the spare

It’s done. After 3 years of long hair, I’ve decided wear it short again. I had been tossing the idea around for about a week or so and finally went in to get it cut. It was a zenful endeavor…calm & soothing (even without the mint head rub). I was worried my hairdresser was gonna give me the “Are you suuuuuurrrrre?” lecture. But she simply said “Awesome”, grabbed her industrial scissors, and began chopping off large brown chunks. After about 40 minutes, I was done and out the door with my new summer do.

I’ve hesitated to embrace the symbolism of this haircut. The first time I cut my hair short was in college and there was a suitcase full of meaning behind that decision. You see, up until that moment, I had MAJOR issues with my hair:

Barn Girl
From a very young age I feared that cutting my hair short meant I had done something bad. I owe a LOT of that thought to some random “made for TV” movie about a little girl who accidentally sets the family barn on fire and her dad, in a fit of rage, grabs her by the head and proceeds to chop off her cute, bouncy ponytails. That scene scarred me for most of my childhood (as did the cover of the book “Carrie”). Cutting hair = punishment…horrible, isn’t it?

The Hula
My hula teacher gave me explicit instructions to NOT to cut bangs into my perfect, long, thick, brown hair. That was tough…I mean, it was the 80’s, who didn’t have bangs in the 80s?? But I obliged, thinking I was a better hula dancer for it.

That Sampson Thing
Cutting off your long hair = loss of power. I was 9…it made sense.

Bert
My friends had discovered tweezers in middle school and went crazy thinning out their brows, creating permanently surprised expressions on their faces. I refused to give in to this mania, instead opting for combing my thick brown brows upwards (sometimes with my dad’s mustache wax…I know…) creating the “illusion of plucked”.

Essentially, I think it all came down to me not giving in to society’s idea of femininity which, in terms of hair, means getting rid of all hair except for the hair on your head. (see also Rapunzel, How to Get Bootie by Climbing Your Lovers Hair) Functional? Not always. Which brings me to this haircut. Arizona is a VERY hot place to live and, on the primping scale, I am sitting with The Strokes. I want simple, easy, and cool…thus, my venture into the salon. I’m sure there’s some subconscious symbolism underneath it all but for now I just wanna be able to walk around without hair getting in my face.