More than once, my boyfriend has been told that for the job he's applying for, he's allowed to dye his hair "natural colours only" or not at all. I also suspect that the reason I was so quickly fired after slipping up once was because my bosses were looking for a legal reason to fire me because they didn't like that I dyed my hair pink and blue and other such crazy colours.

What the fuck is up with this stupid regulation?

Some moron sat down and decided that it is perfectly acceptable in society to dye your hair "rouge intense" (red), "blueberry" (blue-black), or "intense plum" (dark purple). None of these are "natural" colours, or at least not very often, and yet, they are commercially sold in permanent box colours in any hair-colour aisle. That same moron must have decided that wanting a bright red or medium purple or even a green-black possessed some sort of deviant, perverse desire to look like a "freak," and made those dyes more difficult if not impossible to come by for most people. And those lucky ones who do get ahold of the supplies needed to have the "beyond the box" hair colour they desire are not admired for their courage, originality, or vision for themselves, but sneered and looked down upon for their "abnormalities," as if an unwillingness to conform in that regard were a poison that "normal" people should avoid.

Now, obviously, I feel very strongly on this issue, because I dye my hair a lot, and never is it a "natural" colour if I can get ahold of something wilder. I feel on this issue as would a black person on racism against blacks, or a gay person on discrimination against homosexuals.

Let me say this firsthand:

I do not dye my hair to get attention. As a matter of fact, I hate much of the attention I get for doing it. I am primarily a wallflower who just wants to express my inner creativity in a quiet, harmless manner.

I do not dye my hair to rebel against society. I'm not an idiot. I realize that this method of rebellion is overused and ineffective. I don't do it to prove that I'm "goth," or "punk," or a "freak," or otherwise more unique than everyone else on the planet. I acknowledge that anyone in the world with twenty bucks could look exactly like me if they chose.

I do not dye my hair to piss people off. I like it when people like my choice of hair colour, and I would rather they like it than not. But, I won't go home and cry and dye over it if they don't. My hair, my look, my choice.

I do not dye my hair to keep myself from getting a job or furthering my career or make people think I'm a dumbass punk whose few initial brain cells have been completely fucked by constant drug use. I do not dye my hair to convey a message to authority that I'll rebel against everything for the sheer hell of it.

Getting back to my first point, I just want to express my inner creativity in a quiet, harmless manner.

And corporations say to this, No. You must not be a creative soul, at least not when it comes to your look. You must look like us. You must dress like us and do your hair and makeup like us. And if you don't, we'll fire you or not hire you or just treat you like the stupid shit you must be for wanting to look so weird.

Now, I'll wear a uniform if need be, but I don't think they have the right to tell me what I can do with my hair, so long as it doesn't interfere with processes in their business. I.e., if I were applying at a fast-food place and my hair was at risk of brushing or falling into the food, or a place that operated dangerous machinery recommended that I keep my hair short so as not to get it caught in the gears and injure myself. That's just the company looking out for its own safety and the safety of their customers.

But this hair-colour issue is a business trying to put out a front. And somehow they think that hiring a bunch of homogeneous employees is going to make them appear more respectable in the public market's eye.

But really - wouldn't you be creeped out if one day you walked into a store, and all the employees were dressed in the same blue vests and pants, with the same shoes, same hair colours and cuts, same eye colour, same height and weight and body shape? This seems to be what these companies want by suppressing the individuality of its employees for reasons that are not purely functional (i.e., a uniform identifies to customers that the wearer is an employee of the company, should the customer need help).

I don't know about you, but I'd rather do business with a company that accepts and embraces diversity in human beings, and doesn't try to squelch it like the army does to Pagans or the Boy Scouts do to gays. A company that makes an effort to live in this day and age and to promote peace and unity and bettering the planet for everyone. That's fair to everyone, regardless of age or hair colour or race or sexual orientation. Not one that panders to a long-dead, overly-conservative and disgustingly-judgmental society.