Dr. Cao Jiang and Melissa Galm ’11
M
elissa Galm ’11 had no idea that the simple act of dyeing her hair would create a buzz so loud that media as far away as Germany and the Netherlands would come calling. It’s the kind of attention that Angelina Jolie or Gisele Bundchen might attract if they emerged from an exclusive Paris salon with a radical new look. But Galm wasn’t a movie star or a supermodel—she was a senior at Holy Family University conducting a unique experiment for her finance class. In her spare time, Galm waitressed at Chickie’s & Pete’s on Roosevelt Boulevard in Northeast Philadelphia, and she noticed that a number of her fellow servers lightened their hair in the summer.
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fall 2011
Galm, a natural brunette, began to wonder if the old adage that “blondes have more fun” might also apply to economics, and in this case, if women with golden locks earned better tips than their dark-haired counterparts. In May 2010, Galm set out to find
some answers. Nine of her co-workers agreed to change their hair color and keep track of their tips, including Galm, who went blonde for the first time. It didn’t take long to see a change in the way customers interacted with her while ordering their
“It didn’t take long to see a change in the way customers interacted with her while ordering their crab fries and white lobster pizza.”