Why did/do you color your hair odd colors and wear really odd clothes?

Actually, I happen to like those very odd clothes. I think I look great in them, I made them, and I very much enjoy getting tarted up in them. The only reason I don’t wear them more often is the attention grabbing factor. But really, who doesn’t like getting a long, slow, constant hug?

What’s with the judgmental questions today?

Because I didn’t want to be mistaken as a gang banger. Because I thought it looked cool. Because I didn’t want guys hitting on me all the time. Cause red hair looks damn good on me. I actually hate to be stared at. Back then I did it for me, and I now have tattoos just for me. It actually irritates me when people stare. Just because I look different isn’t a reason to stare. I’m not asking for it. Do handicappped people deserve it? How about really fat people, or those with deformities?

@tinyfaery: mostly laziness. I didn’t want to spell out “red green and blue” or try to figure out how to describe the clothing I meant. I hope you don’t think I disapprove of this kind of personal decoration. It is quite the opposite. I quite enjoy it, but I get embarassed staring at people dressed like this. And yes, whether you are asking to be stared at or not, people stare at things that are quite different from what they’re used to seeing; things that are odd. You know that. I am confident that you do it, too. So I’m wondering what goes into the thinking of people who do this. Is that fair?

@tinafaery… I hope this is taken the way it’s intended, as I like seeing people who choose to look differently than the norm.
However, yes, I think people who make that choice deserve to be looked at. Not harassed, bothered, treated differently, etc, but looked at. People who were born looking different than the norm did not make a choice- people who dye their hair unnatural colors or choose to wear unusual things/get visible tattoos/piercings make a decision to set themselves apart.

Grew up a punk and metalhead and wanted to stand out from the rest, and look somewhat individualistic. I didn’t care if people would stare.

I think the way I dress has had a lot to do with how I want to identify myself. When I was an art student at University I dressed wackier to differenciate myself as an art student. That’s actually a business move a lot of professional artists make, they need to make themselves recognizable and memorable. In one of my art classes my professor told us we all needed to get unique haircuts like Warhol or Basquiat.

Now that I’m at an art school where wacky is the norm I dress more conservatively. It’s my way of saying, “I already know I’m arty and I don’t need to dress crazy to be that way.”

What body modification I have is discreet because that is just for me and I don’t want people asking me to justify my tattoos, etc. to them. They aren’t for you they’re for me. if I happen to be showing go ahead and look or ask, but the basic laws of etiquette still apply.

I played around with changing my hair color in interesting ways for a few years, including dying the lower third of my long hair red. Nowadays I’m not really inspired to do anything, so I don’t. With clothing, I have always been a practical dresser but I do have a few pieces that draw looks, which mostly come from people I know not knowing that I can dress like that. Why did/do I do this? Not for attention, I certainly don’t care what anyone thinks of what I do. Not for stares, in fact I’d rather not be gawked at of course if you want to actually discuss it, by all means let’s have a chat, like we are now! I did it because I felt like it. I see myself as a canvas, and these things help me express different parts of myself just as I could express myself by painting an actual canvas. It’s like tinkering with a machine – “let’s see what happens if we put this in here… oh hey that’s interesting, let’s keep that!”

I don’t dress to stand out or fit in, I dress to feel comfortable and confident. I enjoy expressing myself through my physical appearance, but usually I’m too lazy to put too much effort into it.

I don’t dress very strangely, by modern North American standards. But I really admire people who challenge others to reconsider their definitions of the words “beautiful” and “acceptable”.

Unfortunately, my employer doesn’t let me look too different from the other employees, so I can’t dye my hair all shades of wacky anymore.

i think some people do it because they’re just attracted to it in the same way some people are attracted to other styles. some do it just for the attention and shock factor. some do it as a way of expressing themselves. when i was in middle school i went through a ‘dye my hair as many colours as possible before i get to high school’ phase. i don’t know why it happened. i guess because it’s one of those extremes that some people just get the urge to try out. just as they’d try any other style.

also i definitely see fundevogel’s point. i mean, many people in a more conservative, professional…well, profession, also have a similar lifestyle, and i guess it goes both ways. (:

If you did it for attention YOUR DOING IT WRONG. A failure is you :P

Why did i do it? Because i liked it. Just like anything else i do in my life. I dont do it to get attention from other people, really i could give a shit, i do it because i enjoy/like it myself.

