A 2022 study in Psychreg Journal of Psychology analyzed more than 14,000 profiles from the OKCupid dating app and found something striking: those who dyed their hair blue, green, pink, or purple reported more depression and emotional instability than the rest. 😳 The researchers, Edward Dutton and Emil Kirkegaard, controlled for age, gender, and political ideology, and the pattern remained.
But in March 2026, the Calgary Journal reviewed that claim, which went viral on social media, and reached a different conclusion. Janine Groenevald, a counselor at HEALthy MiND Centers in Calgary, explained that there is no real evidence that hair color causes mental health problems. What does exist, she says, is social pressure: trends on social media fuel stereotypes about how we should look and feel.
The original study’s authors themselves were clear from the start: it is correlation, not causation. 🎨 Sometimes a striking fact hides a much more human story behind it.
