What’s it like to be a pink-haired girl in Karachi?

She’s used to being stared at – especially when her hair was bright pink but also when it was blue, green and purple. Conservative bank employee by day, Ayesha Khan is one of the many young Pakistanis who is experimenting with non-conventional hair colors.

We asked her what the challenges and (perks!) are of going bright:

EDITION: What’s it like to be a pink haired girl in Karachi ? Do aunties stare?

Ayesha: It has been crazy.  Every one stares A LOT. I honestly can’t even think about leaving the DHA and Clifton area.

EDITION: That sounds crazy tough. Why do you like dying your hair in non-traditional colors?

Ayesha: Well, I have had long hair all my life – like knee length hair. For the longest time I couldn’t do anything with it. Then one day I saw a viral Instagram post of Kylie Jenner with green hair. I thought to myself, “Why not?”.  It was a whole year or more of experiments.So, I went from my natural hair to platinum blonde to green to red to blue to purple and finally landed on pink. 

AYESHA: Not at all. My family  loved it! In fact they kept guessing what color I would choose next. It’s not really as taboo as people think it is – you just kind of have to get used to the excessive staring.

EDITION: How many colors have you tried?

AYESHA:  I’ve tried six different colors since I was 21-years-old. I loved them all. Being a girl with bright pink or green hair honestly feels amazing. It helped me figure out that who I was and what I wanted. We live in a “log kia kahein ge,” society and doing something that disregarded norms gave me an insane sense of freedom.

EDITION: Then why don’t you have bright hair anymore?

AYESHA: I might go pink again really soon! I miss it but I work in a bank now and unfortunately it’s still hard to get hired with fun-colored hair. I am trying to talk my bank into letting me switch to green or pink hair again and it’s a nightmare