Girl on Fire: Bold colors, bright hues… and why we dye our hair

Expressing who you are comes in all different forms, including fashion, writing, drawing, and for some students, colorful hair. Permanently coloring hair comes with numerous responsibilities including deciding on a color, choosing the brand of hair dye or the salon, and most importantly, taking care of the hair once it is dyed.

Senior Gabi Seifert has experimented with a variety of hair colors and is currently sporting a bright pink color. After dyeing it purple, Seifert has turned to pink because it will be less harsh on her hair in the future, and will not need to be bleached again if she decides to change the color.

“When I first dyed my hair it was purple for a while and then I slowly transitioned to pink because it fades better than purple which just fades into gray,” Seifert said.

Seifert had always envisioned herself with colorful hair, but her parents were not always on board.

“Right when I turned 16 my parents let me dye my hair for the first time, but I had wanted to color my hair since middle school. They were worried that I would damage my hair and they wanted to make sure I understood how permanent dyeing my hair would be,” she said.

After showing her parents that she was responsible enough to take care of her dyed hair, Seifert finally did it — with the help of her friends.

“I dye my hair at home with my friends and it’s super fun to share that experience with my friends. I also can’t reach the back of my head when I’m dyeing my hair so my friends help me with that,” Seifert said.

While Seifert loves the way she expresses herself with bright hair, she does not think it will always stay colored.

“I think there will be a time where I don’t have colored hair, but mostly because other people will want me to look professional at my job. I want to get a job in something in physics, and I think they would want me to look professional,” Seifert shared.

Orange is junior Naomi Wilson’s color of choice, a color she has been going to Curl Power Salon in Minneapolis every month to re-dye since the end of her sophomore year.

“I wanted orange because a character in a Spanish telenovela that I watch has orange hair and she’s a very powerful female character,” Wilson said.

Along with the vibrant color, the character’s short hairstyle inspired Wilson to cut her hair shorter as well.

“I used to have really long hair that would even reach my back after I showered, and it was very curly. The long hair was weighing me down in multiple ways, and I wanted to change my look,” she said.

Since she could remember, Wilson imagined herself with blue hair, but eventually decided on orange. Knowing she wanted to dye her hair, Wilson started to look at the cost of dyeing her hair monthly. Wilson met with a professional to decide on a color, and discussed the price that came with the dyed hair.

“My parents were mostly on board with me dyeing my hair, but they did warn me about the expenses that come with dyeing hair since I have to get it re-dyed monthly. I met with a professional hair stylist and she helped me pick out a color, and gave me advice on how to keep my hair healthy,” Wilson shared.

To find hair inspiration, Wilson researched celebrities who had dyed their hair.

“I think it’s important to Google famous people with the same skin color and face shape as you before meeting with a hair stylist so that you can see if the hairstyle would work well with you,” she said.

With bright colored hair comes change, which Wilson noticed in her surge in confidence.

“I feel a lot more confident with my colored hair, and a lot of people say it makes me look older. Someone once thought I was a teacher because of my hair. It has made me feel a lot more mature too,” Wilson said.

Along with a noticeable change in her confidence, Wilson also recognized the change that came in her fashion.

“I’ve started to wear longer earrings and black clothing because it matches everything. Dyeing my hair has made me a lot more aware of what I’m wearing because I want to make sure the colors of my clothes don’t clash with my hair,” she said.

Ninth grader Alice Duncan has always had a trace of color roaming through her locks.

“I dyed the ends of my hair for the first time in sixth grade using red Kool-Aid, and it [the dye] surprisingly lasted a long time. I didn’t change it much until eighth grade when I dyed it blue. Once the blue started growing out, I dyed the top of my hair purple and now it’s fading into a kind of teal color, ” Duncan said.

Deciding on new hair colors is simple for Duncan since she is intrigued by all sorts of colors.

“I decided to change my hair color from purple to blue because I wanted something different, and those two colors are my favorite,” she said.

Newfound confidence is shown in Duncan’s case as well as she is not afraid of hiding the fact that she sports colorful hair.

“I definitely feel a lot more confident with my colored hair, because I’m aware of the fact that I stand out with my dyed hair,” Duncan said.

Duncan’s advice to anyone thinking about dyeing their hair is to be confident in your decisions before making the change.

“Make sure you like the color you’re choosing before you dye it because it’s expensive to re-dye your hair every couple weeks. If you don’t want to spend a lot of money but still want to dye your hair, Kool-Aid works surprisingly well. It’s also so important to get the right shampoo for dyed hair and take care of it as much as you can,” she shared.