This video is from the archives but I wanted to share my experience from when I decided to shave all of my hair off.
My natural hair is thick, straight and heavy and for most of my life I have morphed through many different characters by experimenting with various colours and styles. As an adolescent I was angsty and rebellious and refused to conform to what was depicted to me as the most "desirable" form. I honestly changed my hair colour every other week to the disapproval of many but it was really the first time in my life I started to value what it was like to visually express my personality.
It's interesting how people will choose to perceive you based on your appearance. I have certainly gone through my stinks of body image issues and conformed to what I thought would make me more acceptable to others. But honestly it only left me feeling dull and the anxiety of caring what others thought really consumed me.
My journey to a shaved head first started when I decided to cut all of my long hair off. It was hot, heavy and gave me headaches every time I tied it up so I went for an asymmetrical style cut with an undercut. The undercut is what later prompted the shave because in my mind I had already half started the job! I did however experiment with a range of different colours before hand and even to this day I favour pink the most. I am at my happiest in bright colours!
The day of the shave came about spontaneously like most changes to my appearance and I just went for it. In my mind, it was just hair and I knew it was always going to grow back. So I wasn't going to let fear hold me back. Cutting all of my hair off has by far been one of the most exhilarating and liberating things I have ever done. So often female identity is attached to our external appearance and I had always believed that my femininity was strongly represented by my locks. Without my hair I felt like I was actually seeing my face for the first time and my natural features became more defined. I started to received a lot of compliments on the shape of my head and my eyes. And I honestly I had never felt more beautiful until that moment.
I kept my hair shaved for a year before I decided I wanted another change. If you can't tell I like to change my appearance often. I started to grow my hair out again and moved through different colours. I even tried blonde and this was definitely my least favourite colour.
When I went travelling in 2016 I decided to keep my hair as natural as possible for convenience mostly. I haven't dyed my hair since and I have left it to grow. I still rock an undercut because it's unbearable to wear my hair long any other way. I also recently got my head tattooed in Oakland, CA and I love so much that I can decorate this amazing body in all the ways that make me feel most beautiful.
The amount of times my external appearance has mislead people still amazes me. I love to explore all means of creativity and I'd rather live in a vibrant world of colour and craziness than hold back on expressing myself.
We all feel good in our own way, just make sure you're doing you! 💜
Biggest love to you!
Sarah. ✂️
Music: River Meditation - http://audionautix.com/index.php
