Hair: The feature that separates us

Cassandra Salazar, Contributor

Sofia, sophomore, has mostly natural dark brown hair but with dyed pink and green hair at the front of her head.
Anya, junior, has short purple hair with big, sparkly clips.
Loren, junior, has short blue hair with small red clips.
Leor, sophomore, has short brown hair with bleached/blue hair at the front of her head.
Jaylyn Padilla, junior, has short and brown wavy hair.
Ronald, junior, has short, dark brown hair with twists.
Cassandra, junior, has long, dark brown hair with artificial highlights.

While observing my classmates, I started to notice that everyone had hair unique to themselves. This inspired me to make the topic of my photo essay to be about hair. Hair can oftentimes be a form of expression and identity. This can really show how everyone is different compared to others. Every photo is expressing the theme of individuality, where all of the participants had a different hairstyle. For instance, in the first four  photos, Sofia, Anya, Loren and Leor all have colored hair and are known to be very friendly and energetic people. Anya and Loren both chose to style their hair with hair clips, which others did not choose to do. Although it is not always true, it is said that colorful hair indicates creativity and sometimes being rebellious. These traits were expressed through their choice of color hair. Esme (fifth photo) and Jaylyn (sixth photo) have these same character traits, except they do not have artificially colored hair. They instead express themselves inherently. 

People can have hair that can go from straight to curly, long or short, and thick and thin. Jaylyn has thick hair that she cut to be at a length reaching her neck to give a “soft girl” aesthetic look. Leor’s hair is also short but a little thinner than Jaylyn’s. Ronald (seventh photo) has the shortest and curliest hair with twists in it. Esme on the other hand, does not have a particular preference to her hair and keeps it how it is. It is straight and has some natural highlights that according to her, change depending on the season. This was surprising to me because it is interesting to know about how only certain people go through this hair transition. The final photo shows my hair, which stands out because my hair is the longest. In addition, I have artificial highlights, which is the opposite from Esme. Therefore, each person shows that they are proud to be themselves by expressing their hair in different ways which makes them unique individuals.