Common App Essay About Hair

Essay About Hair

Hello! I’m a rising senior and and currently drafting my common app essay. My current idea is to write about my hair color journey as a metaphor for self-improvement. Specifically, I’ve dyed my hair blonde before and then decided to go back to black, but in between it went through many different colors between black and blonde because I didn’t use purple shampoo. Blonde hair is easily changed without bleach, whereas black hair can’t. I want to take about how before I’d change myself so that others would like me better and I would be super inclined to hate myself more if someone said something behind my back or if I saw someone that was “better” than me. But now with my black hair, I’m working on being more confident so I don’t just change for the wrong reasons. I’m not sure if it’s a reach though. Thoughts? Thank you :slight_smile:

I think an essay about changing hair color, if done well, could be fun and interesting but I would not delve deeply into “hating” yourself. It might be better to keep it as self-exploration, playing around with different identities and how the different hair colors played into that. Just my thoughts.

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I think an essay on personal growth and maturation through what I am guessing is struggles with colorism can be a very powerful topic. I would love to read an essay like that!

My daughter wrote a similar essay about her alopecia and confidence.

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Listen to @compmom. Your not there yet. It can be a fun and clever read if written correctly. Like the idea but you need to really be able to execute this.

Great! It’s true that the most interesting aspect of hair color is that it is often seen as a metaphor for self-improvement. For example, someone who dyes their hair from blond to brown may be seen as trying to " mellow out" or be taken more seriously. Similarly, someone who goes from black to neon green may be signaling a desire for change or a more fun-loving personality. In many ways, hair color can be used as a way to signal our intentions to the world, without even having to say a word. I also remember a similar essay ”The Cutting of the Hair” in Zitkala-Sa’s short memoir ” The School Days of an Indian Girl The cutting of the hair essay examples - Essay Example for 372 Words I think that using hair color as a metaphor for self-improvement can be really helpful because it can help us to see the potential for change in our lives. Just like our hair color, our lives are always changing, and we have the power to make positive changes if we want to. Seeing hair color as a metaphor for self-improvement can help us to see the possibilities for change in our lives, and it can give us the motivation to make those changes happen. Good luck :crossed_fingers:

Honestly, to me it sounds like not such a good idea. Are there any topics that might give an admissions committee insight as to what you want to study, accomplish, become?