With the duration of 2020-2021’s quarantine shutdown, a widespread interest in dying one’s hair has gained popularity. From blonde to a spontaneous pink, it’s become a worldwide trend. Whether it’s a good balayage ombre or a person’s whole head, people are getting creative. However, it seems now more than ever that colorful hairstyles are nevertheless not accepted in professional workspaces.

Every year, when the climate gets warmer, people are more willing to dye their hair an unnatural color. Studies think it began with the color pink, yet it seems red has taken over in the time of COVID-19. People struggled to search for a new beginning and establish control back in their lives with the turbulence that was 2020-2021. Dying one’s hair allows for this exact thing, a new outset and establishment of control in one’s appearance.

“Few things are as trying—and rewarding—as learning how to dye your hair at home. But as anyone who’s done it knows, there’s a reason salon appointments are so expensive. Coloring your own hair requires skill, dexterity, and a basic familiarity with science,” Maureen Choi informs in How to Dye Your Hair at Home Like a Pro.

Dying hair at home is not only cheaper but less time consuming—if done right—and provides a newfound imagination and trust within the locks on a person’s head. Prices can go from a two-day $400 expense to a 2-3 hour $50 from Sally Beauty.

Psychology, the study of the human mind and its functions,  is most commonly associated with the mental characteristics or attitudes of a person/group. However, in Why Is Everyone Dyeing Their Hair Pink Right Now? A Psychologist Weighs In, Harrington writes the possibility of everyone dying their hair during quarantine has a scientific reason in the sense that colors alter or enhance mood. For example, yellow is mainly associated with anything bright and happy, while blue is associated with anything sad.

“With all of the uncertainty happening around us, dyeing your hair pink is not only a good way to signal a new beginning and establish control, but it can also directly influence the way you feel every time you look in the mirror. That’s not all, though; it also comes down to the connotations you have with the color,” Harrington reads.