Quarantine has brought the inner hairstylist out of many people and as a result many students have had drastic changes in hair. People have grown their hair out, shaved it off, dyed it, bleached it, and so much more in recent months.

The most common change has been people growing their hair out longer than perhaps they ever had before.  

There are multiple reasons for this.  For one, many barber shops and hair salons were closed for a long period of time during the spring and summer.  Even as hairdressers have begun to reopen, many still do not want to risk going out because of the pandemic and just want to stay safe during these weird times.

Some have tried to cut their own hair at home with varying degrees of success. Others are nervous that they don’t know how to cut hair or don’t trust themselves to do it. Some just don’t own the right type of clippers.

There’s also the laziness factor. After months and months of sitting around the house during quarantine, some students just have a hard time bringing themselves to take on activities like cutting their own hair and have given up on it for the time being. 

One student who has experienced this huge change in their hair during quarantine is local student (and friend of reporter Abel Salazar) Agrya Alley. At the beginning of quarantine, Alley actually had pink hair. During quarantine, he started growing his original hair color out from the roots. At first he was planning on cutting his hair in June. Yet due to many of the circumstances mentioned above, he wasn’t able to, and now it’s October and he has long hair. One thing he discovered while having long hair is that his hair is actually kind of wavy. He never knew about this until his hair grew out. 

Alley is planning to keep his hair as it is right now and personally really enjoys his current hair.  He says it fits the look he is looking for. He wants to possibly dye his hair to a new hair color, possible purple again or more of a black color.

Other students have also chosen to dye their hair various colors, or to cut it short for a change. Hanna Felix, a student at Prospect Hill Academy,  cut her shoulder length hair to her ears and dyed it a warm copper color. Others have dyed their hair red and purple. 

Although this quarantine has made people more willing to experiment with their hair, people are also doing other things like getting tattoos and piercings. It all represents the desire to change something up about their appearance or just accept the changing nature of life in 2020 and go with the flow. 

After all, when we don’t have to leave the house as often, why not take a few chances with your hair style? It keeps you entertained, and it’s also easier to hide it if it all goes wrong.