One week ago I dyed my hair pink.

This wasn’t the first time I had experimented with the color. A month ago I put a few streaks of the same dye into my bangs, something I had wanted to try but hadn’t had the guts to do for a long time. The results were great, I thought, and I got quite a few comments urging me to try more color. So this time, one hour, one enthusiastic roommate, and most of one dye tube later, I emerged with a full glazing of bright pink hair on the top of my head. Perfect for my plane trip home to see the family the next day.

My roommate’s enthusiasm had translated into a glazing slightly more shocking than I had anticipated, and at first, I must admit, I felt really awkward and out of place sporting such a ‘do. Once I left Eugene, home of the crazy hair and body art lovers, I was often the only unusually outfitted person in the room, and I was well-aware of how much attention it caught. The change in stranger’s daily interactions with me was immediately noticeable. Surprisingly, except for the stares, I felt people were more polite and respectful towards me. And I definitely had no trouble getting their attention ever. I think the shock of the hair sent them into some sort of survival mode where they were too busy trying to comprehend the strangeness in front of them to expend energy being nasty. And after a day, I got used to it, and I began to notice how the hair and corresponding attention changed my personality as well. I was all of the sudden bolder, more willing to state exactly how I felt about whatever, and not take any crap from others in return. And the best part was, I never lost any of my politeness that was so beaten into me as a southern child. If anything, this tendency also got stronger, as any personal affront to me I chalked up to a misunderstanding of my physical appearance, and not of my soul.

The hair stripped away whatever shield of normalcy I was still hiding behind, and I found it empowering. It became for me a visible symbol of my designer soul.

I have to admit not everyone was as welcoming towards my unusual appearance, particularly during my visit home to the South. But those unwelcoming reactions, compared with those applauded my look, were helpful in discerning those who preach the values of openmindedness versus those who actually live the creed.

I began to wonder what would happen if I brought this look to the corporate world. As a general rule, the value of a conservative appearance is preached and followed, but in a world of art and design, quite the opposite is often acceptable, if not applauded. And to go back to the statement I made earlier about openmindedness, a firm that would not hire someone with a certain physical appearance is not necessarily the type of place I would want to work anyways. Wouldn’t a firm that hired you based upon your true personality and design merits, whether they be conservative or more artsy, be a better fit for anyone than one in which you had to hide who you were? I pose this question to be debated in the comments section.