How to Cherry Bomb your life

In the Class of 2017, there’s probably one senior who can attest to having sported hair colors like “brilliance blue” and “ cherry bomb”: Sarah Chang.

Chang first dyed her hair last spring. She thought it would be a “less radical way” to change her appearance,  leading to her first and least favorite of her hair colors: blue.

“The original color was actually OK,” Chang said, “but it faded out to a gross green color. Whenever I shed a hair, you could see it go from black to blonde to blue to green.”

Over the course of the last five months, Chang has dyed her hair three times and sported five colors. Her blue hair faded to green before she switched to bright pink, and her newest dye, a red henna powder, has since faded into an orange-black color.

According to Chang, henna powder is generally considered a more “natural” hair dye, so it isn’t as harmful to hair as other artificial dyes are. Because henna is less pigmented than industrial dyes, Chang“used string tea instead of water so [the dye appeared] darker” on her already bleached hair.

With eye-catching neon hues, Chang’s hair quickly caught the attention of her classmates.

“People were pretty shocked because I don’t seem like [someone] who would [dye my hair],” Chang said. “But [the shock] died off after the first month. ”

Chang’s hair has also earned her a few nicknames, including “Red Fire,” “Volcano” and “Blue Mermaid.” None of the names stuck for long except “Rubia” — the nickname Spanish teacher Arnaldo Rodriguex gave her, which is the Spanish word for “blonde.”

Many people wonder how her hair is faring after three dye jobs within the span of a few months, but Chang isn’t so worried.

“I have pretty strong, healthy hair, so even when I’ve bleached it four times I still don’t really have much breakage or stretching in my hair,” Chang said. “I’m pretty grateful for that because otherwise I don’t think I could do this so often.”