為什么這么多亞裔女性喜歡染金發(fā)？

The first time I was aware of my Asianness was when I asked my mother why I wasn’t blond. I was 5, and one of only a handful of Asian-Americans living in a predominantly white suburb in Michigan. Of course, my story is not unique — it’s an experience that’s probably shared by most American-born Asians as we shake off our perceived otherness and strive to prove our Americanness. There’s a term for it: “perpetual foreigner.”

第一次意識到自己的亞裔特征，是我問母親為什么我的頭發(fā)不是金黃色的時候。我那時五歲，是生活在密歇根州一個以白人為主的郊區(qū)的少許亞裔美國人之一。當然，我的故事并不罕見。在擺脫我們察覺到的其他特征，努力證明自己的美國特征時，可能大部分在美國出生的亞裔都有這種經(jīng)歷。對此有一個說法，叫“永遠的外國人”。

“We’re the group that’s always told to go back where we came from, and it’s partly because we have a very strong immigrant population, so we all get bundled in regardless of whether we’re fourth generation or first — to everyone, you look like a foreigner,” said Erin Khue Ninh, associate professor of Asian-American studies at UC Santa Barbara.

“我們這個群體永遠都會有人要我們從哪兒來回哪兒去，這部分是因為我們的移民規(guī)模非常龐大，所以不管是第四代還是第一代，我們所有人都被捆綁在一起——所有人看你都像個外國人，”加州大學圣芭芭拉分校(UC Santa Barbara)研究亞裔美國人的副教授寧喬艾玲(Erin Khue Ninh)說。

If that’s the case, the most obvious and quickest way to subscribe to Western ideals of beauty is to lighten your hair. For Liz Rim, a stylist at the IGK Salon in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan who began processing her strands five years ago, blond hair was her way of fitting in.

如果是這樣的話，要表達對西方理想的認同，最明顯且快捷的辦法就是把發(fā)色變淺。對于曼哈頓切爾西地區(qū)IGK Salon的發(fā)型師麗茲·任(Liz Rim)來說，把頭發(fā)變成金黃色就是她融入的方式。她五年前開始處理自己的頭發(fā)。

“I grew up in Georgia where everyone was blond haired and blue eyed, and I always had this image of myself as an Asian Barbie,” Ms. Rim said. “Now it’s crazy because one-third of the Asians I see in New York or Los Angeles are blond.”

“我在喬治亞州長大，那里所有人都是金發(fā)碧眼，我永遠都是亞裔芭比娃娃的形象，”任說。“現(xiàn)在太瘋狂了，因為我在紐約或洛杉磯看到的亞裔中三分之一是金發(fā)。”

While Japanese celebrities have been changing their hair color as far back as the 1960s to emulate manga and anime characters, it was only a couple of years ago, on the heels of the ombré trend, that salons in this country began to see a spike in Asian clients looking to go full platinum.

盡管早在60年代，日本名人就為了模仿動漫人物而改變發(fā)色，但直到幾年前漸層染發(fā)火起來后，美國的美發(fā)店才迎來想把頭發(fā)全部染成銀白色的亞裔客戶的劇增。

Ritsuko Hotaka, a colorist at Hair Kuwayama in the East Village, said that nearly 20 percent of her clients are asking to go blond. Kelly Su, the founder of Sonder Hair Studio in NoLIta, reported that of all her Asian customers, about 50 percent are going lighter. (Both salons have a largely Asian client base.)

東村Hair Kuwayama的染發(fā)師保高律子(Ritsuko Hotaka，音)說，她的顧客中近20%要求染成金色。諾利塔Sonder Hair Studio的創(chuàng)始人凱莉·蘇(Kelly Su)反映，在她所有的亞裔顧客中，大約50%的人會選擇更淺的顏色。(兩家美發(fā)店的顧客群體都以亞裔為主。)

“It has so much to do with the number of Asian-American bloggers who are becoming increasingly visible,” said Greta Lee, an actress who went platinum for the second half of last year. “There’s an army of Asians who are rising in the fashion world.”

“這與日益出名的亞裔美國博主的數(shù)量有很大關系，”去年下半年把頭發(fā)染成銀白色的女演員格蕾塔·李(Greta Lee)說，“有一大批亞裔正在時尚界崛起。”

Once a so-called editorial look adopted by a select few, like the popular Korean-American model Soo Joo Park, who found fame with her trademark ultralight locks, the aesthetic has paved the way for celebrities, street-style stars and more to follow suit. That includes the model and blogger Irene Kim, the designer Yoon Anh and the social-media influencers Vanessa Hong, Tina Leung and Margaret Zhang.

