Exploring the obscure roots of a Young Alt craze – hair dying…

 

YouTube is awash with Young Alts experimenting with hair dyes; while on the surface this may seem like just another punk-esque teenage rebellion, the roots of this craze actually lie in one of the most obscure internet phenomenon’s in recent history – Seapunk. Started by Twitter user @lilinternet (aka Brooklyn-based DJ Julian Foxworth) after coming to him in a dream and described as a ‘tongue-in-cheek philosophy’ this music and visual-art based sub-culture draws heavily from 90s cyberpunk sounds and aesthetics – with the one big signifier being bright blue hair.

The UK’s Young Alts embraced this craze and while most may not consider themselves Seapunks, they’re indirectly paying homage to this social media ‘micro niche’. There is a whole online community of Young Alts united through their shared love of exotic hair dyes. They congregate on sites like Tumblr and YouTube to share tips on how to get the most striking colours out of over the counter dyes (top tip – use combinations of different dyes to make up your own unique colour). The colour is transient – blue today, red tomorrow but brightly coloured hair is key to their identity.

You can see the influence in the mainstream; pop artists like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Nicky Minaj and even Cher Lloyd have experimented with the look.

What our Young Alts get out of this seems to be as much about uniformity as it does about standing out. As a Tribe, they strive to separate themselves from the mainstream but by uniting through (among other traits) brightly coloured hair, they keep a sense of community and strong boundaries away from other alternative trends and fashion.