It’s funny how something like hair can hold such symbolism for specific spans of time in our past.
In middle school, we didn’t know even know where to start with our hair. In high school, we grew it long and tried pretty hard to master the salon blowout, even if most days it ended up in a messy bun because you had P.E (which had suddenly gotten pretty legit compared to middle school lap running). Then in college, we go through the inevitable explorations of our true beings, spending semesters trying to find the best styles to share our exciting self-discoveries with the world.
Of course, everyone knows the cliché of females of drastically changing their ‘do’s when experiencing a breakup or life crisis. People rarely consider, however, that maybe it’s not the breakup or the momentous event that change a girl’s course in life, but rather the post-breakup hair that truly changed her.
If you’ve the guts to go ahead and cut off those long locks to a nearly-pixie length quiff, or go from blonde to deep chestnut, you might be surprised that, rather than mourning your loss of identity, you feel as if the real you has emerged. Rarely do we have the confidence to go for that drastic cut or color we’ve been dying to try when we are involved with someone. The fear that he or she might stop finding us attractive is overwhelming. Breakups, on the other hand, give us the freedom to be who we have evolved into without that silly need to please those who have held us back.
When I cut my hair in the middle of a long and ruthless breakup that involved some mental health disorders and cheating, I was classified as the girl who cut her hair short because of unbearable crisis. The less kind way to describe that label would be: I lost it. What people didn’t know was that the new look gave me the confidence I desperately needed to escape the unhealthy environment I had been sucked into, as well as find the happiness of which I was so long deprived.
As someone who easily bores of her hairstyle and color, I have grown it out and added bangs and gone from bright blonde to red to dirty blonde since the chop. What I’ve found during these transformations, however, is different from what I had expected. The hair I had when I emerged from the rough times still calls to me; I want to have that same color and style again. Why? The hairstyle I had then is, to me, a symbol of not being afraid to admit defeat, overcoming intimidating struggles, and a spunky spark I feel I have been missing lately.
There are times when we all must embrace and find comfort in our signature look, in what makes us happy, even if it isn’t the latest fashion trend or the style your new special someone adores. If it makes you happy, you’ll be a better, more enjoyable person for that significant other, and you’ll find that people you encounter will admire your brazen change and take a cue from you for once.
Whether you’ve already discovered the hair that overflows with your personality and uniqueness or not, take the plunge into the ideal you and harbor no regrets. Sure, this article has a lot of italicized words, but it’s because we all need to enthusiastically embrace ourselves and the hair that makes us happy. Miley Cyrus did it, to the criticism of many, and has never been so comfortable in her own skin. To that I say, rock on.