people make a big deal about my obsession with dying my hair.

My background is quite conservative, so I’ve always made an effort to thoroughly think through things (tongue twister wowowow) before doing them. I want to be respectful, kind, classy, and modest. But after a lot of contemplation, I could not think of a good reason why someone shouldn’t dye their hair.

It’s just like the whole makeup thing. There will always be people out there who say that girls shouldn’t wear makeup because they’re lying to people through it. But if it makes them feel confident and beautiful, why tear them down and say it’s wrong? The same goes for hair.

It’s not like people with colored hair are incompetent. I may not be the smartest or most successful person in the world, but I have published a book. I am just as capable as people with un-dyed hair.

My bright hair color made me happy. Why must people tear me down because of it?