My hair & accidental feminism

In June 2010 I made a big decision: I swore I would never get my hair cut at a hairdresser ever again.

It had been a long time coming though, as I had never been happy with a haircut. Ever. I would always get all excited about getting my hair cut, and then fall into a deep depression when it turned out awful. Which it always did. Mostly due to ridiculously old fashioned hairdressers, but also due to the fact that I didn't really have the right type of hair for the cuts I dreamed about and ended up with a variety of awful mullets.

In 2010 I had fairly long hair (for me anyway, as I have a hard time leaving it alone without doing anything to it, and after seeing À bout de souffle for the umpteenth time I decided I wanted to be Jean Seberg.

I though it was a safe bet, after all it's just a simple boy do with fairly similar length all over (which I also told the girl twice was what I wanted), I still went home with very short in the front and slightly longer in the back, and with the glasses I was sporting at the time I ended up looking like a skinny Drew Carey.

So then I simply decided that I would do my own haircuts. Way cheaper, and with only myself to blame. I did invest in a hair trimming machine, which led to a few months with various mohawky looks.


I can't even begin to tell you how fun I think it is to shave my hair, I love the buzzing of the machine and the feeling afterwards, and in early 2011 whilst freshening up my look I started thinking about what it would be like to have virtually no hair. So I decided to find out. And I swear, just watching it all come off was absolutely amazing. And the reactions afterwards was very interesting.

Most people were very positive, saying how nice it looked and "how brave I was". Brave. Cutting your hair has nothing to do with bravery. But that says something about how most women and the power of hair. I've seen interviews with women with cancer who thought the hair loss was the toughest part of the process because it made the disease visible and made them feel less like women. And sure, buzzcuts do scream cancer. (I even had people wondering if I was sick.) And that's just wrong.

Hair ain't gender specific. Throughout history, long beautiful hair has been just as important to men. Men still fear losing their hair, no matter how much they might have of it. Long, beautiful hair is a natural sign of good health, and something worth looking for if you want to make some strong offspring. Along with tits, hips and lips, long hair is one of the things men is naturally physically attracted to when it comes to women, so long hair is key if you want to attract some male attention.

We have obviously evolved away from the caveman stage, but it's clear that certain things have deep roots in us. When Britney Spears had a meltdown and shaved her hair off, people assumed she'd gone crazy. When Miley Cyrus got a pixie cut, the fans posted obituaries for her hair.
One might think that it would be different for fashion models, as the ideal body seems to be that of a twelve year old boy, but when Agyness Deyn shaved her head, people complained and said she looked like, yes exactly, a twelve year old boy.

Whenever a female celebrity decides to go "bald" there is an astonishing number of fans poiting out how great it looks, but how they's never dare to do it themselves. And sure, you might need a bit of confidence to pull it off. You can't hide behind your hair (which most girls tend to do at times), you put your face in focus, some men might think you look ugly and you will definitely stand out from the crowd.

But so what? I think every girl should try to shave their hair off once in their life.
It's not just for bulldykes, disease victims or hardcore feminists. Or Amber Rose.
It's neat, practical and you're guaranteed nothing but good hair days for a while.
And those sidecuts don't count, it just looks like you changed your mind halfway through.

I stuck with my buzzcut for a while, but I get bored real easily and like to change my hair as often as possible and there's not much to do with less than 1 cm of hair. I also got some feedback I wasn't happy with. (Turns out, shaved heads is a fetish for some!)

I still shave parts of my head though, but every time I do I feel a little yearning to go all the way again. But I won't. At least not until I move someplace warm. Cold ears, not my thing.