Teens Fight Their Middle Schools Over Dyed Hair

Jaida Henley in her Change.org photo. (Photo: Change.org)

Two middle school students in separate states are currently up against the hair police. No, not their moms, but their school administrations, who are worried that hair dyed unnatural colors will be distracting to other students.

Related: Teen Protesting Her School’s Dress Code Was Forced by Her Principal to Get on Her Knees

Jaida Henley, a student in Georgia, tinted her dark hair a bright red and was soon told that she had to change it back or face suspension. “I am a straight-A student. I don’t get in trouble,” she told NBC 11, adding that colored hair is trendy right now and that the Douglas County Board of Education’s policy — which bans “unnatural colored hair or any hairstyle which causes a distraction to the learning environment” — is outdated.

Photo: WXIA Atlanta

Not only did her school tell her she could be suspended over the hairstyle — they also told her that it “didn’t look good at all, and they didn’t want me to keep it and they wouldn’t let me,” she said. Harsh words for Henley, who runs a beauty YouTube channel on which she shares tips and hairstyles. She’s started a Change.org petition to ask her school to change its policy and already has more than 100 signatures.

Related: Students to Fight Draconian Dress Code in Federal Court

In Orlando, meanwhile, 12-year-old Olivia Shaffer is facing suspension as well, after dyeing her hair blue for a school play, The Little Mermaid. She told WKMG Click Orlando that her mother helped her with the color job, and she hadn’t realized it was an issue until her dean pulled her aside and said she had until Friday to change it back to its regular color. The Discovery Middle School, part of the Orange County Public Schools district, is worried about her hair distracting other students, but Shaffer said she thinks that the school’s actions will hinder her education more than her hair would for others.

Olivia Shaffer’s blue hair. (Photo: clickorlando.com)

Plus, her mother adds, there’s no policy against dyeing your hair in her school district’s handbook. “I consulted the OCPS (Orange County Public Schools) handbook before letting her color her hair, and I couldn’t find it anywhere in there,” Erin Shaffer told the news channel. Instead, schools are encouraged to build their own rules based on issues faced in each school community.

Neither school district has immediately responded to Yahoo Beauty’s request for comment.

According the ACLU website, schools are entitled to have dress-code policies, as long as it does not “disfavor a specific message or single out one particular group of students.”

In both cases, the policies are in place to prevent students from distracting others. While that’s important, it can cost students their right to express themselves through their appearance, as Henley and Shaffer argue. This isn’t the first time it’s happened, and it won’t be the last, but here’s hoping the constant debates lead to more beauty freedom for students.

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