Are tats and purple hair accepted? (Colorado Springs: weddings, movies, college)

[JustVisitPhoenix]

My daughter and I are considering relocating to Colorado Springs as well as several other locations across the nation. One of my main concerns is that since we are from Phoenix, where the atmosphere is very casual, we don't want to be faced with stares and glares. My daughter is college age and has facial piercings and a couple tatoos (stars, butterfly, not creepy things) as well as occassional pink, blue or purple streaks in her hair. I pretty much wear only jeans no matter where I go, restaurants, movies, church, shopping of course. I'll dress up for the symphony or wedding but that's about it. Is this going to be acceptable here? I am very conservative, just casual.

[lalahartma]

Colorado is very casual. We have a contracted window washer at my big corporate work who is covered in piercings and bright magenta hair. I think ya'll wil be fine. It's a conservative, but friendly town.

[love colo summers]

You'll be fine and welcome. Props to you for dressing up for weddings!

[beezle1]

Very casual dress here. You can wear jeans pretty much anywhere.

[Postal]

I don't think most people on the town will really care. The only problem I see would depend on what line of work you are in. But I don't think that's much different where ever you go.

[CMartel2]

When you try to stand out and intentionally look weird, you're going to get stares. Doesn't mean you're not welcome. It just means you're intentionally seeking attention. No one dyes their hair purple and expects no one to notice. It's clearly an attempt to draw attention to one's self.

That said, I don't think many people care. I think we all had some odd stages while we grew up.

[froggin4colorado]

Heavens, I see people daily with purple, pink, blue hair, tatts everywhere. What an interesting question...everywhere I go in the US, I see dyed hair and tatts. Has anyone been somwhere where there isn't?

[CherryMagic]

Originally Posted by froggin4colorado

Heavens, I see people daily with purple, pink, blue hair, tatts everywhere. What an interesting question...everywhere I go in the US, I see dyed hair and tatts. Has anyone been somwhere where there isn't?

Maybe Utah?? j/k!

Manitou has some really interesting "people watching" opportunities...

If you want to see some really strange folks - go to Roswell, NM.

There really are aliens in that town.

[just_jenn]

"intentionally look weird" - weird isn't exactly the term I'd use for those of us with ink and funky hair colors. I am a 34 year old mom with obnoxious red hair and plenty of tats. I don't do it to look "weird", though. Is it an attention mechanism? Sure. Do we want to stand out against the norm? Absolutely.
But above anything else it's about expressionism. I am a firm believer that life is too short NOT to live it colorfully.

That said, to the OP, I came from a smallish town before moving here and I stood out with my tats and hair big time. Here, I don't stand out at all. I have been pleasantly surprised at how many of us tattooed crazy-haired "weirdos" there are.

[just_jenn]

Originally Posted by froggin4colorado

Heavens, I see people daily with purple, pink, blue hair, tatts everywhere. What an interesting question...everywhere I go in the US, I see dyed hair and tatts. Has anyone been somwhere where there isn't?

I think there are certainly locations, particularly outside of any metro area, where it's not as common. For instance, where my mom lives, you don't see crazy hair or tattoos on a daily basis out on the streets. The town has like 2,400 people.
Even where I used to live - a town of 88K- it wasn't all that common unless you were at particular bars at night. But in the every day scene of grocery shopping or errand running, you simply didn't see it much. I was always stared at and was the target of many rude comments..