Yesterday I finally got around to dragging myself to get a much needed haircut and now my hair is the shortest it's probably ever been. It's summer and sweltering so it's nice not having so much hair that I constantly need to tie and get out of my face. Also, it makes shampoo'ing and conditioning so much faster. I've already gotten a bunch of comments on my hair and I'm fairly certain I already know what the reactions will be tomorrow when I'm back in the office. I have some thoughts I'd like to share and I'm curious what you guys think.
Every few years I go for a pretty big cut for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it's out of necessity because my hair needs to reset but sometimes I'm just bored with my look and I need a change. I'm generally not fussy with my hair. I don't think I've ever gotten a "bad" haircut, not because my hair looks great all the time (definitely not the case), but because I'm not faffed about it. I've been getting my haircut at the same local salon pretty much my whole life by the same person. The main reason I've been loyal to my hair dresser is mainly because of the price. After a recent price increase at the salon, I pay a whopping $15 plus a $3 tip. I'm in and out of the salon in less than 30 minutes. I reason that hair will grow back so even if I'm not completely over the moon with the length or cut, I can just wait a few weeks or months and it'll be fixed.
My last haircut was a few months ago and that time I got a somewhat drastic cut, going from having decently long hair to a bob cut. I was tired of my damaged balayaged ends and needed a quick reset. I realized after going back to work and hearing everyone's comments, I found their reactions way more interesting than my actual hair cut. The two that were the most interesting were along the lines of "you're so brave" and "my boyfriend/fiance/husband would hate it if I cut my hair so short".
The bravery comment is so strange to me because I literally think there's nothing dangerous about cutting one's hair that would necessitate bravery in the first place. I don't consider myself a courageous person at all and I really don't think getting a short haircut counts at all as an act of bravery. So to that comment, I think to myself "no, I'm not brave for cutting my hair but I hope I can be brave for other reasons".
The second type of comment makes me feel quite sad because I don't think your partner or anyone who really cares for you should be that bothered as to hate something as temporary as a hairstyle. I'm not the type of person to consult with my boyfriend about my haircut and, even if he hated it, I don't think I would be too bothered by it. For many months my boyfriend grew out his hair to shoulder length and it looked rather awful to everyone, including me. But he really wanted to try it out and was happy about it. Constantly people would tell me to tell him to cut his hair but I really didn't think it was my responsibility to tell him what to do with the strands of protein on his head. I view hair choices like clothing and I think it's important for the individual to reach their own conclusions about how they want to present themselves. It's totally fine to hear other peoples' opinions if you want to but I don't think their feedback should outweigh your own.
At the end of the day, people should feel empowered to have whatever style of hair they want whether its Rapunzel length or no hair at all. I think there's a general consensus that the phrase "short hair, don't care" is cringey and it really should be extended to any type of hair you want. Unless the hairstyle you want puts someone else's wellbeing at risk, you do you and own it. Thoughts?