Unnatural hair color and extravagant piercings

In My Humble Opinion
21

A lot do, but a lot don’t. In fact, around my school (University) people who dye their hair also wear clothes that “normal” people do (among guys at least, t-shirts with designs, and cargo pants, or some kind of dressy button up shirt over a t-hirt). A lot of the guys have fairly conservative haircuts (short and styled). Most people I know who dye their hair wear quite attractive and stylish (IMHO) clothes.

My clothing style is stylish (at least according to everyone around me). I wear shirts that arent drab (in fact, one of my favorite shirts has a very vivid sunset scene with a Japanese temple in silhouette with a chinese dragon along one panel). Though my shirts are mostly grays and blacks, they do have hints of color that make them actually undrab. ). Even my pants are stylish in the details (I hardly wear jeans anymore, and when I do, theyre cargo pant type jeans). I take care of my hair as well, since I style it every day (when I dont style it it’s usually a weekend when i’m not doing anything, or going out).

22

I used to dye my hair all kinds of different colors, mainly reds, ranging from bright purple to carrot orange. I wore the clothes to match, either all black or all color.
These days, I’m too comfortable to bother. I don’t want to dye my hair every four weeks, I don’t want to shop around in funky stores for clothes I can’t afford or fit into anyway.
So now I just get a kick out of people noticing my pierced tongue. I guess I don’t seem like a person who would have a pierced tongue.

23

**

They do this to express themselves as an individual. Just like all their other friends.
Marc

24

Well, I’m 41 years old. I don’t even pretend to know what youngsters are thinking, but…

Back in the late 70’s, My buddy Jim told me that his main goal in life was to have people look at him and say, “WHAT is WRONG with that guy”.

My guess, is that way of thinking still holds true today, and why not.

25

Just so you know where I’m coming from:
I’m a mid-40’s female ex-scientist, no tats, one piercing in each earlobe, hair unpermed and undyed. Could be a poster child (?mother?) for a middle-class conservative.

But this subject just twangs my strings. Why is it mainstream OK in most western societies for women but not men to have pierced earlobes? Why is ear piercing OK and tongue or eyebrow or nipple piercing not? Why can little old ladies have pierced earlobes and blue hair and it’s OK and young men have pierced eyebrows and green hair and its not? Who set these rules?

Ear piercing, whether one or many, is mutilation of the body for beauty same as are dyed hair, wasp-waist corsets, Ubangi lip plates, tatoos or other piercings, or any other of the shifting societal norms of beauty, be that society mainstream or subculture.

But, shit, it’s their bodies and their hair (lips, waists, skin, whatever). Sure, its often “in your face”, but the aesthetics of that are the viewer’s problem not the originator’s. It doesn’t need anyone else’s acceptance, including mine.

If it amuses you, if it’s fun, if it makes you feel good, yeee-ha. If you want to do it to show you’re alienated from society, then poor you. But that’s only about my attitude to it, not your right to do it.

My only rider is that any procedures be done hygenically so that there is no ongoing medical debt. And that is just pragmatism.

26

Thanks again.

For a little discloure, I have had a hoop in my left ear for 20 years or so, no tatoos. My girls’ ears have been pierced since they were babies, the 13 year old just had hers double pierced. My 11 year old son is geting his left ear pierced over the summer.

What I find interesting is that some folk say, “Anything goes.” But a lot of people draw all kinds of lines as to what they personally find attractive, gross, wierd, shocking, interesting, sexy, etc. For instance, I like pierced ears, and have no problem with multiple pierced ears. An eyebrow is no big deal to me - actually kinda neat, and a nostril stud doesn’t really affect me one way or the other. But a septum ring reminds me of livestock. And tongues, nips, genitals, what have you, the very idea gives me the heeby-jeebies. I wonder what makes certain folk draw certain lines?

Tatoos, heck, do whatever you want to your body. I find many tatoos attractive. I have often thought of having one, but I can’t think of anything I want on me forever. (And Mrs Dwould KILL me!)

