I’ve honestly had the urge to cut my hair for an extremely long time.
It wasn’t until very recently that I realized I was holding on to it because the people around me wanted to –– specifically my mother. She’d always raised us to skirt the stereotype of the “typical” black girl. She didn’t want us to wear weave, insisted that we take proper care of our hair, and absolutely forbade us to wear it short. Her girls were always the black girls with long hair — it was a source of pride for her. She truly believed it was our crown. I wouldn’t expect any less from her, either. My mother was all too aware of how people would judge us based on our looks. I held on to that premise for many years. I still see my hair as a crown, but I also feel that the true beauty of it is that it’s your crown, and you can rock it in so many different ways.
After my mother passed last year, I finally had the push to let it go. Even still, it took me some time to actually go through with it. I took baby steps initially, starting with cutting my hair into a bob. From there, I progressed to a bob with an undercut. It actually came out very well*, but I still found myself unsatisfied with the result. And so, for the first time other than my initial big chop, I cut all of my hair off. I contacted my beautician, Prinshell, sending her tons of pictures of what I desired my hair to look like. We scheduled an appointment and she made my dreams come true!
Afterwards, I felt liberated, beautiful, and most importantly –– free. It was as if having a different look was somehow giving me a different outlook on life, and I absolutely loved that feeling. Hair really does play a huge role in my life, and I honestly feel that if my mother were here today, she would say that I was even more beautiful than before.
Cutting my hair gave me that push I needed to keep going. I’m so happy with this decision. So when people ask why I cut my hair –– I can honestly say because I wanted to!!
For more on this subject and what it means to take on a new style, don’t miss my LIVE Talk Tuesday discussion on UFD’s Periscope channel on February 21st at 7PM CST!
xoxo
Helecia
