The Aftermath: Reflections On Shaving My Head
It’s now almost two years following my head-shave initiation and many of you have been asking about my thoughts in hindsight.
A little recap: Why did I shave it all off?
Because I wanted to acknowledge my journey from girl to woman and challenge my own self-perceptions of femininity. I realised that a large part of my femininity was attached to having long hair – so what would happen if I cut it all off? Would I feel any less of a woman? Hopefully not, though I certainly had my insecure days of feeling less-than.
In hindsight, I’m really glad I did it and enjoyed every stage of the regrowth. {Prior to shaving my head, I had never had it much shorter than shoulder length. Having a short crop was pretty effortless to maintain and it opened up a whole new world to me in terms of styling -> statement earrings – oh yeah!!}
It was also character building and an important ritual in marking my initiation into womanhood – something we don’t really have in western cultures. So certainly no regrets!
Contrary to any fears I may have had, men still found me attractive enough to talk to and be seen with, I wasn’t shunned by society – although sometimes I was met with sympathy.
Anyway, recently, I stumbled across this video of women talking about their own reasons behind shaving there head and it was humbling to find that a lot of their motivations are very similar to my own.
Check it out:
