It all started when my mom got a free box of dye. It’s when Herbal Essences was first coming out with dye, and they were offering a free box for anyone to try. It came in the mail, and we opened it eagerly. It was beautiful dark cherry color.

My mom dyed my hair, and I was hooked. Eight weeks later, she did it again; to cover my ugly ash brown/grey roots. Everyone complimented me, saying how beautiful the color was. It made my sickly, yellow looking skin (which wasn’t yellow, it only looked that way against my natural hair color) look more pale and porcelain.

Then, the very next year, I decided I was goth. I know now that I wasn’t, but I dyed my hair black anyway. My mom hated it, I loved it. Afterwards in short order came the perm and back to red. Which caused my hair to break, and me to learn about proper hair care. Then came the neon colors.

See, I wasn’t happy with black or red. That was too normal. So I wanted to dye my hair blue. I went online, I found how-tos, reviews, and other information. I found out tips and tricks. And then I bought the bleach, and the Manic Panic, and I dyed my hair. My whole head. It was blue. It was NEON blue.

And I was happy. And people asked me “Why did you do that to your hair?!” And I told them, because I wanted to. And that’s when I learned that there are certain social connotations about having neon dyed hair. For example, If you have neon hair, you will get 1 of 3 responses when walking through Wal-Mart.

Response A) “Why did you do that?! You ruined your hair!”

Response B) “OMG THAT’S SO COOL. I wish my mom would let me do that!”

Response C is a refusal to acknowledge you, but a hard stare as you walk by them. These are the people I dislike the most.

Getting a job is harder with neon hair, too. I never had a problem with it, but I never tried any of the conventional jobs, either. I worked at a comic shop, and I worked giving away free samples. Neither of these jobs required me to change the color of my hair. But I know people who did have problems with their hair colors, and in order to get a job, had to dye over them.

I don’t understand this mentality. You know, and I know, that people who choose to go with outlandish colors (purple, green, blue, etc.) are perfectly fine people. They shouldn’t be judged based on that specific choice. And what’s worse is that you can have a face full of metal, but you can’t work at goodwill with green hair.

This makes no sense to me. It seems far more likely that a person with a face full of metal would fill out the social stigma of what every “normal” person thinks someone with green hair is supposed to be like. Did that make sense to you? Person A has green hair. Person B. has a labret, a nose piercing, and a tongue piercing. While Person A may be more outlandish looking, hair can be hidden beneath a hat, or pulled back. A piercing cannot be hidden, and nothing looks worse than a labret with a clear spacer in it.

And the absolute worst thing of all as that we tell children in schools “Be yourself. Express yourself through your clothing and hair styles and makeup.” And then we punish them for it, because it’s not in the school dress code. Why should we need a dress code? If we’re encouraging the youth to express themselves freely, why put limitations on it? “Sorry Suzy, you can express yourself through what your wearing so long as it doesn’t have writing on it, doesn’t fit too tightly, and your hair is a “natural color.” Does that make sense to you?

I respond by telling them that most neon colored dyes are vegetable based, and that these are “natural” colors. Look at parrots and flowers! Our world is not in shades of black and white, brown, and red. I know that. Most people know that. So why are we treated as second class citizens if we decide to play with the big box of crayons?

Breaking Stereotypes –
Rogue

------------

About the author: Rogue Holly (Margo Holly) is an avid knitter and crocheter. She has been knitting for 5 years, and crocheting for 1 year. She has recently taken up Tatting, as well. She also enjoys reading epic fantasy books, hiking, swimming, and sewing. She waits eagerly for the county fair to roll into town every year, and works her fingers to the bone with her crafting in order to prepare for it. She lives in East Tennessee and blogs her (mis) adventures in knitting, sewing, and everything else at http://rogueknits.wordpress.com. You can contact her via Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/froguin), or email at Rogueishknitter@gmail.com

Comment on this article here!



------------

All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com. Please link to this article rather than copying and pasting it onto your site (which would be unauthorized and illegal).

	Web useless-knowledge.com