Now to the hair color. I guess I am pretty unqualified to speak on the subject seeing as I sometimes don’t even look in the mirror as I drag a brush through my thatch before sunup each morning. If it were up to me, I’d either shave my head or wear it down my back just to avoid haircuts (that is, before I found the Hooters girl who now cuts my hair. Yowza!) I usually consider myself a pretty low maintenance guy, at least when it comes to my attire and grooming. (I guess an exception might be that I work out quite a bit, primarily for function, but also because I prefer the way my body looks when I’m in shape.) So I don’t really understand anyone who puts tremendous time, effort, and expense into their looks in terms of hairstyle, makeup, or hair color, whether conventional or otherwise.

Final ramble, perhaps the “look” that caused my post was a sort of military/industrial/grunge look, including shaved or buzzed head, and generally a rather prominent facial piercing or 2. To my eyes, especially on women, this look is extremely unflattering. And I often think, “If only they didn’t put so much effort into that look, they would be reasonably attractive.” But, as has been noted above, appealing to my idea of attractiveness is the least of their priorities.

27

Nacho sez:

I often use the same technique when meeting women.

Oh wait, I dont think we’re talking about the same thing here… :stuck_out_tongue: :smiley:

28

Off topic. . .Doobieous, I’ve got an industrial that runs vertical in my ear, although I think most run horizontal in the upper part of the ear. Just so you know, I love it, but it is taking forever to heal. Its really cool, but I cant do much with it because it gets irritated all the time, especially when I accidentally whack it with stuff. When I got my nips pierced, the piercer told me that this is common with industrials. Not to rain on your parade, because I’m not planning on taking mine out yet, but thought you should know. . .back on topic.

29

Thanks for taking the time to post a thoughtful reply to my post…you didn’t flame me at all. Now let’s meet on Saturday for industrial darkwave fetish night at Club Orpheus…I’ll be the one with blue hair & a latex skirt.
:wink:

30

Okay. Gotta ask (thoo I anticipate I’ll regret it.) What is an industrial?

31

This gives you an idea, although placement and such may vary.

http://www.bmezine.com/pierce/01-ear/A10116/high/mvc-003f.jpg

32

You know, it’s funny this subject should come up.

Last week, I went to a talk at the local university with Mrs. Lightnin’ (Sparky)- I’m just an artist, but Sparky’s a biochemist/microbiologist, so the talk on Sexual Selection and how it affects the evolutionary process was right up her alley. The talk was presented by Dr. Michael Ryan, and was fairly fascinating.

Towards the end, he talked about how similar species choose mates in the same manner; females tend to be attracted to “specialized” males. For example, the male swordtail fish gets more play, the bigger the spike or “sword” on his tail is (the spike serves no other purpose, as far as researchers can tell- it’s just there to attract attention). Apparently, there’s a related species, one in which the spike is absent- but if researchers remove the spike from one and put it onto a spikeless male, he’ll get more action-even from the females of his own species, the females who normally mate with males that don’t have the spikes.

In other words, the female fish like the spike on their males, even if their particular species doesn’t have the tail naturally.

Well, after his talk, I went up and asked if the researchers had ever put the tail spike onto different places on the males; like on top of the tail, or whatever. He said that yes, and those males tend to get laid more often. He went on and said that as a general rule, females select males on the basis of greater complexity- generally, the more ornamented the male, the more he gets chosen for mating.

Maybe this is why ornamentation is so popular throughout civilization- different is better.

33

…which just proves the ladies like a bigger spike

?

34

Stella, you want me to come to Baltimore?!

I’m a West Coaster!

Ain’t no way I’m getting all the way over to that other coast unless I’m going to New Yawk. Which I can’t afford right now. Sigh.

Jeyen

35

There’s a young lady in my office with black-and-red hair, and it looks quite striking. Long, straight black hair with a few patches and swipes of fire-engine red.

