I just cut my hair. People are always surprised when I get my hair cut. I have short hair and I like to get it cut often-- so often in fact that at times it seems I cut it faster than it has time to grow back. My hair has progressively gotten shorter over the years.
I've had short hair for years... Like 5 of them... I love having short hair.
Not that it's always been butterflies and rainbows having a revolutionary hair style (relative to most 14-19 year old girls). I remember the first time I got it cut short. When I told one of my friends the first thing she said was that people would think I was a lesbian. It had never occurred to me that people might react like that. My friends comment had confused me, for several reasons. First, I was in middle school, or actually had just gotten out of middle school, and wasn't really thinking about other people's perception of my sexuality. I was straight, I knew that, and I hadn't considered how a haircut could change that. I also didn't like that comment because that was such a stereotype-- one that I not only didn't buy into, but also didn't really understand. "Lesbians have short hair"/ "Women with short hair are lesbians" was a concept that I hadn't yet recognized as valid. Some lesbians had short hair, sure, but some lesbians--no surprise here--just had 'normal' or average girl hair. So why did my short hair have anything to do with looking like a lesbian? Finally, and probably most upsetting was this idea that I shouldn't look like a lesbian. Like it was bad to have short hair and thus fit a stereotype. Like it was bad to be a lesbian. So what if I look like a lesbian? So what if I do and am not a lesbian? SO WHAT KATE(nay-sayer friend)?? Lesbians are just women! Are just ladies with rad hair! SO WHAT if I look like one? And as far as I know, know one has ever outwardly assumed that I was lesbian. And if they did, I'm sure it wasn't about my fucking short hair.
The other thing that actually worried me, and not my friends, is that I would be mistaken for a man. I had this more when I was younger and it never happened. I have a pretty feminine face and overall look, and unless men are growing big tits and wearing curvy jeans, I'm not manly. But I worried about it nonetheless. I can say that in five years I have been mistaken for a man... ONCE. My nigh perfect record was ruined by a Safeway Supermarket cashier. Let me explain: I was dressed in sweats and a baggy t-shirt for a rehearsal for a show I was in, had no make-up one and hadn't done my hair that day. I was in no shape to be out in public but I figured no one at the theater cared, and I needed some food before rehearsal. As the woman handed me my receipt she said, "have a nice day sir", looked up and said, "er, ma'am." Just as I had worried, it was quite a blow to my short hair ego. But later that day when I was out of my gross rehearsal gear I did get hit on, sooooo..... I bounced back pretty fast.
In the last five years I have on multiple occasions decided to grow my hair out. I have this romantic vision of myself with look flowing locks, or something. But I haven't gotten far. Once I can cram it barely into a half up pony tail type thing-- I lose my patience with it and chop it off. It just gets to this awkward stage and I can't handle it anymore. Suffice to say I haven't had hair past my shoulders for since I was 13. Maybe someday I will had long luscious hair, but I doubt it.
I've talked a lot about the struggles of having short hair, and anyone who is considering chopping it all off should know that with everything there will be 1. Nay-sayers, 2. Self doubt, 3. Flaws.
Overall, however, I LURV MY HAIR. I rock the short hair look. And it is so very versatile! You can wear it up, down, and all around. You can go from perky and feminine to relaxed and tousled to crazy and rock star-esque! It's badass, fo' real.
It's very freeing, it's easy to manage, and most of all it's beautiful. It's something unique about me because not many people have the guts or the hair or the face or the style to pull it off. As I get older I have noticed that it is not as revolutionary as it used to be, especially in Seattle. But I find that the way I personalize my hair, as with any aspect of myself, I still stand out in a crowd. :)
Wow, I loved this post. I am thinking about getting my hair cut short. I am 17, and when i suggested to my mother that i want it short it seemed as though she was more attached to my long hair than i was!
ReplyDeleteThis post has not made me as doubtful about getting cut. It has in facet made me even eager to cut my hair short, and be different. So thank you!
Right there with ya. Had short hair for the last 3 years - had it in high school for a year then grew it back out. It just gradually got shorter for me as well because I was a hair modelling for a hairdresser friend and long hair became bob which later became pixie cut. I liked it though and I kept it that way ever since. So totally liberating and gutsy.
ReplyDeleteI encourage everyone to try cutting their hair at least once. It's wonderful as a young person.
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