Really? People ask if you'd consider dying your hair?

I thought various red/auburn/orange/ginger shades were what people dyed their hair to from duller blacks and browns!

Indeed, that inconsistency made me assume a certain amount of the bullying was borne out of jealousy.

As for long hair, having worn my hair as long as it would go ever since I was free of my mother's evil clutches in such matters, and now watching it gradually recede, I'm very glad I made the most of it while it was there. Though in my case as a not-entirely-cis person, having hair that occasionally passed for female was quite nice.

My mother eventually stopped nagging me about my hair the day I went for a job interview with long hair and got the job.