Whenever one of my friends tells me to stop box-dyeing my hair because it’s going to be “fried,” I get annoyed. Hair is one the most important ways to express yourself. Like makeup and clothing choices, how you style your hair is another medium by which you can customize your character.

To me, there seems to be too much stigma around dyeing, styling and cutting hair. People are always so concerned that their hair will turn out bad or look botched when, in reality, hair always grows back. I have friends who tell me they haven’t cut their hair in years because they’re scared it will be too short. That’s a perspective on hair that is too conservative for me to understand.

I think that teenage years are the perfect time to change up your hair. From going from brown to blonde to getting bangs, there are many ways to change your hair. As a teenager, you are just beginning to find out who you are, which includes discovering your style.

As a teenager, the main place you spend time is at school. School is a moderately relaxed setting where students wear pajama pants and slippers, and having different hairstyles is among the list of things students can do without feeling too much pressure. Because of this, experimenting with hair is something that seems to be perfectly acceptable in the high school realm.

When students graduate from school, whether it’s high school or college, they often enter a more professional work setting, where they have to dress nicely and look the part–an environment in which self-expression is likely more suppressed. In the professional world, there is often a stigma around what kind of hair is acceptable, which I find very unfortunate. Due to this, I think it’s important that people take advantage of the years of freedom of self-expression while they can.

I have dyed my hair a variety of colors, cut it short, let it grow long and even had bangs. Name any hair-altering procedure, and I have had it done. But, because of this, I know how I like my hair to look. I like my hair black but also with highlights, and I don’t like the way I look with bangs or warm-colored hair.

Although many are scared to dye or cut their hair because they are afraid it will look ‘ugly,’ experimenting with my hair has given me the perspective that it’s fun to take risks sometimes because hair will always grow back. After all, a bad haircut isn’t the end of the world, and a bad dye job will always grow out. I’m glad I’ve spent my teenage years changing up my hair, and I think other teens should do the same–there’s no harm in a hair change-up.