Teenage girl kicked out of school for dyeing her hair auburn

[Rapscallion]

True, but irrelevant.

The wording, as I understand it, is "a natural color," not "your natural color."

^-.-^

From what I understand, auburn is a naturally occurring hair colour.

Rapscallion

[Rageaholic]

Don't they have more important things to worry about? Like... I dunno... math?

[Skunkle]

Far cry from when I was in high school (1994-1997, Seattle, WA) where we had kids with pink, blue, green... and one kid in a punk band who had a mohawk consisting of five or six foot-long green spikes. And nobody gave a flippin' shit.

[fireheart17]

Far cry from when I was in high school (1994-1997, Seattle, WA) where we had kids with pink, blue, green... and one kid in a punk band who had a mohawk consisting of five or six foot-long green spikes. And nobody gave a flippin' shit.

One guy in my highschool when I first started there (when I was in Year 10, went to an all girls school for Years 8 and 9. NOTE: high school here is 8-12)
had a girlfriend who was learning how to be a hairdresser. Every few weeks he'd come in with a different haircut. These included:

-Braids.
-Dreadlocks.
-some weird thing involving a ton of hair gel and hair products.
-Mohawk (he would have it without hair products during the term, then spiked it up for casual days. NOTE: nearly all schools in Australia have uniforms of some kind)
-the word "howdy" shaved into the back of his head.

Eventually it culminated in a #2 haircut.

Then we had this crappy school play which involved all of the boys who were participating in it wearing mullet wigs (the play was set in the 80's). For rehearsals, they didn't have the wigs and the boys had to wear this frilly girly wig in the meantime. He was wearing it the day i watched their rehearsal (for the actual performance, the band had to wear anything 80's. My outfit was an oversized t-shirt combined with my normal jeans and some canvas sneakers that resembled converse sneakers. I just had my hair up as normal.) Said girly wig DID make an appearance in the musical though: the narrator who sang the opening song had to wear it.

[Cats]

Far cry from when I was in high school (1994-1997, Seattle, WA) where we had kids with pink, blue, green... and one kid in a punk band who had a mohawk consisting of five or six foot-long green spikes. And nobody gave a flippin' shit.

We had one of these in my high school, and everyone thought it was awesome. Heck, he was an incredibly nice guy and well-liked. Not to mention he was a decent student as well.

Another, who was probably pretty much your stereotypical high school hippie (didn't know him, just saw him a lot) had rainbow dreadlocks.

[fireheart17]

This is reminding me of something I read.

I read in one of the boarding school handbooks that float around down here, that the male boarders weren't to have any odd hairstyles or colours (they were allowed to dye their hair, but it had to be all over, no streaks or tips). If they did have the odd style, the school would make them get their hair cut at the hairdressers in the boarding house and be charged for doing so.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

This is a cultural thing. I went to high school in that part of the country (rural Idaho and rural Utah), and it is very, very Mormon, very, very conservative, and very, very, conformist. They really try to pound it into the kids' heads to conform, conform, conform. Don't rock the boat, don't stand out. Individuality is seen as dangerous to the conservative mindset of the culture, and authority figures are to be obeyed without question.

If you've never lived in that culture, it can be hard to comprehend how widespread and accepted this kind of stuff is. But trust me, it happens all the time in that area.

[fireheart17]

This is a cultural thing. I went to high school in that part of the country (rural Idaho and rural Utah), and it is very, very Mormon, very, very conservative, and very, very, conformist. They really try to pound it into the kids' heads to conform, conform, conform. Don't rock the boat, don't stand out. Individuality is seen as dangerous to the conservative mindset of the culture, and authority figures are to be obeyed without question.

If you've never lived in that culture, it can be hard to comprehend how widespread and accepted this kind of stuff is. But trust me, it happens all the time in that area.

Mmm...

With my story above, I should add that a friend of mine who went to said school (not as a boarder) was allowed to get away with long hair. As long as it wasn't a giant-mohawk or dreadlocks, they were mostly OK with the hair. It was oly if they had a weirder hairstyle or dye that they were sent to the hairdressers. The style would probably just be a short back and sides.

[hinakiba777]

I have to admit the colour really doesn't look natural. It's really vibrant, and the school school rules do state that you can't have hair that looks to be an unnatural colour. However, my issue is that she has been dying her hair that colour since school started in September, and they are only now cracking down on it.

I have a friend who went to a high school with similar rules. When she was 15 she started to grey naturally, and by the start of her senior year she was totally grey. The PTA and the school board had her in multiple times throughout the year because the school dress code states that a students hair should be a natural shade blonde, brown, or red. While her hair was naturally grey, that was not one of the accepted colours. She didn't want to dye it and people were split 50/50 on the ruling. She graduated before they made a decision.

[telecom_goddess]

I can't believe schools are in a tizzy over freakin' hair color...who gives a shit? (this is excluding the super Mormon/conservative parts of Idaho and Utah where you expect this)

Aren't there other more important things to worry about?

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Aren't there other more important things to worry about?

Nope. Because being able to force students to adhere to such controlling measures and (basically) infringe on students' rights to their own bodies is brainwashing and getting the students used to cow towing to anyone in a position of power without question.

It's not about the hair color. It's about creating the next generation of ignorant, spoon fed tea party morons.

[telecom_goddess]

Nope. Because being able to force students to adhere to such controlling measures and (basically) infringe on students' rights to their own bodies is brainwashing and getting the students used to cow towing to anyone in a position of power without question.

It's not about the hair color. It's about creating the next generation of ignorant, spoon fed tea party morons.

Yup I think you're right.

[Gravekeeper]

I was expecting some terrible unnatural dye gone bad purple colour. Seems to me this is a pretty obey the letter, not the spirit of the law just to be a authoritative dick scenario.

<-- Had long lair in high school. Girlfriend's hair was dyed bright red and she wore purple contacts. Not a problem. >.>

[Mytical]

<snip> purple contacts.

I've long wanted ice blue colored contacts..and to dye my hair blond...just for the heck of it...

[smileyeagle1021]

If you've never lived in that culture, it can be hard to comprehend how widespread and accepted this kind of stuff is. But trust me, it happens all the time in that area.

Also, if you've never been in that faith (which I had the misfortune of doing) it can be hard to understand why it is so widespread. There is literally a path to salvation, laid out by God, that all members should follow. And that isn't like a hippy, God has plans that he has made just for you, type path, no more like the God has laid a path on the ground and all must walk on it. You are taught that if you want to make it into the Celestrial Kingdom, you must be baptized, be confirmed, serve on a mission, get education beyond high school (some bishops take it so far as to say that you must go to college to be accepted in Heaven, though most leave it as you must better yourself beyond merely the requirements of the world, ie more than a high school diploma), go through the Temple, get married in the Temple, have as many kids as you can (this isn't just a cultural love of families, they are taught that they must have as many kids as possible because it their duty to bring as many souls from the pre-existence into this world so they may have a chance to follow the path to salvation themselves), and that they must teach their children this same path.
It isn't so much just that they fear non-conformity will reduce their power, but they honestly believe that there is no way that the person who isn't conforming perfectly is happy.

*disclaimer* I am of course refering to the conservative Mormon teachings in Utah, which may not line up with actual church doctrine. The minimal dealings I've had with Mormons outside of Utah makes me suspect that Utah has a special brand of fundamentalism that isn't consistent with what the rest of the faith has interpreted their scripters and doctrines to say.