The Philosophy Behind the Dying of Hair

Okay, I lied; it isn't really a "philosophy" per say, but really more of an epiphany. 


Yesterday (and today) I made the "critical" and "life-altering" decision to dye a part of my bangs blue, as pictured to the left. This makeover, like most things, got me thinking. What were my intentions? Why did I want to dye my hair in the first place? Is this some rite of passage all teenagers go through?

Okay, perhaps I was thinking a bit too much into it. However, this isn't normal for me. I've spent my entire life an A-student brown-noser who wouldn't dare disobey the rules set in front of me. The past few years, however, have seen a change in me. No, I am not talking about puberty, although I am currently experiencing a growth spurt (5'6'' ftw!). I am talking about Middle School, the Hell to top all Hells. 

Middle school sucked, and, frankly, that experience will change a person. Yet I truly believe I became a better person in middle school. At the beginning, I was a jerk. I mean, a real, proper jerk. Upon the discovery that there were loads of people on the internet with interests similar to mine, I began to shift into the person I am today. Granted, that isn't the best person in the world, but I am working on it. 

 I had become a better person during middle school, but I was still lost. In high school, teenagers are thrown into an arena full of thousands of their peers going through the same things they are: sexual frustration, social anxiety, and the likes. This is not the best idea. Adults explain to us that high school is the time to find yourself. Yet, when we do something rebellious and crazy like dye our hair, we get called out on it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that society is, well, fucked up. As teenagers, we begin to understand the world better and are exposed to the harsh realities and truths of it. We develop our own opinions. We develop our own tastes. Yet, we still struggle to find ourselves. We are out there seeking a "great perhaps" when we don't even know what that "perhaps" entails. 

Teenagers dye their hair as an experiment. They dye their hair in hopes that it will bring them one step closer to who they are meant to be. We are constantly told we need to be ourselves to find ourselves. This is absolute garbage, because, that doesn't even make sense? Piercings, tattoos, and hair dye all metaphorically represent the struggle teenagers are forced to go through to find themselves. And, if society looks down on them for that, then what do we even have to look up to?

DFTBA,
-TJ