How much would you invest in a haircut?
It varies widely depending on a person’s income and priorities and for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a trip to the salon is worth a big investment since she supposedly spent approximately $300 on a recent cut and color treatment.
Other individuals, however, such as former Governor Scott Walker, consider this to be a ridiculous use of money. Walker posted a mocking tweet on Saturday including a picture of himself haircut ready with the caption, “Getting my $26 (with tip) haircut”.
Twitter users immediately fired back at Walker, accusing the joke of being sexist.
According to an article in The Washington Times however, Walker is not alone in his opinion. The piece stated that AOC “could have saved money on the same services by visiting highly reviewed salons in her district in the Bronx.”
The clash of opinions doesn’t end there. Following this, according to Urban Milwaukee, reports revealed that Scott Walker invested over $800,000 on flights over three years.
AOC finally fired back on the accusatory claims toward her, writing in a tweet that “40 million Americans live in poverty under today’s extreme inequality, yet the right-wing want you to blame Democratic socialism for their own moral failures. Our policies like Medicare for All, advance prosperity for working people.”
In another tweet, she directs the conversation toward bigger matters, arguing that “Mike Pence used *taxpayer funds*- not personal ones- to spend several thousand haircuts’ worth of public money on a visit to Trump golf courses.” She concludes the tweet by directly targeting her opposing political party with the statement, “I wonder if Republicans care about corruption as much as they care about a woman’s cut & color.”
She continues to target the Republicans on Twitter by moving over into Jeff Sessions’ haircut habits.
The Washington Times takes the behavior of AOC as ironic and contradictory in regards to her political views and compares the representative to Eva Peron, who was the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 to 1952. The article states that AOC “preaches socialism while living the life of the privileged.”
Ocasio-Cortez is a proclaimed socialist and believes that wealth should be equally distributed among all people, which is the key point that prompted the dispute. The Washington Times’ controversial piece gave examples that emphasize her contradictory views, such as her statement that the congressional salary should be higher even though she makes $174,000 a year. The article also points out that AOC believes that the cost of living in Washington should be lower, yet she “lives in a luxury apartment building in the trendy Navy Yard neighborhood, where rent for a no-frills apartment starts at $2,000.”
In response to the piece, more women decided to fire back on the claims, including Lawfare Managing Editor Quinta, tweeting that “I regret to inform the Washington Times that women’s haircuts are, indeed, unconsciously expensive”.
Other responders include Clara Jeffery, the editor and chief of the magazine Mother Jones, who wrote: “This is the dumbest this paper has perhaps ever published.” Jeffery defended AOC with a remark that “$80 for a women’s haircut and $180 for lowlights (likely quarterly) is cheap in a major city tbh, much less if you’re on TV every day.”
The feud also revealed that AOC isn’t the first to splurge on hair. The Washington Times also reports that Marco Rubio has spent $100 on his hair, while Hilary Clinton has spent as much as $600.
Overall, the controversy is a double-edged sword: One that brings up a conversation about sexism and another about hypocrisy within the political community.
At the end of her comment on the matter, AOC takes the opportunity to show no formalities with her response: “They’re just mad we just look good doing it.”
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