From big hair in the ‘80s to side parts in the 2000s, hairstyles have evolved. These days, high school students often express themselves by bleaching or dyeing their hair. 

Just like their hair choices, students have diverse and unique reasons as to why they made the changes. 

Freshman Bridget Billman has gone from blonde to numerous colors, such as red and blue. Billman has been dyeing her own hair for around six years now. She said very little planning goes into the changes. Impulse drives her decisions. Usually, there’s inspiration behind her hair, but she shared that her pink hair at the moment was out of the ordinary for her since she’s never done pink. 

“I like bright hair obviously, and I always plan on changing it in the future,” Billman said. 

Unlike Billman, sophomores Mia Garcia and Luca Onut decided to do something special with their hair together. 

“We were wanting to do a red streak for about two weeks before we actually did it,” Onut said. 

The pair just thought it was a fun activity while hanging out. The couple received different reactions from friends and family, with Garcia’s mom comparing the color to a clown, while Onut’s friends thought it looked cool. They later dyed their hair back to their original colors, which were shades of brown. 

Not all the hair coloring is for short-term fun though. Freshman Avery Taylor started her blonde journey with simple highlights, but she then spiraled into going from dark brown all the way to a bright, beautiful blonde. 

“I don’t really have an inspiration behind it, I think it just looks better on me rather than my natural hair color,” Taylor said. 

For maintenance, Taylor bleaches it at a hair salon about every three months. She said in the future, she may go back to being a natural brunette or get long extensions.

“As a fake blonde, I think it’s really cool but sometimes people make fun of me because of how dead the hair is,” Taylor said. 

For some people, dyeing their hair is a first-time experience. Joby Guzman did TikTok’s “ghost roots” trend, which is where people dye their hair different colors, but only at the roots. 

“My friend Marco helped me do it since it was my first time,” Guzman said. 

Marco also told Guzman that red would look good on him, so Guzman was inspired to do red from his friend. Guzman expressed that his family thought his hair was “stupid,” but he wasn’t really worried about that since his friends and peers thought it was cool.