The Interlude

If I had a quarter for the number of different hair colors and styles I’ve had in the last 16 months, I’d probably be drinking an iced oat milk latte around the corner from my apartment right now. (They cost around $6… you get the point.) Though my style journey through the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t differed much from my constant need for change during a normal year, public perception around personal style choices certainly has. 

About a year and some change later, people are beginning to be ripped from their beds, living rooms, 876gh and Zoom calls to head back into reality. To some degree, at least — barring breakthrough cases and new variants — in-person interaction is back in full swing. As people head back to schools and offices nationwide, one of many things on their minds is the way they present themselves through clothing, makeup, accessories, and hairstyles.

Take me, for example: as a mid-20s working professional, I spent the last year in sweats over Zoom handling all of my work within my four bedroom walls. In a year spent confined to one singular point on a map boredom struck, and I channeled my energy into constantly-changing hair styles. I found solace in my hand-me-down clipper kit and began cutting my own hair; I had a new look each week, from a shaved head to a mullet and more. I tested nearly every color under the rainbow from platinum blonde, to a deep emerald green, to bright orange with a dyed orange eyebrow to match. As summer hit, I began to wonder what was still “socially acceptable” out in the real world. How would a year of casual dress and TikTok-inspired at-home experimentation affect the way we react to each other in person? 

Before we continue, a brief explanation on TikTok trends I’ve hopped on to. Midway through 2020, two on-the-rise hair trends caught my eye: split dyed hair and money piece highlights. One day, I decided to split my hair down the middle and dye it a few of following color combinations: blue and purple, blue and green, blue and pink and my personal favorite, pink and green (what I called my watermelon hair). Once I grew this out, I hopped onto the money piece highlights train — of course, with short hair this looks a little bit different on me, but I had fun dyeing the hair along my hairline blonde, and consequently different colors. I’m still growing it out now, actually. Fashion-wise, I took my turn in DIY-ing some old pants; I spent one afternoon bleaching a pair of black pants to make one leg a different color than the other, and spent another doodling over a pair of olive green chinos with a black sharpie. 

Evolved style, and more importantly, the emphasis we place on style standards, is a dilemma facing workplaces and schools alike. School boards are beginning to implement a shift of focus on dress codes to make “‘a little less stress [for teachers],’” according to Elizabeth Huebeck in Education Week. Times have changed and these days there’s plenty more to worry about than a tucked in shirt and black dress pants. What if everyday could be “casual Friday,” or the concept of “casual Friday” didn’t even exist? Cleanliness, respectability, and an overall sense of being put together in school or the workplace are not extraordinary demands, but would you really ask your employees to sacrifice themselves or their comfort Monday-Friday? It can be challenging getting up each day feeling like you have to put on a mask (a metaphorical one, please continue to wear masks) from 9-5 for more than half of your week. 

For most of my upbringing, I was able to choose how I looked for myself. I spent K-12 in public schools without uniforms and when old enough, I was allowed to dye my hair whatever color I felt like that week. This turned into almost every color under the rainbow, piercings, tattoos and an overall sense of personal style. Even when I worked jobs that required uniforms, like a certain job where one might have to wear a red shirt with khaki pants *cough cough* I was allowed to display my tattoos and color my hair blue. I worked in the clothing section of this unnamed store where people would approach me for recommendations daily, saying they could tell that I had good style…wearing KHAKI pants. If my sense of style, even in uniform, sold clothes, how could a company not let me present myself any way I wanted?

Even in schools, where dress codes are often stringent and archaic, the rules are shifting.In some places, though, dress codes are stricter. Mary Retta, in a 2020 Teen Vogue article, interviewed students rethinking dress codes. One student said she doesn’t “‘think shoulders, backs, stomachs and upper thighs are ‘distracting’ at all.’” This quote brought me back to my middle school days, when our vice principal would practically stalk the halls, classrooms, and cafeteria looking for young girls to punish — some claimed she would pull on girls’ bra straps if they were showing outside of their tops. 

Many faculty members still punish staff and students for silly things like tank tops, the length of shorts and skirts, and hairstyles. Hairstyle restrictions disproportionately affect Black students, unfairly viewed as “non-traditional” by (racist) faculty. Through discussion and legal activism, change has begun and the perception of individuality amongst young people is being embraced. It’s important for school administration to respect students the ways they want to be respected in return, and be mindful of personal, cultural and religious dress in public environments like the classroom.

Fashion cycles every 10-20 years while trends continue to come and go, but personal style will remain personal style forever. I sometimes think I’ll have pink hair when I’m 80 and if people don’t like that, then it’s on them. But if I’m not allowed to explore that for myself in any and every environment I step into, how will I know whether or not I’ll want pink hair when I’m 80? It’s not like I would get less stares and comments than I do now — pink hair is pink hair. To be honest, more people compliment me than give me grief for walking around with pink hair, piercings, and a butterfly tattoo. I do live in Los Angeles, after all. I can’t say I’d receive the same reactions in other parts of the country, but I do count my blessings that I don’t have to find out. If there’s one thing keeping more to myself for the last year taught me, it’s that I’m the only person who will be seeing myself all day every day. That’s exactly what I’ve begun to find different in myself — I really don’t care what people think of me in platform boots and cheetah-print pants or a bright pink mullet. And by the looks of it, trends are blurring the lines of personal and professional as society continues to evolve. 

I had a professor who would always bring lectures back to the phrase “evolution is change over time.” A familiar concept, right? In school you learn about evolution through science class and history; how we evolved from the first cavemen and women, or how the industrial revolution evolved almost all aspects of our society. I think, because of this, we’re sometimes stuck with this notion that large change cannot not happen in our lifetime. That where we are now is because of the changes that were made in our parents’ and grandparents’ generations. But change can and will happen throughout our lifetime — we’ve seen an incredible amount of it happen the past year and a half alone. If you don’t evolve with the world, how can you continue to be yourself?

Try dyeing your hair pink next time.