Social media and beauty standards place ever mounting pressure on women to fit in and look pretty. A new study has found that one in five British women has been told they’re not good enough.
Comments like this can be detrimental to mental health and wellbeing, leading to extreme measures to change their appearance or personality. The study also found that a third of women were made to feel inadequate at some point in their lives with regards to how they look.
One in five were also told they’re too loud or vocal in aspects of life such as work and socialising. Most devastating, 30% were told they would be better if they were skinner or curvier compared to just 9% of men who were told the same thing.
As 60% of women said they rely on their hair to give them confidence, hair product brand Bed Head is launching their Stay Headstrong campaign to encourage women to feel confident in themselves.
Katie Westerby, senior marketing manager at Bed Head, said: “At Bed Head, our purpose has always been to champion creativity by equipping artists with elevated professional hair care products and encouraging all consumers to push the boundaries of what they can do.
“Being headstrong is not only something we embody as a brand, but a belief we want to instil in everyone who buys our products. We hope that this campaign will spark conversation and motivate new and existing Bed Head devotees, and we can't wait to see it.”
Changing your hair can be a powerful way to reinvent yourself and boost confidence with half of women seeing their style as an extension of their personality. This is what leads to the cliché post-break up haircut as a new cut can signify a new era and the start or end of a healing process.
Two-fifths of women also claim that their hairdo is the most important part of their appearance. Such a heavy reliance on one aspect of your image can mean that bad hair days can impact mental health.
Of those surveyed, adopting a headstrong attitude helped people 29% of people improve their confidence while a fifth also took more risks in personal lives. This headstrong attitude also helped 20% of women persevere more after rejection.
Bed Head are launching a new web series, Chats from the Chair, fronted by grime artist FFSYTHO, comedian Lily Phillips and trans activist Lucia Blayke. The interviews are designed to shed light on why the ‘stay headstrong’ attitude is so important to each of the stars.
Chats from the Chair also illustrates the integral role products play as tools for self-expression, enabling people to be true unapologetic versions of themselves. The campaign is hoping to inspire women to embrace the person they want to be and be more headstrong to get what they want.
Bold hair changes like dying it bright colours are also associated with the LGBTQ+ community. This is often a release of self expression when people decide to come out and be their authentic selves.
Bed Head are supporting the LGBTQ+ community through donations to Stonewall, a charity that stands for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace people everywhere. Bed Head and Stonewall are hoping to create more equal opportunities in society so LGBTQ+ people feel safer in our modern society.
