Wouldn’t dyeing your hair a color that stands out and immediately gets noticed be for attention?

As a kid I thought about dyeing my hair one day because hair-dyeing and gay culture were big, and i definitely wouldn't have been doing it "for attention" - rather just to see how it looks, and in case it looks better than my natural hair colour.

I don't think people like looking better for the sake of more attention, but rather to be perceived better when they do get noticed, which hopefully continues to happen at the same rate.

People tend to think in terms of "how will my current social circle respond to this change"

I mean, its like saying peacocks have their feathers like that not to get attention. Or colorful birds do it to not be noticed. It doesn’t really make sense.

They have their feathers like thst because they're born with it. Because of natural selection. Humans make cosmetic changes which are not related to genetics.

This can help with getting "naturally selected," but people also present themselves for work reasons, status signalling, signalling role specialisation, religious belief or other philosophy, fandom (which i'd ssy falls into philosophy or religion).

So the last 3 of those - roles, religion, fandom - might in some way help to stand out to mates seeking those traits or beliefs, but aren't primarily for that.

The former 3 are more about integrating and socialising with others, not about attracting mates.