I just really liked having blue hair that reached down to my butt. I miss my mermaid hair.:’(

I liked the punk rock style and music and everything about it when I was a kid. I had to make all of my stupid clothes because there was no hot topic and I had to dye my hair with all sorts of weird stuff because manic panic wasn’t around everywhere. It was much harder work than it is today. Youth had a lot to do with it.

@likeradar So a woman who is dressed provocatively deserves to be raped?

@tinyfairy- How did you get that out of what likeradar said?I hope you are joking.

I choose to dress the way I do, so I deserve to be stared at, like you said. So if I deserve to be stared at for my choices, would I also deserved to be raped? If I’m asking to be looked at then what else do I deserve.

Plus, I do not stare at anyone; in fact, I make an effort not to. I think it’s rude and uncalled for in ALL cases.

Come on now tinyfaery, you’re really stretching and being offensive by putting words in people’s mouth like that, especially when the person made it clear that the standing out person wasn’t to be harassed or bothered. Sure it’s your right to bring strawmen into arguments, but it’s also my right to call them out when I see them.

Whatever.

to say whether someone deserves to be looked at is irrelevant. We are all visible and will be looked at whether or not we deserve it. As for whether or not someone deserves to be stared at or scrutinized, basic etiquette says we shouldn’t do this to anyone because it is rude.

Sometimes we will be rude, but you can’t socially justify it without essentially saying that not everyone deserves equal treatment.

@tinyfaery
Ummmm… no. And had you actually read and comprehended what I wrote, you wouldn’t have even asked.

I just don’t see where she’s going at all

I don’t do anything to gain attention. If you have to go out of your way to get attention then it’s pretty sad. I have tattoos and piercings because I love them and I think it’s sexy. I don’t dress like a hot topic goth. I wear all different types of clothes, but normally they lean towards girly. Heels, jewelry, big ass purses, etc. That’s just who I am. I love new fashion and I also love things that don’t fit into typical fashion. To tell you the truth I would get plenty of attention even if I didn’t have tattoos and piercings because I am attractive in the ‘normal person’ sense. I don’t mind people looking at me, I’m used to it. What I don’t like is people grabbing me because they want to look at one of my tattoos, or judging me as attention seeking just because I don’t look like 90% of other people. I don’t look at other people and judge them as boring cookie cutter followers because they don’t look like me. I get to know people before I decide what they stand for.

@elijahsuicide

I think I’m in love! Please post a picture!

Haha well one of these days I will stop being lazy and change my avatar pic, then you will see me. Unfortunately I can’t do it from my iPhone.

I cahnge my apperance often. I have 18 piercings on my ears and I don’t do it to get attention or have people stare. I do it because I like it. Most of the time when people see it they say “HOLY CRAP THAT’S ALOT” and thats it. It’s something to be different but not extreme.

As for coloring the hair, my hair is beach blonde natrually. But I’ve had pink and blue mixed in with it before and it was for halloween orginially but i kept it because i got positive feedback.

Sometimes people just like a different look. I would change my apperence because i got bored and wanted to have a different look to wake up to. Some people do it after something really bad happens or they do it for the fact of being different. Sometime it can be a good change and sometimes it can’t be.

I read all of the responses & just—wow

ANYWAYS, coming from someone who has been dying his hair “funky” colors for years (I’m 16 now) I have put up with SO much discrimination against my HAIR COLOR it’s quite astonishing. People (mostly insecure aspiring rapper males) actually go out of their way to negatively comment on my hair color (which is now bright red) like it actually affects them in some way? Lol @ them!

ANYWAYS, I don’t see why ANYONE would dye their hair “funky” colors for attention if THAT’S the kind of attention their seeking! As for why I do it, I do it because it’s what my brain wants to see when it looks in the mirror. Same reason you do your eyeshadow (if you wear any) the way you do it. My funky colored hair has also stuck with me because its become sort of like a mandatory beauty regimen, like brushing my teeth. Idk, after so long it just kind of grows on you like a fungus. A really sweet, vibrant fungus! <3