2 Year Anniversary of Head-Shave

March 11, 2013

2 Year Anniversary of Head-Shave

Yesterday marked the 2 year anniversary of the day that I shaved my head to ~1/4 inch long. It was and continues to be one of the most profound experiences of my young womanhood.

Some things that I have learned from this experience:

Hair grows...slow...fast...the awkward phases are so awkward, and it feels like they drag on forever. The good phases don't seem to last long enough (I loved my hair at about 1 inch long. Surely it grew out of that nice cut reallll quick. My most awkward phase was winter of 2011 (~9 months post-shave).
I like my hair longer. In general, I have concluded that I like my hair very short and long. I have a pretty wild wave to my hair which makes the in-between stages pretty unflattering in my opinion. Straight hair is so easy - all short cuts seem to look cute. When you have wavy hair, you have to pull of some sort of twist (or style it) to make it look half-decent.
Long hair is easier for me. I thought that short hair would always be easier than long, but due to what I just explained above, this was not the case. My long hair I can just twist to the side, let it dry, and then I have long lovely messy waves (see below).


Right before I buzzed it off

4. To pull something off this crazy (my hair was pretty long), it's important to have support. Fortunately, when I did this I was living in the uber-alternative Santa Cruz, where everyone thought it was the coolest thing that I shaved my head. Right after the buzz I headed out to rural Philippines, which ended up being a much less supportive environment of course. The most important thing, however, is that I had friends and family back home supporting me.

5. Being a "traditionally feminine"-looking young woman, head-shaving was a super self-validating action. I thought I was very self confident before I made the cut, and according to societal expectations I really was. However, shaving my head brought about all sorts of questions and insecurities that I never had to encounter/deal with in the past. And I am not saying that I wasn't pretty with my head buzzed, but it is certainly a very different kind of pretty. Not surprisingly, I got very different attention from the world. And that was a hard thing sometimes (especially, of course, in rural Philippines). I had so many people indirectly tell me that I was or would be prettier with long hair. I grew so accustomed to hearing this that I would sometimes jokingly respond with "Yeah, I was pretty once; I really hated it." HA! Anywho, for all the people who would make those sorts of comments, I got just as many positive ones from friends and loved ones, which was really important. Seeing myself stripped of my beautiful long hair (which, for the most part, I loved) was sad, empowering, and validating. It helped me to focus even more on my internal qualities, and see myself for who I truly am inside. Heightened self love and acceptance were definitely products of that.

6. Make up and wardrobe experimentation are a must. I found that with my short hair, I had such a specific "look". In order to look as traditionally "feminine" as I usually like, I had to experiment a lot with clothing, make up, and accessories. I have so many more dresses, skirts, and high-necked
shirts/blouses than I did before 2011!