Let Down Your Hair

I just lived through the first two weeks of my life as a non-blonde. From this experience, I've made observations about society's "rules of attractiveness." Even the most basic ways in which we choose to present ourselves (ie; hair color) have an enormous impact on others' perceptions of us, and, consequentially, our own self-image.

It doesn't matter if your hair is natural or not. Whatever it is and whenever you change it, people see specific hair colors as having specific sets of characteristics. Although usually unconscious, we communicate these expectations to others through our behavior. For example, people often ask blondes if their hair color is natural, but this is rarely asked of people with darker hair colors. Therefore, it could be said that blonde people are inherently attractive and concerned with maintaining that attractiveness through dying their hair, thus making it a more noticeable trait that people often try to achieve. In contrast, brunette girls are more frequently described as being "classic", "natural" or having a "girl next door" look. Such comments make brunettes appear more serious and, often, more mature than lighter-haired individuals. The only popular cliche used to describe a blonde woman is "blonde bombshell" - a significantly flashier term than those that typically portray brunettes. In addition, blonde hair is associated with youth and purity. Since babies and children often have light hair, people expect blondes to be more carefree, energetic, and ignorant than their darker-haired counterparts. Of course, I'm making these generalizations based on my experience as a college-aged girl. As a female, much of my value and social role is determined by my appearance.

Basically, your culture is going to fit you into its norms for specific traits regardless of who you truly are, and there really isn't a whole lot you can do to change it. My elementary school was lucky (or unlucky) enough to have two sets of quadruplets in attendance. One set all had sandy brunette hair, the other consisted of four kids with highlighter-orange hair. Everyone always assumed that the redheaded quadruplets were more of a handful than the brown-haired ones.

The innate differences in various hair colors are not easily defined. Simply to say "Oh, she's the blonde" or "the redhead" entails an extremely complex social system. I can't give you any specific examples, but I know and sense that having a darker hair color has changed the way my culture sees me. Brunettes are said to be mysterious, intelligent and traditional. I don't know if I'm any of these things yet, but if my world is going to treat me as such I may unconsciously conform to these rules whether I like it or not.

In conclusion, generalizations:

-brunettes are boring
-redheads are bitchy
-blondes really do have more fun