So. Shaved my head. It’s been a long time coming. I’ve been threatening to do it every time I’m due for a haircut. I just hate hair. Oh, not hair itself, just dealing with it. I despise wasting any amount of my time on dealing with that stuff on my head. If I’m not good enough without it, well, then I wasn’t good enough to begin with.
Now that I’ve taken the leap, I’ve been pondering lots of different things. (Less weight on my head=more brainpower? Hmmmm…)
WHY it’s such a “brave” thing to do for a woman to shave her head. Oh, I know the historical context, the verse in the Bible, way it was used to shame women in past centuries. The fact that it’s an obvious sign of enduring treatments for a horrible disease. (Also knowing that there’s always going to be someone who wonders if you’ve done it because you had head lice.)
It still bothers me, this notion that a woman isn’t fundamentally beautiful just because she exists. That this is something we can gain or lose by conforming to changing and sometimes arbitrary standards of grooming.
Anyway, I’ve been asked a lot in the almost-week since I’ve shaved my head why I did it. The answer: Because why not?*
OK, fine. #LeahStepsOffSoapbox
*I won’t claim that the fact that my eleven year old son was mortified when he saw me wasn’t a bonus. After all, he’s eleven and I’m his mother. By definition, everything I do is mortally embarrassing. Therefore, I take this as confirmation that I’m doing my job well.
“Because why not”….ah….spoken like a person with a well-shaped head. 😉
LOL! I hear you, Michelle, I know I’m lucky there.
I was surprised, gobsmacked when I saw your twitter icon change so radically.
Paul Weimer (@princejvstin) recently posted..Update on Car, Camera and Catastrophes
I shaved my head my senior year in high school – just after getting my senior portraits done but BEFORE getting the proofs back. My mother was so upset she didn’t say a word. NOT. ONE. WORD. Yikes!
I don’t have a good head shape for bald (you definitely do!!), but I have a take-it-or-leave-it attitude toward my hair. I let it grow long because I can’t be bothered to mess with it. I chop it off super short when it gets on my nerves. Currently, it’s dyed blue and purple. (Which prompted my mother to ask, “Are you having some kind of mid-life crisis?”)
I have to admit, when I see a woman with their head shaved, I don’t typically wonder if they’ve had lice. I do wonder when I see a kid’s head shaved, because I used to work at a large daycare and I’ve seen it done.
Love the (not) hair!
NC Narrator recently posted..Rodeo Reverie
You are so beautiful! My initial thought was that you were doing it to support someone with cancer. I love your actual reason: Because why not. Awesome!
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NC, Funny about your mom. Mine didn’t say anything to me, but when my son asked her if she was surprised she just shrugged. “No. I know my daughter.”
I suppose it helps that I’m in my thirties and not living in her home anymore. 😉
Thanks, Samantha!
Leah Petersen recently posted..Interview on Grasping for the Wind
You. Are. Awesome.
I like it! I think it’s a ballsy thing you did…and yes, you are challenging the way people think. It just takes one…and then one more person to give pause & rethink what is “acceptable”. I commend you. A.
Aphrodite recently posted..Messages of the Arcturians
I missed this the first time around!
I will admit, my first thought was “Oh no, is she battling a horrible disease?”
I am glad to hear that it was a personal choice! And a great opportunity for cosplay as a member of the Noble Houses of the Centauri Republic (Babylon Five)
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