Bottle blonde? Red? Blue? Students looking for a quick change are… Fit to be dyed
By Daily Bruin Staff
June 2, 1996 9:00 p.m.
Monday, June 3, 1996
By Susan Lee
Daily Bruin Contributor
In the 1980s, parents hoped that the emulation of Cindy Lauper,
with her glowing mane of shocking pink and purple streaks, would be
but a phase.
But coloring one’s hair  which once generated hair-raising
stares  is far from a dying trend, as even brighter colors
grace the heads of today’s UCLA students.
Reminiscent of the youthful ’80s punk days of multicolored and
feathered layers, some students say that these days it’s no longer
a big deal to mess with the tresses.
"It’s just a fun way to set yourself apart from the crowd
sometimes," said Kathleen Johnson, who sports streaks of emerald
green in her bleached blonde hair.
"Plus, it’s relatively easy to do, and it can be a cheap
thrill," Johnson said, rambling off various eclectic shades of
over-the-counter hair dyes she has used to "get my look."
Despite the fact that changing the hair isn’t the same as
changing the person, Johnson said she has run into discrimination
and stares.
"Once I was in this store to buy a soda," Johnson said. "And
they just treated me like I was an alien or something. And deep
down, all it was was that my hair had a blue streak in it."
With so many negative responses to dyed hair, it seems logical
that students would start accepting their natural hair color. But
despite the responses, students who have hit the dye bottle say
that it’s simply a "life choice" and "fun" to dye their hair. Some
do it to get a rise out of others, while others do it just because
they feel like it.
"If I want to have a little fun with my hair, why shouldn’t I?"
asked Ellen Shi, a student with bright purple braids. "Just because
other people don’t like it?"
But other students saw a larger problem with the "people just
want to have fun" attitude toward chameleon-esque color
changes.
"It isn’t so much the multicolored hair that bothers me, but the
implications of why some people dye their hair lighter shades like
brown or blonde," said Patricia Sanchez, a Chicana/o studies
student visiting UCLA.
Sanchez explained her belief that students with low self-esteem
might dye their hair in order to follow the trend or fit in more.
They just want to "brush up" on their image superficially and not
"work on showing who they really are" Sanchez said.
With the hairy issue of self-esteem in mind, Jonathon Le, a
Santa Monica hair stylist, said he doesn’t see many of his
adolescent customers coming into the shop with low-self image.
"It’s not really a problem so much as an issue of self-esteem,"
Le said. "A lot of people just want a change that won’t affect
their entire persona. Besides, hair dye will wash out if they want
to change it again."
