The chinese hair experiment

In a country where 90% of people are the same ethnicity, foreigners stick out. As a blonde man in China, I seem to be spotted from miles away. I've gotten used to the attention that my foreign appearance brings, but some days it would be nice just to blend with the crowd. One day I decided I would try to do just that. I figured my blonde hair is the number one thing that identifies me as a foreigner. If my hair wasn't blonde, would I stand out as much?

CHINESE HAIR

All Chinese people have naturally black hair. However not all Chinese hair is natural. Especially among youth, dying hair is very popular. In my opinion brown hair works well with Chinese who want to stand out. Red and Blonde are also very common, however it always looks awful. Maybe black hair can't look natural dyed a lighter color...I really don't know. Anyway, I did the opposite of many of my Chinese students and dyed my hair black. Here is the result:

I couldn't find a picture of me with black hair. These are just two chinese people I saw on the street.

Did dying my hair black conceal my identity as a foreigner? Certainly not. But it DID make me blend into a crowd better. Instead of being spotted from down the street, Chinese people would need to be within a few yards of me to recognize my foreignness. This turned out to be more of a burden then a blessing. The upside to being a foreigner with blonde hair is its really easy for your friends to spot you in a crowd (there is ALWAYS a crowd in China). Now I understand why many of my students dye their hair or wear ridiculous looking clothing--so they don't have to waste ten minutes looking for each other every time they want to meet up.

After a month of intensive field work, I put the chinese hair experiment to an end. I donated my spent research materials to a local barber shop for further study. On the subject of barber shops, every hairdresser I've seen in China is male. There are over a dozen barber shops on the commercial street near my university which collectively employ over 100 hairdressers. My theory is that they all stay in business because Chinese people get their haircut every week. A haircut is about $1.25--shampooing and head massage included. 

Without my black hair I've noticed I stand out much more. Buzz cuts aren't very popular in China.

Happy Summer.