I would much rather see oddly-dyed hair than someone who takes no interest in their appearance. At least people with bizarre hair, clothing, jewelry, etc., are TRYING. Someone who schlumps around in a sweatsuit with hair looking like the cat left it in the hallway are the people who get on MY nerves.

36

Ah-haha! I sympathize with you. I’m having trouble finding a steady job (Although I have taken occasional assignment for Temp Agencies), and I’ve been turned down for a couple positions because my hair is long. I’m a male.

But my hair is -nice-! I keep it trimmed, and proper, and tied back, and well-combed! I can’t cut it short because it’s a fundamental part of what makes up my integral identity. But I live in a small, conservative town. And got the same excuses that you did. That it wasnt ‘Professional’.

Either that, or that it’s because they don’t want to offend any ‘foreign cultures’.

Personally…I can’t think of a single ‘culture’ that is offended by long hair except ‘rich white anglo-saxon american male republican’.

(No offense to any out there who fit this description. If yer a Doper, yer special. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: )

-Ashley

37

Dinsdale, next time you and I have a liquid lunch, let’s go get tattoos! I know the word “magdalene” would look smashing splashed across your ass-cheek.

I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread. A good friend of mine did her senior thesis (Anthropology major) on tattoos - I think she wrote about people who were getting natural/tribal symbols tattooed on themselves to a) feel connected to nature and ancient times and b) to exercise control, individuality, and creativity on their bodies.

I dyed my hair purple in college but washed it out after a week or 2 - I didn’t have a wardrobe cool enough to pull it off. I think I did it at the time to stand out from the crowd - I wanted to meet the people who would want to come up and talk to the girl with the bright purple hair. I wanted to say “I may be studying to be some kind of State Department bureaucrat cog-in-the-wheel, but you don’t have me yet!” I’ll get a tattoo at some point, I think.

Yesterday I saw a cute girl in my 'hood - she had a little mop of bright pink hair. The rest of her was prim and proper in a navy pea coat - she looked so pretty with the pink hair, I wouldn’t have noticed her otherwise. She looked like someone I’d like to make friends with.

38

I think the only thing that keeps me from dying my hair an unusual color is that it seems to me that people with dyed hair cannot be taken seriously. I am the type that takes people seriously if they have earned it, pink hair or not, but I see this in other people, where they treat a person with blue hair as inferior.

As an 18 year old, I find it difficult enough to be taken seriously. True, I am treated with respect by most adults, but there will always be those who shake their heads at teenagers and scowl. Plus I am afraid that I would be kicked out of National Honor Society if I were to dye my hair; sad, but true.

39

If the updates on the People Pages go right, there will be a picture of me with pink hair. It is a wig, but pink hair nonetheless. I wish I had naturally pink hair… wistful sigh

40

Welfy ~ I have purple/blue/teal hair (I have to update my pic on the people pages) and I get taken seriously. I work for a very large corporation and my hair color has no effect on the way my co-workers or bosses treat me. I am young (22), have 3 tattoos, 7 earings, a tongue ring, a nose ring and a nipple ring. I find that people will take me seriously if I am respectful to them and show them that my hair color/tatts/piercings have nothing to do with my intelligence or maturity. I think it is all about how you present your personality.

Why do I do this? I love it! I am a very colorful person. I don’t think it makes me unique or weird or unusual, it is just what I find attractive! I have had tons of different hair styles and colors. Changing my “look” is one of the few things in my life I have total control over and I like that feeling.

People dye their hair, get piercings and tattoos for a lot of different reasons, just like people wear make-up or designer clothes for different reasons. It is all about personal style and what you find attractive.

There has also been talk about clothing so I think I will touch on that for a moment. I know for me, my clothes depend on my mood and how comfortable I feel like being that day. Clothes are again part of someone’s personal style and what you may find un-attractive, another may find beautiful. That is the one of the wonderful things about being alive! We all have different ideas of what is beautiful.