"Blue hair brigade"

[CervixSampler]

I expect this might be deleted but fingers crossed.
I'm posting on behalf of my Dd who is bombarded with gender woo at school and has queried me about the blue hair brigade stereotype. I don't know much about it except that my plans for a blue rinse once I reach a certain age has been shelved. I'm going for apricot now instead. It better matches my natural colouring anyway.

Can anyone explain the whole blue hair thing in a young teen friendly way please? She is miffed that blue hair is not cool among the GC.

I don't think it's not cool, more that its a very common thing seen in someone with anti-woman views and pattern recognition is a human thing.

Just from a upkeep pov, blue hair is a nightmare. Need to bleach your hair to get the lift needed, very damaging and it fades to that horrible dishwater green very quickly.

But yes, agree with pp, do what you like with your hair, but when most people with that style behave a certain way it creates a stereotype.

Peach is a lovely colour, @Artichokeleaves, wish I had the colouring for it.

Dying your hair a scary colour is a fuck you to adults. [happy memories]

Throwing away women's rights is a fuck you to adult women.

She can dye her hair blue as a fuck you to anything she wants. Although green and purple would be more fitting.

Reclaim the blue, I say.

I'll suggest purple white and green but she likes pink and turquoise. Her hair is a beautiful honey gold blonde and it looks good with a pink dip dye. I'm not a fan of coloured hair as it's not good when it's growing out or fading. But she can do what she likes with it, it's her hair. She'd chastised me for using a stereotype about blue hair.

"blue hair brigade" doesn't refer to blue rinse, I thought it referred to your archetypical "leftie" who dyes their hair, wears statement clothes, and espouses loudly the current ideology all in place of a personality.

Just as punks and goths (and mods and rockers and and and) had their own colour(s) and clothing to distinguish themselves from normal (boring) adult people, so do this generation. Since most colours and clothing has been used over the years it seems only blue hair colour is left.

Funny to think my grans friend Agnes was dead edgy in her 80s!

The blue hair brigade youth when I was growing up would have found their tribe as basically goth, emo, cyber-punk, raver, or other alternative subculture.

Signified by hair dye, but these subcultures provided a genuinely meaningful sense of identity to a possibly troubled teen.

These days, it's more trendy to obsess online over pronouns, LGBTQ status and "gender", than music subculture (where teens used to be able to find a home).

These days, those identifying as feminine dye their hair pink, and those identifying as masculine dye their hair blue.
That's how you know how your non-binary or trans teenager is identifying these days.

I have purple hair! I know no one cares

I had blue hair back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Thank to quite shit dyes, I also had blue ears.

Haircolour/earcolour means very little, OP, it's what's between the ears that counts.

It's the anime schoolgirl connection. The hair colours favoured by TRAs are those in the anime films they evidently adore and use as their avatars and feature in the 'shut the fuck up T*rf' gun-pointing anime schoolgirl memes.

Bit strange that she doesn't want you to warn her of any negative stereotypes before she makes a change to her appearance. I'd wang to know of any messages I'd be sending out( i had a knitted rainbow bag and socks at school, had no idea they were pride colours. I just liked rainbows. Not a problem exactly, but i did get a lot of comments that I wasn't prepared for, if I'd have known I could have been better prepared for the snark.

Both those colours are high fade op, so I'd suggest trying a semi which won't be as dramatic, before she commits to the upkeep. Also get a specific colour shampoo and conditioner. Also she'll need to protect it over summer with a hat, hair SPF and rinsing properly if going in chlorinated pools.

I don't think she will dye it at all. She's very into hair care and keeping it in good condition and can't stand hats or sunscreen due to sensory issues. She will dip dye at the most and it's usually out within a week and that's good as coloured hair isn't not permitted at school. She was just interested in why blue hair was a TRA thing and I couldn't explain.

Blue rinse is about older women.

In British politics, the term Blue Rinse Brigade is used to refer to affluent older women involved in Conservative politics, charity work and committees.

Just blue hair now is a term for the loud social justice warrior type. You know, the one on the right side of history.

It's down more to personality and actions though so just the hair wouldn't be enough to get her "branded" unless it's at a very superficial (and frankly irrelevant) level.

Word of warning though, it's a proper pain to upkeep and get rid off and it always fades into a murky swamp green.

Seems to be about alienation. They’re showing they’re different from what’s gone before, trying to subvert norms. It‘s a bit silly as people have dyed their hair daft colours forever, but not harmful.

Just from a upkeep pov, blue hair is a nightmare. Need to bleach your hair to get the lift needed, very damaging and it fades to that horrible dishwater green very quickly.

I didn't find that at all, if anything the blue hair absolutely wouldn't fade. I ended up bleaching it 3 times to get the blue out (not my wisest moment) Looked amazing while it was blue though.

I am extremely GC and have blue hair, I always have it a 'crazy colour'

Just another shitty stereotype against women, just like the whole Karen movement.

I had blue hair after I split up with a girlfriend and was going through a not quite at midlife crisis.

It wasn't trendy then and associated with wokeness and a homophobic ideology. Now it is. I'm now 45 and wouldn't mind blue hair again. Sadly they have ruined it for me.

Agree that it's associated with a certain "type" but ironically they rarely look good on it because they tend not to do the prep/upkeep required for deep/strong colours.

Those same colours take beautifully though on older hair that is grey/white.

Might be an idea worth exploring?

(Not for your DD - it's a lot of work if your hair still has natural colour.)

To directly answer your question: the stereotype is that all anyone has to change to say that they're non binary is their hair. Mostly they go for blue or green and bam, they're not male or female anymore.

I’ve been colouring my hair on and off (usually pink, magenta or purple) since I was a teenager, back when I was a little punk/goth/mettalerI havent outgrown it and am fortunate to have enough holiday time to do it (Tbf my work is relaxed about hair dye i could keep it but prefer to mainly stay white/blonde)

Many young people go through it- some keep it up (looks at Zandra Rhodes) others (including the multi coloured allies) will stop as they get older.

I sometimes think the young forget we all had a youth too. And then it’ll happen to them as well. That’s how it works.

I'm starting to get more white hairs but it's still a golden reddish blonde colour that I love. Took me until I was in my 30s to like my hair. I am thinking of ribboning my hair though. Just need to practice my plaits.

I agree that the blue/green efforts I have seen are poor. I love a bold colour that's done well but the growing out mousy green blue is not great. If they like it though then that's grand. Hair is a very personal thing. I've never dyed mine but the 80s and 90s were the perm years. I rocked a perm like the metaller I was (still am).