When I was 22 I crossed 'shave my head'
off my bucket list.
I started dying my hair when I was 15.
Purple, then black, then brown, red, bright pink! Black again,
orange, green(by accident!), blue, blonde, every color you can
imagine, until my hair was so badly fried that it looked and felt
like wool. Run your hands through it and you'd pull out strands of
multicolor grossness.
I had cut it short a few times and
tried to stick with just one color but by the time
it grows out you
forget about how awful it really was and that Stargazer Shocking Pink
is just too damn tempting when you're bored with your look!
I'd thought a lot about shaving my
head. It was something I'd always wanted to try but you never know if
you can pull it off until you've tried it. I've never been the kind
of girl who cares much about how long it's taken to grow hair out and
to be honest the longer my hair grows the more I hate it!
The upkeep is too much of a hassle.
It blows into my mouth on windy days.
Somehow it always finds its way into my
mouth while I'm eating.
It wraps around my neck while I sleep
and tickles the boyfriend's nose when we spoon and really, what's the
point of growing it out when I wear it in a braid or pony tail all
the time?
So it's not like I was emotionally
attached to my hair but there's still this sense of safety in keeping
it. It's a nice, soft and warm hiding place and when you shave it all
off you expose yourself and that was the part that scared me. I knew
that among my friends, a group of girly girls with long shiny hair, I
was definitely going to stand out if I did this and I've never really
been an attention seeker. Yes, I had every color of the rainbow on my
head at one point or another but that attention is different. There
is a very clear motive in dying your hair blue while shaving it isn't
as clear of a statement. After I shaved my head I had a lot of people
come up to me and ask me why I did it. I went to the hospital for a
blood test shortly afterward and an old woman gave me this pitying
look thinking I was very sick, it made me feel awful! A few weeks
later a girl came up to me at a party, stroked my head and asked if I
used to have dreadlocks.
I don't think I've ever had a haircut
that warranted as much explanation as this one.
I took so much comfort in hiding behind
hair that I had to ease into shaving it all off. For the first two or
three weeks I had a bright pink mohawk which I then cut off. I then
wore hats constantly for a few more weeks until it got too warm. It
took a little getting used to but eventually I grew to love not
feeling like my head was on fire in the summer sun. I saved so much
money on shampoo and time not drying my hair that I was tempted to
keep it short.
From time to time I still consider doing it again.
