The Hair Dye Incident

The Hair Dye Incident marks a turning point in Anne Shirley's struggle with her appearance, transforming a private obsession into a public humiliation that reshapes her understanding of beauty and goodness. It is the most dramatic of Anne's early mistakes at Green Gables, a collision of her vivid imagination, her deep-seated insecurity about her red hair, and the worldly temptation offered by a traveling peddler. The event's consequences—a head shorn of its long braids and a week of seclusion—become a crucible in which Anne's vanity is burned away, leaving a more mature, though still spirited, young girl.

Causes and Temptation

The incident is rooted in Anne's lifelong sorrow over her red hair, which she calls "my lifelong sorrow" and which she feels prevents her from being "perfectly happy." This sensitivity is compounded by the plain, serviceable dresses Marilla provides, which lack the fashionable puffed sleeves Anne craves. When a German Jewish peddler arrives at Green Gables one afternoon, Anne, remembering Marilla's warning not to let strangers into the house, meets him on the step. The peddler speaks feelingly of his wife and children in Germany, touching Anne's heart and making her want to help him. Among his wares, she spots a bottle of hair dye that he warrants will turn any hair "a beautiful raven black" and won't wash off. In a trice, Anne sees herself with beautiful raven-black hair, and the temptation becomes irresistible. The bottle costs seventy-five cents, but Anne has only fifty cents left from her chicken money. The peddler, showing what Anne believes is a kind heart, agrees to sell it for fifty cents, saying he is "just giving it away."

The Act and Its Immediate Consequence

Anne buys the dye and, as soon as the peddler leaves, applies it to her hair with an old hairbrush, using up the entire bottle. The result is immediate and horrifying: her hair turns a queer, dull, bronzy green, with streaks of the original red heightening the ghastly effect. When Marilla discovers Anne hiding face-down on her bed, she lifts the candle and sees the green hair, exclaiming, "Anne Shirley, what have you done to your hair? Why, it's GREEN!" Anne, in the depths of despair, confesses everything, including her belief that being a little wicked was worth it to get rid of red hair. Marilla, though angry, tries washing Anne's hair vigorously with soap and water, but the dye proves fast, as the peddler had promised. For a week, Anne goes nowhere, shampooing her hair daily in vain, while only Diana knows the secret.

The Remedy and Its Aftermath

Marilla finally declares that the only solution is to cut Anne's hair off. Anne, realizing the bitter truth, agrees with a dismal sigh. Marilla shingles the hair as closely as possible, and the result is not becoming. Anne turns her glass to the wall, then rights it again, vowing to look at herself every time she comes to her room as penance for her wickedness. She confesses that she never thought she was vain about her hair, but now knows she was, in spite of its being red, because it was so long and thick and curly. The clipped head makes a sensation at school, but to Anne's relief, nobody guesses the real reason, not even Josie Pye, who nevertheless tells Anne she looks like a perfect scarecrow. Anne bears this patiently, seeing it as part of her punishment.

Thematic Significance and Character Change

Anne herself later identifies the hair dye incident as the cure for her vanity. In a conversation with Marilla after breaking her ankle, she lists her mistakes and their lessons: the amethyst brooch cured her of meddling, the Haunted Wood cured her of letting her imagination run away, the liniment cake cured her of carelessness in cooking, and dyeing her hair cured her of vanity. She declares that she never thinks about her hair and nose now—at least, very seldom. The incident thus functions as a deliberate, painful lesson in self-acceptance, stripping away not just her hair but her obsessive concern with outward appearance. It is a comic disaster that yields genuine moral growth, a pattern that defines Anne's early years at Green Gables.