有少數(shù)一些人曾采用所謂的時尚大片造型，比如熱門韓裔美國模特樸秀珠(Soo Joo Park)，她以標志性的超亮發(fā)型聞名，這種審美引發(fā)名人和街頭時尚明星紛紛效仿。其中包括模特兼博主艾琳·金(Irene Kim)、設計師安尹(Yoon Anh，音)和社交媒體影響力人物瓦妮莎·洪(Vanessa Hong)、梁伊妮(Tina Leung)和章凝(Margaret Zhang)。

Not all of them went blond with the sole desire of mirroring Western beauty ideals. Ms. Hong was going through a major moment in her life and wanted a drastic change. Ms. Leung, after seven years with a Skrillex side shave, felt as if she was missing an edge.

染成金發(fā)不一定都是為了模仿西方美。瓦妮莎·洪正在經(jīng)歷人生中的一個重要時刻，她想要一個巨大的改變。梁伊妮在留了七年Skrillex式半邊剃頭發(fā)型后，覺得自己好像缺點與眾不同的東西。

“I had been seeing all these amazing Asian girls with blond hair, and I’m a sucker for advertisement,” she said, laughing. “If I see something over and over again, I kind of want it.”

“我一直看著這些迷人的亞裔女孩留著金發(fā)，我很容易受到廣告的影響，”她大笑著說，“如果我一次又一次地看到某樣東西，我就會有點想要它。”

This demand can be attributed in part to the 2014 invention of Olaplex, an active ingredient added to bleach to repair breakage from chemical damage, making the process of lifting 10 levels of pigment a more achievable feat. And 18 months ago, when the West Village salon Whittemore House introduced its Hair Paint formula that protects, strengthens and treats hair during the lightening process, its number of Asian clients doubled.

這種需求可以部分歸因于Olaplex在2014年的問世，這是一種添加到漂白劑中的活性成分，用以修復化學損傷，有了它，把染色劑色階提升10級這樣的事就沒那么困難了。在18個月前，西村發(fā)廊Whittemore House推出了自己的染發(fā)配方，可以在增加頭發(fā)亮度的過程中保護、強化和護理頭發(fā)，所以它的亞裔顧客的數(shù)量翻了一番。

Despite these advances, it’s still challenging to go platinum. It can take up to 12 hours, with as many as six applications of bleach and a bill that can start at $400. That doesn’t take into account the upkeep needed, which includes a regimen of deep conditioning treatments, toners and purple shampoos, and a diligence about monthly touch-ups that can run upward of $200 a visit.

盡管有了這些進步，把頭發(fā)染成銀白色仍是一個挑戰(zhàn)。它耗時長達12個小時，需要使用多達6種染色劑，至少花費400美元。這還沒算保養(yǎng)費，包括深層護理、調色劑和紫色洗發(fā)水，還要不辭辛苦地每月修補一次，每次花費可達200美元。

“You’re stripping your hair down to the follicle, to the point where you have this wiry Brillo pad left on your head,” Ms. Lee said. “That kind of rebellion, that’s not something to take lightly.”

“這是要把頭發(fā)從毛囊開始全部染一遍，到最后頭上就頂著一團Brillo鋼絲棉了，”格蕾塔·李說。“那種叛逆，可不是件輕松的事。”

For those who do, it may serve, symbolically, as an act of rebellion against the Asian good-girl trope, an extension of the “model minority” stereotype — conservative, quiet and hard-working. And since “Asian hair” has a history of being exoticized, often accompanied with descriptors like “long, silky smooth and jet black,” flipping it completely on its head becomes a way of taking back ownership and of reclaiming identity.

對于這么做的人來說，這可能是一種象征性的叛逆，反叛的是亞洲乖乖女的俗套——這是“模范少數(shù)族裔”保守、安靜、勤奮刻板印象的延伸。又因為“亞洲頭發(fā)”歷來具有異國情調，常被人用“順長、絲滑、烏黑”等詞語描述，那么將其徹底顛覆，就成為一種奪回所有權和身份再造的方式。

“Striving to present only one type of hairstyle not only accommodates narrow and fetishized expectations, it also freezes the ability to experiment creatively with appearance,” said Laura Miller, a professor of Japanese studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. “Bleached hair is often linked with other forms of body modification, such as piercing and tattooing, and therefore reflects a rejection of mainstream and old-fashioned femininity norms. What better way to signal thinking that is different from one’s parent generation than with a radically different appearance?”

“力求只呈現(xiàn)一種發(fā)型，不僅是在迎合狹隘而執(zhí)迷的期望，還限制了對外表進行創(chuàng)造性實驗的能力，”密蘇里大學圣路易斯分校(University of Missouri-St. Louis)日本研究教授勞拉·米勒(Laura Miller)說。“漂發(fā)往往會與其他形式的身體改造聯(lián)系在一起，比如穿孔和紋身，因此反映了一種對主流和舊式女性特質規(guī)范的拒絕。還有什么能比一個完全不同的外表更能體現(xiàn)與父輩不同的思想呢?”

