Everyone jokes about how dying or cutting your own hair is a sign of a mental break, that if someone suddenly does something to their own hair then that means they are NOT doing ok. Sometimes this can be true, when you're not feeling the best doing something crazy and different can give you at least a momentary boost. Due to the stigmatization of mental health and the desire, manufactured by social media, to always appear the happiest you've ever been, people are often judged when they cut their own bangs or dye their hair bright pink. However, during quarantine, it has become evident that almost every person on earth is struggling. Constantly sitting at home, possibly with poor family relations, not able to do the things we normally do with no end in sight is bad for our mental health. In a global pandemic, there is just as much room for judgement as normal, but it has shifted more towards whether or not you're wearing a mask and how much toilet paper you're buying.

So if you've thought to yourself a thousand times, "I wonder if I'd look good with purple hair," but you've never gone through with it because of worries about people's opinions or your job requires a natural hair color, then this is your time. Unless you are an essential worker or one of the few workers that are slowly going back, then you have a seemingly endless amount of time before you have to see people again. If the dye goes wrong or your hand slips with the scissors then you will have the safety net of at least a month or more before having to see people. And even if you do see people, this pandemic has created an environment where people aren't judging each other for what they're doing to pass the time stuck in their house.

So, cut your bangs! Dye your hair a crazy color! Give yourself an eyebrow slit! Shave your head if you want! This is, hopefully, the only time in our lives that we'll have an extended period of time where we are stuck at home with nothing to do, so this is the time to experiment with your hair if you really want to.

I, personally, have temporarily dyed my hair and cut my own bangs during quarantine, and that was only during the first couple of weeks. I've moved on to binge watching Disney movies, but I'm so glad that I took a chance and experimented with my hair. I first used temporary pink dye that barely showed up on my almost brown hair, now that my highlights are fading. Then when that wasn't enough excitement, late one night I thought to myself "It can't be that hard" and I started cutting my own side bangs. They did not turn out the way I thought they would. I had to call my mom in because I thought I was going to cry, but then I cleaned them up a little more. The first couple days I was so mad at myself for being so impulsive, but then I started liking my little side bangs. Once things open back up I'm going to ask my hairdresser to give me something similar, but better obviously.

If I had never taken a chance and cut my own bangs then I would've never known that I'd like this look! I also might've gone crazy in quarantine already!

So do it! Go do it now! This is your sign!

Good luck snipping and dying, stay safe and sane!