Exploring identity through fashion and hair with Crazy Color

“It changes a lot. The colour. That’s why you might not recognise me. It’s called Blue Ruin… I apply my personality in a paste.”

In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Kate Winslet’s Clementine dyed her hair to match her mood – Blue Ruin, Agent Orange – it was a way to creatively express her identity and what she was feeling through bold colour choices. Even though we don’t meet Clem until she’s an adult, it goes without saying that in her backstory she was likely experimenting with hair colour from a young age.

I started dyeing my hair when I was about 13. The first time I did it, I had blonde streaks at the front with the tips dip-dyed a peachy pink all over. It was an interesting choice, and I did get some funny comments from pals, but it was my choice and in that moment I understood the power and endless possibilities of hair and hair colour. I immediately caught the bug and started adding different coloured streaks here and there. When I turned 18, I dyed every single hair on my head bright red and continued to dye my hair for the years (and *cough* decades) that followed, with a bright cobalt blue becoming my go-to signature look, fading to a gorgeous green that I also loved.

For Brighton-based indie-pop musician Alina, who’s inspired by artists like Stevie Nicks, Lily Allen and Sabrina Carpenter, her go-to colour is pink, although that wasn’t always the case. “I first dyed my hair when I was about 12 – I put a single black streak in on one side and started wearing black eyeliner all the way around my eyes. Not my best look,” she admits. “From then on, I always dyed my hair a bright colour during the summer holidays, and discovered that I felt the most confident when it was pink!”

But hair is just a part of Alina's overall look. “My makeup has been through a huge variety of stages,” she tells us. “At music college was probably when I started really enjoying fun and glamorous makeup, using graphic eyeliner and bright eyeshadows to match my outfits. I also dress somewhat eclectically, because I can! You'll catch me in a ballgown on a Tuesday afternoon before you catch me in a black T-shirt and blue jeans.”

As a musician, identity is incredibly important to Alina. “People need to recognise who you are,” she says. “I've had pink hair for ten years… I also use a lot of pink and fairy themes in my posters and art, making it easy for people to spot me." Dyeing her hair every three to five weeks, Alina mostly uses Crazy Color’s Pinkissimo shade, although isn't afraid to mix it up. “Sometimes I dye my fringe and the front parts a slightly different pink to the rest. I think it's really fun to experiment with different shades, but I always feel my best with pink. Dyeing my hair is proper self-care time, I'll pop on a podcast or an album and just spend 30 minutes taking care of myself in a creative way!”

For 25-year old retail manager and creative Ali, who has written three books of poetry, runs an online zine called PLUM zine and DJs and runs a club night called Moondust, he feels that “hair colour changes are a necessary need when I feel like I have a block in my identity.” He adds: “I think the DIY culture of hair is such a beauty, it allows so much autonomy and joy, it helps you shed a new layer, it can be a fun activity with a friend – it feels like a celebration.”

When we ask what his current hair colour says about him, Ali says: “I’m currently rocking a salt n pepper combination, with some chunky spread greys mixed into my natural black hair… I think black and white as a colour combination represents a blank space and welcoming something new.”

Like Alina, Ali is also based in Brighton, but he grew up in Dubai. “I always struggled to feel like I fit into the culture,” he tells us, “so I was scheming for ways to find an outlet and that included playing with hair dye, tattoo ideas, poetry and ultimately moving to Brighton for university when I was 18.” Despite this feeling of being “restricted geographically”, Ali asked his mum to dye his hair blue when he was 15, describing it as “one of the scariest but most thrilling experiences I had at the time – I think that really started it for me.”

Upon moving to Brighton, Ali tells us: “I went through a period of terrible fashion choices and hair, which I laugh back at now, but I think choices like that are so pivotal to creating your identity and how you like to present yourself to the world. It’s like experiencing a second puberty, almost. That in turn with becoming more confidently queer helped a lot with my fashion choices for sure. I’m also very inspired by the music I listen to and the poetry I write – so a bit of my expression comes from the type of media I’m consuming at the time as well.”

The path to finding your identity can also come hand in hand with finding your people. “At my old job, I met a customer one day who had told me she was finishing up learning how to do hair and offered to cut my hair,” Ali says, “and that was the first time in years I trusted someone to touch my hair. Amber very quickly became one of my closest friends and gave me my mullet. That was 100% the time all my confidence with expression rushed inside of me... since then she has cut many hair styles [for me] and also helped me figure out my hair dye impulses, having done orange highlights, a green semi-mullet, pink and purple together; she brings out the joy inside me when I need that physical manifestation.”

For 32-year-old Naomi-Rose, Nayy to her friends, the struggle to fit in when she was younger was real, and that’s when she started experimenting with hair and fashion. “I really didn't like a lot of things other people liked like boy bands or whatever else was deemed cool at the time. I have a strong memory of borrowing CDs from the library, Korn's first album being one of them, and my mum hating it but me being like, ‘hey! I do like music!’ That whole alternative subculture really started something in me, I started using face paint as hair dye and being resourceful with whatever I could to make me look different. Armed with super glue and random trinkets I felt unstoppable with making customisations on anything I did buy… My dad also used to tell me stories of the Camden Punks and the Electric Cinema which only fueled me into trying to make my own subculture of fashion and something I felt like I belonged too.”

Originally from South West London, creativity runs through Naomi-Rose’s veins. After studying art and SFX makeup, for a while she was a dog groomer and now, she tells us: "I live in the very south of the UK, working as a manager of a tattoo studio in the day and spending all my spare time trying to befriend neighbourhood cats, inhaling as much vegan sushi as possible and normally found with my head in a book and a guinea pig on my lap!” She's also a self-professed “plastic connoisseur”, which she explains: “I went to a childminder as a kid so a lot of the stuff there was hand-me-downs, meaning most of the media I grew up on was 80s VHS and toys to match. I collect a lot of toys because of it, mostly My Little Pony, but there were so many good girls' toys with fabulous hair, sassy voices and bright outfits to match which I loved then and now!”

Identity, of course, is just as important to Naomi-Rose as it is to Alina and Ali. “There is no better feeling than when someone sends you something they see that reminds them of you – normally something tacky and pink! And you realise that's how people see you,” she says. “Creativity only fuels that, realising if you want a giant impractical accessory you have the tools to make it a reality!”

That same can-do, will-do attitude extends into Naomi-Rose’s DIY approach to hair colour. “My entire process for dyeing my hair is F-around and find out haha! I do change it quite a lot,” she admits. “I love colour blocking my hair and outfits meaning I do have a bulging wardrobe to match my hair choice at the time! But hair is changeable and not permanent so why wouldn't you try something new? I love rinsing off a new colour and being like, ‘Cool! Now it’s time to change my entire look to match.’ I like the idea of shape-shifting – you can change your makeup, contact lens colour and clothes and suddenly you're the pink lady one week and then the blue one the next. Keep them guessing!”

So what is Naomi-Rose’s current hair colour and what does it say about her? “My current hair colour is actually turquoise blue and black, I wanted to try opposing to my fashion and I think dark colours absolutely pop with hot pink and leopard print (if you wanted to know what I'm wearing). Dyeing my hair darker didn't mean I wanted to darken my style, just try something completely new! I think it's giving a perfect nod to my younger years watching the Scuzz TV channel and yet keeping true to who I am now!"

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