HairColoring

 You may be asking yourself, why do people color their hair? adults do it, teenagers do it, more and more pre-teens do it, should you? Hair coloring is one of the most popular forms of self-expression seen among many cultures throughout the world. In your school, you see boys and girls sporting different hues of your favorite colors and you wonder why they do this, or how they do it.  

figure1: Selena before she dyes her hair
http://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/selena-gomez-beauty-evolution

This is Selena! She is a middle school student, enjoys music, and also has two older sisters and a younger brother. Selena is like most 11-14 year olds, she has hobbies and goes to school, but she is also in the stages of finding herself! Coloring her hair is one thing Selena is thinking about doing to express her individuality(figure 1). During her late elementary school years, Selena was very reserved, shy, and always did what she was told. Now that she is a middle-schooler, she wants to break out of her shell and try new things! 

  There are a few different ways Selena can go about adding color to her hair, she can add extensions, use clip-ons, or use hair dye. After talking to her parents, Selena decided she wanted to go straight for the hair dye and now had to pick some colors and a type of dye to use!

figure2: Manic panic Dyes
http://theatricalcostumesetc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/manic-2.jpg

"I will probably have to bleach some of my hair first," she says to herself. Which means she will have to strip the current natural color from her hair(2). This process will make her hair a light whitish blonde so the hair color she picks will stick to the hair, and also stay vibrant. After she bleaches her hair, she will have to decide on a type of dye, semi-permanent or permanent? Semi-permanent dyes are easy to use straight from the bottle, they come in a ton of crazy colors and can last for about 6 weeks(2). Permanent dyes cause more damage to hair, come in more natural colors and also require more products to make them work(2). 

Selena decides on a semi-permanent dye from the brand Manic Panic. She picks multiple colors in shades of blues, pinks, and purples!(figure 3) Selena is SO excited that she is finally going to break out of her shell and be noticed, that she runs straight home to dye her hair. Selena watched a ton of videos to learn as much as she could so she could dye her hair herself. After letting her hair dry, she styled it for the perfect look, and is very very happy! "This is the best decision I have ever made!" she exclaims!

Figure3: Selena with her dyed hair!
http://d2rd7etdn93tqb.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/selenacoloredhair.jpg

Selena is being noticed by all of her friends and classmates, and is having a great time experimenting with other hair colors! She told her friend that “I just have this addiction to changing my hair, it makes me feel like a new person" (1). Hair coloring is a great way to express your individuality and is also a lot of fun if you just want a temporary burst of color!

Selena is now enjoying the luxury of semi-permanent dyes while finding which colors suit her best. Coloring hair has become an accessory to us just like handbags used to be! 

If you want to learn more about Manic Panic Semi-permanent dyes, you can click here!

References
(1)Pai, D. (2015, December 29). The surprising psychology behind people who dye their hair. Teen Vogue.
            Retrieved from: http://www.teenvogue.com/story/psychology-behind-dyeing-hair

(2) Oliver, D. (2013, November 5). A brief guide to hair dye: semi-permanent vs. permanent vs. bleach. The Huffington Post.

            Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/05/hair-dye-types-treatment-tips_n_4193049.html