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30th Aug 2023

Woman says she started wearing ‘terrible wigs’ after work banned her pink hair

Joseph Loftus

‘I am a self-expressive person and I feel very confident with pink hair so I came up with a solution to keep the job and my hair’

In the aftermath of covid, the working world changed for many of us.

Lots of jobs in 2023 require less time in the office, less time commuting, more time on Google Meets, Zoom calls, Slack, as opposed to physical face-to-face interactions, but being front-of-house isn’t one of these jobs, as Emily Benschoter found out not so long ago.

Benschoter, 29, landed a front of house role in the hospitality industry without a face-to-face or video interview so understandably her new boss had absolutely no idea what she looked like.

Benschoter decided to bring up her appearance before her first shift – just in case there were some issues – and thank God she did, because it turns out pink hair was a big no-no for her boss.

Instead of turning around and walking away, Benschoter came up with a solution: what if she wears a wig?

Ever since, Benschoter, has been showing off her flamboyant wigs on TikTok. One video with more than 600,000 views says: “When you have pink hair but corporate does not approve so you wear terrible wigs.”

In conversation with Newsweek, Benschoter explained: “It’s dehumanizing that I can’t be accepted at face value because my hair is a non-traditional color. It’s so superficial that my hair color is an obstacle.

“I prefer my pink hair, it’s me to my core. So now I purposely pick wacky wigs which is quite funny.”

She added: “The worse the wig, the better. It is a way to open up the conversation with the customers who think it is insane that I have to cover my pink hair.”

Perhaps what most people are confused about is that Benschoter’s workplace allows her wigs but not her pink hair.

One person wrote: “They think this is better?”

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