Hair?

As soon as I read the title of this article, I thought of my mom. My mom has been dyeing her hair for several years now. That must be what caught my interest, the idea that I might be able to relate through my observations of how it has affected my mom. The general audience that I felt the blogger was trying to reach was self-conscious middle-aged women. Dove typically advertises to maintain a healthy appearance. For the most part, I think women are more concerned with their appearances than men are. Of course, this is a generalization because I'm sure there are some men who are very concerned with their appearances. The rhetoric situation is feeling comfortable with oneself and hairstyle.

One's hairstyle illustrates how one feels inside. The blogger gave examples of how her hairstyle has changed over the years. During her twenties, she would wear her hair long, curly, and wild. When she had children however, she decided to keep her hair short, as it would be more practical and much easier to manage. The blogger also suggests that a young kid wearing a blue mohawk, for example, may be expressing that they are an individual. Then last but not least, she expresses how she used to dye her hair to hide her age but now that she is comfortable with her age, she has let her silvery-gray hair grow out. She feels that her hair appropriately illustrates how she feels as an individual: confident, mature, and natural.

It was implied and assumed that the blogger was writing to an audience of self-conscious middle-aged women or more generally speaking self-conscious women. Therefore, the blogger uses the title, "What Our Hair Says About Us" to catch the attention of those women who may be concern about their self-image. It can be easily assumed that the audience has experienced some sort of hair treatment in order to conceal their age or express uniqueness whether it be through dyeing their hair, perming, straightening, adding highlights, chopping it all off, or just trimming.

The blogger gives several examples to illustrate how people at different stages of their life may wear their hair. The young child just wants to be different and express himself differently than his peers so he wears a blue mohawk. When the blogger was in her twenties, she let her long locks loose. She fully embraced her curly brunette locks. The way she wore her hair really represented her age well. No one would make the mistake that she's in her 30's. However, as she had children, she cut her hair short. Then, when her hair started to further age and change colors, she dyed her hair because she was not comfortable with looking "old". Many women all over the world dye their hair to hide their true age. I know my mom has been dyeing her hair for about at least 15 years. Americans dye their hair. Taiwanese people dye their hair. Although, as time ran its course, the blogger became comfortable with letting her age through her hair. She took it to a whole other level. Not only did her hair convey her age but it also characterized her as a woman not afraid of her age anymore, confident, and mature. The blogger tried to open her audience from just middle-aged women to anyone willing to read her blog. Her examples covered several different ages that could potentially touch a larger audience than simply middle-aged women.