Member-only story
I Shaved My Head and the World Did Not End | Harness Magazine
How much value do we place on women’s hair, and is it really worth it?
Over the course of my almost thirty years, my hair has been every color that appears in nature — and even a few that do not. I’ve had every cut you can imagine — pixie, bob, shoulder-length, layers, choppy, bangs, you name it.
As I saw it, my hair was a form of self-expression. I could dress it up or throw it back. If I pulled out the curling iron, I was readying myself to have a particularly awesome day. With a straight iron, I was putting on my serious, working girl attitude. My bathroom was a maze of products, and I can only imagine how much electricity I must have zapped with almost daily use of my blow dryer.
And then one sunny day in March, I shaved it all off.
The world did not end. I did not have a crisis of personality. I did not cry. Not even once. As a matter of fact, I smiled the whole time. I sat on a folding chair on a stage in front of several dozen people while a woman I’d just met took scissors to my ponytail and then clippers to my scalp. I held my daughter in my lap as she ate her Fruit Loops.
And I smiled.
