Fun Hair Colors Are a Must (OPINION)

The hair policy at AHN has stayed stagnant the entire time I have been here, but I firmly believe students should be able to bend these rules and dye their hair unnatural colors. Unnatural hair colors have no serious repercussions besides potential hair damage, so creating a road block for something so harmless is not ideal.

Our teenage years are about change and a controlled form of freedom, so of course teenagers will want to change their appearance. We are changing in multiple ways as we enter adulthood and start to have real responsibility, from our voices to our opinions, so it should not be taboo to dye your hair unnatural colors. If anything, I feel that this is the best age to experiment with your looks and aesthetics because the current chances of having unnatural hair colors in a corporate setting are not the best. There isn’t a major need to be an adult when you’re in your teenage years, so I feel it makes more sense to make ‘mistakes’ now than later. There may be some awkward photos and hair damage, but there isn’t any risk of losing your job. Even if you may regret the hair style or color, at least you could make the regrettable choice when you were young and careless and excuse it at your age. 

I have been dying my hair myself since sophomore year of highschool and I just now learned that my hair dye turns purple. I may be the most oblivious person alive.

— hoemma (@itshoemma) November 10, 2017

Kira Cardillo (‘22) says, “I think we should be able to dye our hair unnatural colors because it is a temporary and safe way for students to express themselves. It is not hurting anyone and dyed hair is becoming more and more accepted within professional settings.”

While corporate workplaces are historically more conservative about physical appearances, the customs and traditions are beginning to see more changes. For example, I worked at Publix as a bagger for over six months and for most of my time there the rules on hair were restrictive. Men were not allowed to have shoulder length long hair and women had to have their hair tied up throughout the whole shift, and unnatural hair colors or ‘fad’ haircuts were not permitted. This policy changed company wide on January 14 to allow longer hair length and highlights up to any two colors, but the whole hair color could only be natural hair colors. While small, the policy was a big change to the conservative environment and standard that most corporate companies uphold. The policy is also gender neutral, another change from the underlying gender stereotypes in the previous policy. 

Junior Kate Lambert works at Publix as well and says, “I noticed the change when they updated their website and my managers told me about it. I have noticed one of my coworkers had two green stripes of hair and it was really cool to see my coworkers express themselves in that way.” Lambert has been working at Publix for eight months, meaning she has been with the company before and after their policy change. Lambert continues by saying, “All of my coworkers are accepting and they all think it’s [hair color] pretty cool.”

Teenagers can make silly choices, but I feel it’s best to make them when we can have someone to fall back onto— like our parents. If the hair color isn’t the most favorable, there is still the possibility of asking your parents to help fix it and set up a hair appointment. When we become an adult, the consequences of our actions fall onto us alone, so it will come out of my pocket if I mess up my hair.

Sophia Torres (‘22) says, “I believe that the hair will only be distracting for the teachers, the students will not mind past the first day they see it. I personally don’t want to dye my hair but I know that a lot of other students wished they could express themselves more because of the uniform policy.”

I understand being hesitant to allow unnatural colors because our school is supposed to look modest and professional. I understand the image Academy of the Holy Names is trying to portray, but American culture is changing rapidly everyday. If I were to dye my hair purple in the 1950’s I would obviously be susceptible to a mental health evaluation, but we aren’t living in the 1950’s. Keeping up with the times can open more doors than keeping them closed and even if we have a lenient hair dye policy, it doesn’t guarantee all students will take advantage of it. Many students at Academy strongly dislike unnatural hair colors and that’s fine, but I feel we should be able to make the choice ourselves.