7 Things I learned when I shaved my head

I have been a proudly buzzed woman for about two years now, and shaving my head single handedly changed my life for the better. As a woman in our current social media and celebrity obsessed climate we are taught to care for our hair like a new baby, treating it to every super expensive hair mask, shampoo, and colour treatment going. Getting rid of all that showed me the woman that I was, and it made me feel fierce.

1. The fear

Okay so your sitting at your friends house, or maybe you booked a salon appointment, the dudes got his scissors out to chop off the locks you've put your identity into for years, and its scary as shit. I personally felt a feeling of rebellion, like it was the ultimate feminine taboo to shun long flowing locks (my hair was lilac and down to my ass at this point in time). My ex girlfriend sat me in front of a mirror after a particularly frustrating day and put my hair into little pony tails, snipping each one leaving me looking like a mental human pineapple. I remember being asked if I felt emotional, that goes to show how much of our identity as women we put into our hair, and how devoid I felt from it. I had always hated my hair and had done everything I could at this point to make me like it. Except this. So as the buzzers came to life and started shearing off the weight of what I should've loved, I felt exhilarated and free.

2. Everyone will say that you're “Brave”

There are a couple of stigmas and assumptions that come with shaving your head, the first one for me, just happens to be absolutely spot on in the sense that everyone will assume that you are LGBTQ. In certain ways whether rightly or wrongly shaving my head kind of solidified my identity. I had had so much trouble deciding how I should wear my hair, and being an otherwise very feminine person I felt that this answered the questions outwardly without having to say who I was out loud. The second I found is that you've had a hair disaster, which you may well have, and in my opinion shaving it all off and starting again is pretty badass anyway.

3. You’ll feel fashion as fuck

Being a hairless wonder means that experimenting with style and make-up becomes infinitely more fun, not having to worry about my hair makes me feel super sleek and stylised, and now I finally wear colour rather than hiding behind my hair for my “look”. I’m super identifiable too because in the girl with the shaved head. Easy to spot, easy to remember. Changing up a hair colour when you have literally a centimetre to work with is a cinch, way less bleach and if you hate what you've done? Shave it off in a week, boom.

4. Self love and self care

My weekly head shaving ritual is what makes me feel human on a Sunday night. I clean my apartment, light some candles, open a bottle of wine, get naked and shave my head. Every week I get to feel like in wriggling out of my skin again, and that anything is possible in the coming week. If its a bleach week (I like to be super blonde) I wear my little tin foil hat over it and call my friends. Its a time when I don’t have to think or do anything but be completely myself. I take the time to really look at my body and my face, and give myself a little mini at home spa treatment for just a couple of hours. It makes me feel super connected to myself, calm and prepared.

5. People might tell you not to do it

I found that when I first raised the question of shaving my head a year before I did it everyone around me assured me that I would regret it. My mother has extreme hang ups about her hair and transferred it on to me, girlfriends of mine who spent hundred on maintaining their gorgeous manes gasped and said I was crazy. Ultimately it took much less of giving a fuck about others opinions and one small breakdown for me to finally take the plunge, and I’m so very glad I didn’t listen. Always with what you chose to portray to the outside world or for yourself, just do what makes you feel really, really good. Green dreadlocks? Get it girl, shaved head? Bald and beautiful, wigs for every day of the week? Very Cher. Whatever it is, wear the hell out of it.

6. Chop it for charity

As I said, there was one attempt at freeing my barnett before I ultimately made the chop, and I had the idea of shaving my head for charity. Its a great thing to do and it always seems to generate a good amount of money from the friends I have had chose to do it in this way. There are plenty of charities to donate your tresses to aswell! Be careful and do your research however and always go through a reputable organisation. Try littleprincesses.org.uk for a trusted one.

7. The “real” you

Now I’m not saying everyone needs to shave their head to see what they really look like but my goodness it helps. When I had hair I had this warped image of my face, I thought it was too long, I hated my nose and I’d pick my reflection apart for hours. After shaving my head I fell in love with my own face. I learned to embrace my flaws, acne scars, bumpy nose and the colour of my eyes and see myself as a whole woman. Overall I wish I had taken the plunge years ago, hair grows, but the benefits I’ve got from being able to actually see myself as brave, beautiful and free are so so worth it. I wont be going back to having hair anytime soon, and I encourage any would be buzz cuts out there do go for it! Shave with the grain, get a good pair of clippers, and please film it, I love that shit.