Hello! I have a scene planned for a webcomic where 3 of the characters dye their hair together. One is a black/Chinese girl, one is a Japanese demiboy, and the third is a white trans boy. But I've been hearing lately about how the "Asian girl with a dyed strip in her hair" is a bad trope, and I'm a little worried about this scene in particular now. The girl does dye a strip in her hair while the other two dye all their hair. They're just having fun as friends, but should I change her dye?
PSA: We won’t be covering Asian characters with colored hair questions anymore. They have already been answered in excess.
Asian Girl with Colored Hair Streak
It seems like people are misunderstanding the trope and why it’s controversial. There are plenty of Asian women who dye streaks in their hair in real life! Having an Asian girl character with a streak in her hair is not bad in and of itself, and that’s what “Asian girls with dyed streaks = bad” doesn’t get. The question people should be asking is: “why is the trope bad?” In this case, the reason Asian girl characters with streaks in their hair are often looked negatively upon has to do with creators often using their hair as a shorthand for a wilder personality and not actively developing them as much as other characters. If your Black/Chinese character has a developed personality, the streaks are fine, because you’re not using her hair as a way to get out of creating her personality.
So tl;dr: you don’t have to change the dye, there are actual Asian girls and women out there who do this! it is, however, important to research the trope and understand why there may be controversy with it, and to see if what you’re doing negates or reinforces it.
Finally, as a general note: we have been getting quite a few questions on this trope. This is going to be the last time we address this, since I feel this answer basically covers it.
--mod Jess
