Why do some style choices stay constant and others don’t?
By Melanfolia | Published: 2025-10-16 14:47:00 | Source: Lizbreygel: Beauty, Fashion, Lifestyle
Photo: Joshua Rawson Harris
People make all kinds of changes to their appearance throughout their lives. Some become permanent constants of identity, while others fade away as soon as they arrive. A haircut that looked perfect at 22 may look ridiculous at 30. Chosen on a whim, a tattoo may become either a cherished part of someone’s story or an unfortunate decision that requires expensive removal.
The difference between what sticks and what doesn’t is always clear at the time. Sometimes, seemingly temporary choices end up defining someone’s appearance for decades. Other times, modifications that were supposed to be lifetime data are abandoned within a year or two. Understanding what makes certain decisions last helps people make choices they are less likely to regret later.
Identity factor
Style choices that match the core identity tend to stick. When someone gets a piercing or makes a fashion change that honestly reflects their personality and not what they want to be, it usually becomes permanent. The decision comes from an internal sense of self and not from external pressures or trends.
This explains why some people maintain their adjustments through major changes in their lives while others gradually shed them. A person who got a navel piercing because he felt it suited him personally would keep it regardless of his age, career transitions, or marital status. Someone who got one because everyone had one in the early 2000s probably removed it once the trend passed.
Testing often comes during life transitions. New jobs, relationships, moving to different cities, and becoming parents all shake up identity and force a re-evaluation of appearance choices. The modifications that survived these transformations were usually true expressions of the self to begin with. Those that do often reveal themselves as temporary experiments or attempts to conform to a particular group or era.
Photo: Alexander Gray
The practical facts specified in
Some style options don’t stick because they require a lot of work to maintain. This subtle hair color requires a salon visit every six weeks. These acrylic nails need permanent fillers. The high maintenance look that seemed worth it at first becomes tiresome after a while.
Professional requirements filter certain choices as well. Someone may like facial piercings, but remove them when getting a corporate job. Others change careers or find employers who don’t care, allowing them to keep the adjustments that matter to them. The choices that are made are often ones in which people find ways to make it work professionally or decide that they are important enough to influence career paths.
Physical changes over time affect which modifications last. Weight fluctuations, aging and pregnancy affect the look and feel of body modifications. A hole that was perfectly placed at 20 may look different at 40. Some people adapt and keep it anyway. Others decide that the change is not worth maintaining anymore.
Social context issues
Family reactions also play a role, but not always in obvious ways. Some people drop edits to please family members, while others keep them specifically because of family members’ disapproval. Statements that withstand family pressures are usually deeply meaningful to the person, not just rebellious statements.
Romantic relationships complicate matters. A partner’s preferences shouldn’t dictate appearance choices, but they often do anyway. Some adaptations persist to maintain multiple relationships, while others are removed to satisfy a new partner. The ones that last through relationship changes tend to be the ones that the person values, regardless of anyone else’s opinion.
Geographic location affects longevity as well. Moving from a city where everyone has tattoos and piercings to a conservative small town tests commitment to those choices. Some people don’t care about standing out and keep their edits regardless. Others find the constant attention uncomfortable and slim down their appearance to blend in better.
Testing pain and commitment
Alterations that require a great deal of pain, time, or money often last longer. Investing creates correlation. The person who has endured hours of tattoo sessions or months of piercing healing has literally invested in this modification. Removing it seems like a waste of all that effort and discomfort.
But this does not guarantee permanence. Many people go for piercing or tattoo removal despite the original investment. The sunk cost fallacy works both ways. Sometimes the continuing dissatisfaction outweighs the initial commitment, and people cut their losses.
Reversibility matters more than most people think when making the initial decision. The hole can close, the hair grows back, and the clothing can be replaced. These temporary modifications are more easily tried than permanent modifications, which means that people find out whether they really want them in the long term through experimentation rather than speculation.
Tattoos fall into a different category because removing them is expensive, painful, and not always completely effective. This downward spiral means that people either learn to live with the tattoo they regret or are certain from the beginning that regret will never develop. Those who researched well, waited for cooling off periods, and chose designs with personal meaning tended to remain happy with them.
When meaning develops
Sometimes, style choices do not remain constant because their meaning changes. The adjustment that represents freedom at 18 may seem like a restriction at 30. What once seemed rebellious becomes mainstream. Personal importance fades, and without this meaning maintaining appearance loses its purpose.
Other times, the meaning deepens over time. A simple piercing becomes associated with a certain period of personal growth or a reminder of overcoming challenges. These accumulated associations make mods more valuable over the years, cementing them as permanent features.
Life events can strengthen or weaken the association with adjustments. Someone may remove the piercing after it caused problems during pregnancy, or they may keep it specifically because it represents their previous identity as a parent. The same event pushes different people in opposite directions depending on what the change means to them personally.
Photo: PeopleByOwen
Trend cycle effect
Following trends ensures that you will end up regretting some of the adjustments. It may seem obvious that the microbladed brows that look perfect now will be outdated in ten years. The elongated lobes popular in the alternative scene in the 2000s led many people to seek out reconstructive surgery. Trend-driven choices have a shorter lifespan than personally meaningful choices.
Some people embrace this and consider the adjustments to be temporary in nature. They get piercings knowing they may remove them later, try bold hair colors and expect to change them frequently, and treat their appearance as an ongoing experiment rather than a fixed identity. For them, nothing has to stick permanently because the experience itself is the goal.
Final Thoughts: Make Choices That Last…
Understanding these patterns helps increase the likelihood that modifications will persist. Waiting through the initial excitement to see if the desire is still there filters out impulsive decisions. Choosing modifications that reflect actual identity rather than aspirational identity increases long-term satisfaction. Accepting that some choices won’t stick and planning for that eventuality takes the pressure off of making every decision permanently.
The style choices that stick are usually those that are made thoughtfully, for personal rather than external reasons, and are maintained through various life changes because they still feel authentic. Everything else tends to be temporary, and that’s okay too. Every edit doesn’t have to last forever to be worthwhile. Some serve their purpose for a season and then naturally fade away as people grow and change.
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