Bad and Bald

Feb 6

“A woman who cuts her hair is about to change her life”

— Coco Chanel

Reality hit when I watched little fuzzy pieces of hair fall past my shoulder and tears began to fall. Not sad tears though, happy tears, happy tears that it was all gone. Finally, my hair had changed.

I know, I know that is such a dramatic thing to say but OMG I have wanted to cut my hair for so long, and every time I came close to doing it, I chickened out. As the stylist continued buzzing through my coarse natural 4c hair, she asked again, "why are you doing this?" and to that, I responded, "because its time" and little did she know how much I meant that.

My journey with my hair hasn't been for a couple of years, In Fact, I have been natural for 19 years... since I was two and well before being natural was fashionable. I stuck with being natural not because I wanted to but because my mum refused to let me get a perm. I remember countless times I begged her to consider changing her mind, but she never budged. I was natural before it was the "in" thing and during the natural hair craze, I still felt like I was stuck in this cycle where my hair never changed and I never took care of it.

Through all the different phases of my life, one thing remained the same, my hair. I was never okay with my lack of growth and always having to struggling for a style to do or even the best ways to tie a scarf so I would not have to deal with it. My hair was the only thing in my life that refused to change and did not give me any pleasure, and finally, I decided enough is enough. Deciding to cut my hair was something I did for myself, and it has been a journey.

The people in my life, however, thought very differently. From the jokes about my five-head to increasingly lousy name calling, I did not change my mind. My mother even cried when she saw pictures of my haircut saying I looked like the young version of my dad (honestly she was very dramatic if you ask me). The point I am trying to make is, I soon realized that the people around me were not going to be as supportive as I needed them to be and that's okay. Cutting my hair was not a decision that came easily to me and even now, I still get days where I wish I still had a full head of hair but I am getting okay with. I am getting alright with being BAD AND BALD.