For a couple of years now, I’ve wanted to colour my hair green for St. Patrick’s Day, with one of those sprays that come out in the shower. I was finally able to do it this year. I learned something interesting.
While all other factors remained the same, how people perceived me changed based off of the fact that I had odd coloured hair. I behaved, talked, and otherwise looked the same, but a singular change in appearance got me called the Joker, gay, and a liberal. Last I checked, I wasn’t any of those things, but I was something far worse: part-Irish.
For a 36 hour period, I went from having strangers politely nod and say hello on the street, to feeling, at best, every person I passed staring at me, and, at worst, actually being glared at and insulted. It was surprising. I knew that there might be a bias against someone with dyed hair, but I assumed that might have more to do with the the people dying their hair.
While I was behaving exactly the same as before, spraying my hair green temporarily for a holiday changed how people, young and old, thought of me. I was especially surprised, because it wasn’t pink or blue, it was green, deep in the heart of Rider Nation. I’m sure a good number of people from Melville have walked around with at least as much green on their heads as I had. I just couldn’t believe this happened in a place where hollowed out watermelons are a common piece of fan apparel.