Why Seasonal Hair Trends Are Total Bullshit

When it comes to the hair of women and femme folks, there is plenty of mythology, lore, and straight up rules about the way we wear our hair, and I’ve fallen prey to believing plenty of them. There’s the one that says to get over heartbreak, one must complete a dramatic hair transformation (check). There’s the one about pushing through trauma with a fresh chop (also check). There’s the ageist belief that women over 40 shouldn’t wear their hair long (not there yet, but I’ll reckon with that one when I get there). And then there’s the one that tells us that every season, we must change our hair with the leaves of the trees.

The thing is, the idea of the seasonal hair color is not one borne out of malice, and it’s actually a nice idea in theory. Freshen up your look as the seasons change, be in tune with nature, blah blah blah. Changing up your look can bring you up when you’re feeling down, and it can be downright refreshing to walk into a salon looking one way and walk out somehow feeling like you look “better.” However, the premise that we should reinvent ourselves up to four times a year can be a bit harmful for the ol’ idea of self, not to mention the wallet, and when I recently dyed my hair a ~nice fall color~ I realized just how important stability can be.

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My hair is naturally a reddish brown color, but I'd put some blonde highlights in it over the last year that I actually really loved. After getting a jaw-length cut back in May, I'm now going through the rough process of growing it back out and I've been getting bored with the general shape and look of it. However, given my steadfast commitment to the growing-out process, I needed something other than a cut to change things up. That's where things got a bit messy.

Since the colder months are here, Big Beauty dictates that I should be going for a darker look. As the rule goes, spring/summer hair should be a lighter version of whatever your normal look is: brunettes should get highlights, blondes should go brighter, and redheads should aim for a strawberry hue. In the fall and winter months, however, the rule reverses: hues get deeper, highlights disappear, strawberry blondes become auburn. Thus, I decided I’d dye my hair darker and go for an “evil version of myself” kind of vibe. After two hours in the chair, I looked completely different.

At first, I felt good. There was nothing wrong with the color (except that it slightly reminded me of when I dyed my hair dark in high school from a box), and my friends and family said they liked it. But it just didn’t feel like me. Of course, no one made me dye my hair darker in the first place, but I definitely was influenced by some of the myths we’re told about beauty. I simply didn't love the way I looked, and though it sounds superficial, it's important to feel good when you look in the mirror — especially as someone who already deals with mental health issues, staring down a long winter. So, a month and a half later, I found myself back in the chair, asking my stylist to lighten my strands right back up. When she removed the towel from my hair after the shampoo bowl, I knew I’d made the right decision. I felt more like myself again, even with sopping wet hair.

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While changing your beauty routine seasonally can be fun (and, TBH, is important when it comes to skincare), it can also be a little unnecessary. The truth is, the goal of a good beauty decision is to make you feel like a better version of yourself, not a version you don’t recognize. From now on, I'll be sticking to less permanent ways to acknowledge the changing of the seasons.

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