Dr. Miller, for one, hopes this is a trend in which young Asian-Americans are pulling style and cultural cues from Asian countries. “What they see in Asia, especially in Japan and Korea, is a lot of hybridity and playfulness with hair colors and styles,” she said. “When Asian-Americans bleach their hair, they may not have in mind white Americans, but rather Asian celebrities such as Moga Mogami or Hyo-yeon Kim.”

拿米勒來說，她希望這是年輕的亞裔美國人從亞洲國家捕捉風格和文化線索的一種趨勢。“他們眼中的亞洲，尤其是日本和韓國，在頭發(fā)顏色和風格上有很大的混雜性和趣味性，”她說。“當亞裔美國人漂發(fā)時，他們心里想的可能不是美國白人，而是比如最上摩卡(Moga Mogami)和金孝淵(Hyo-yeon Kim)這樣的亞洲明星。”

One can make the argument that hair color and race are, or should be, mutually exclusive. “Caucasians are able to jump around, and it’s not a big deal for them to be blond, a redhead or brunet, whereas those same rules don’t apply to us,” Ms. Lee said. “It would be so empowering to be able to just try anything the way the rest of the world seems to be able to without any problems.”

有人會說發(fā)色和種族是——或者應該是——互斥的。“白種人可以有各種變化，他們是金發(fā)紅發(fā)還是棕發(fā)都沒什么大不了，然而這些同樣的規(guī)矩卻不適用于我們，”格蕾塔·李說。“要是可以像世界上的其他人一樣，能毫無問題地進行任何嘗試，那將是一種有力的賦權。”

Even if the intention is to fit in, having pale hair as an Asian has unpredictable effects. Ms. Leung said she has noticed more head-swiveling stares. Ms. Rim found it to be an outlet for creativity. And Jessica Wu, a stylist, producer and model, credits her six-month-old icy blond hair as the reason she is landing more modeling jobs, including the recent Glossier Lidstar campaign.

哪怕這么做的目的是想要融入，作為亞裔有一頭淺色的頭發(fā)也會帶來不可預知的效果。梁伊妮表示，她發(fā)現(xiàn)更多的人會轉頭看她。麗茲·任把這當成了創(chuàng)造力的出口。造型師、制作人、模特杰西卡·吳(Jessica Wu)把最近模特工作機會增多歸功于留了六個月的淺金色頭發(fā)，包括近來Glossier品牌的“眼影明星”(Lidstar)廣告。

“Having blond hair has forced me to reassess how I wanted to present myself to the world,” Ms. Wu said. “It’s given me more confidence, it affects the way I dress and the way I perform as a model, and it’s allowed me to be more experimental in terms of my personal style.”

“一頭金發(fā)強迫我重新審視我想如何向世界展現(xiàn)自己，”杰西卡·吳說。“這給了我更大的自信，影響了我的穿衣方式和我作為模特的表現(xiàn)，也允許我在個人造型上有更大的實驗性。”

This freedom of expression feels right in line with the values of millennials and Gen Z-ers who prioritize experiences and authenticity above everything else. “I just wanted to shake up my look, but I think with any modification, it’s a break in tradition, and I think we’re more brazen now with what we do,” Ms. Leung said.

這種表現(xiàn)自由給人感覺恰好符合了千禧一代和Z世代將體驗和真實性置于一切之上的價值觀。“我只是想轉變一下我的形象，但我認為任何改變都是對傳統(tǒng)的突破，我也覺得我們的所作所為讓我們現(xiàn)在更加明目張膽了，”梁伊妮說。

While it’s easy to write this off as a beauty trend, this growing community points to stirrings of change on a much larger scale, like the shaping of a new Asian-American identity.

雖然能把這輕松歸結為一種美容潮流，但這個不斷壯大的群體指向了一種更大層面上的變化，比如一種新亞裔美國人身份的塑造。

“Maybe this is one part of unlocking the standards we’ve been imprisoned by,” Ms. Lee said. “It may seem like a silly, frivolous act, an act of vanity, but Asians and Asian-Americans have a history of being marginalized and ignored, so whatever the political statement is, maybe by having blond hair, it’s a very simple declaration: ‘Here I am. Pay attention to me. See me.’”

“或許這是解開禁錮我們的標準的一部分，”格蕾塔·李說。“這看上去可能是一種傻乎乎的、輕佻的舉動，是一種虛榮行為，但亞洲人和亞裔美國人向來有著被邊緣化、被無視的歷史，因此無論政治聲明是什么，也許通過一頭金發(fā)只是要傳達一個簡單的信息：‘我在這里。注意我。看到我。’”