It’s something of a stereotype that queer people impulsively dye their hair. Between lockdown and my general love of queer coding I’m honestly surprised this didn’t happen sooner.
It feels like an act of power, asserting my identity over my hair in a similar way to giving myself an undercut. It feels like it proclaims to the world “I don’t give a fuck about your beauty norms!” It also reminds me of a wonderfully giggly afternoon as my bi-trothed worked pigment into follicles.
I chose purple because it’s my favourite colour, fitting neatly into the ‘walking bi flag’ side of my aesthetic. And purple is a weird colour, it’s your brain attempting to interpret a mix of wavelengths from both ends of the light spectrum at once. I kind of love that duality, the concept of a colour which exists outside of the norm.
But above all I love my purple hair because it makes my heart jump. Because, when I look in the mirror, I see the real me smiling back.
Trans Joy is a blog series celebrating the positive side of trans experiences, in an attempt to bring some balance to contemporary trans discourses. If you want to contribute to this project then please get in touch. If you want to support the project you can order a zine here.