old ladies with bright hair

[masshigura]

I've lived in Japan for a few years, and one thing that I'm curious about is old people with brightly dyed hair. Usually it's old ladies I see in the train with bright purple or red hair. Maybe a culture lesson can be done about this? my Japanese friend was saying something about how red and purple is a more subtle contrast when the roots grow out from white, as opposed to the contrast of black and white

[markystar]

ROFLMAO

if we could speak somewhat authoritatively on the subject, i'm sure we could do a culture class on it. the problem is we're just as baffled as you by it.

i've asked a lot of japanese people about it (and as you probably already know, it's not strange for them to see it). the closest thing to an answer i've gotten is "i dunno, that's just what old ladies do. " and as this is japan and sometimes, well, you just do things a certain way cuz that's how it is...

probably, the best person to ask would be an old person's hair dresser.

[masshigura]

yeah, either an old lady's hair dresser, or the old lady herself. I don't know if I have the cajones to ask...much less the Japanese ability to understand the answer. no one at the office there knows? hmmm I guess like many things here....we are just not meant to understand it