How a Haircut Changed my Life

You might read the title of this post and think, a haircut changed your life? Out of all things to change your life, trimming your split ends was the pivotal event that changed you? But it wasn’t truly the haircut that changed me, but the lessons it taught me. 

My whole life, I’ve had the same hair. And while my Pinterest boards are filled with exuberant shades of blue hair and bold asymmetrical styles, I always go back to the same safe haircut. Every appointment, I’m ready to tell my hairdresser, just do it, chop it all! Dye it pink! Do something crazy! The only thing I manage to muster is, “Just take off the dead ends.” 

Who knows where this crippling fear of change comes from. I’m not sure if it’s my complacency with my security blanket of long locks that has been my favorite accessory since I was six, or if its a deep rooted fear that maybe I can’t pull off such a bold style, or just that change is scary in whatever form.

Something as simple as a haircut can cause so much stress, and why? It’s a simple leap of faith, where we we can be certain, that despite how terrible the result, our hair will grow back. Even if somehow our hair is completely botched, it will grow back, it will reshape, the horrendous shade of accidental orange will fade. And yet despite this knowledge, why did it take me 21 years of my life to finally follow through with the haircut I’ve always wanted?

After talking about getting bangs for a year, and hearing everyone’s two cents on the seemingly biggest decision of my life, I decided to go for it. That’s going to be a lot of work to keep up with. Bangs don’t work on all face shapes. Not every hair texture works with them. It’s genuinely hilarious hearing people’s concerns for such a silly topic such as hair. I’m not deciding if I should get a life changing surgery, simply wondering if I should cut some dead cells to frame my face.

And when my hairdresser tried to talk me out of it, she finally asked if I was ready, grabbed a section of hair, and just chopped twelve inches. Looking in the mirror at first was a shock, but I was so proud that I went for it. Confidence radiated from me after the chop, and not because I was even sure I liked the way they looked, but because I just did the thing. 

Now a year later, not remembering life without bangs, I realize how silly it was to even contemplate this decision for so long. Sometimes we look at life like a haircut, we consider so many things and try to figure out if they will make us happier, and ask for other’s people’s opinions, and weigh the options, and wonder the consequences, when really if we want something, we need to go for it. Every decision we make, someone will have an opinion, self doubt will try to sway us, but despite these distractions, the choice is ours and if we want to seek new opportunities and become comfortable with change, we cannot waste hours considering the options.

Whats that thing you’ve been talking about forever but never following through with because some deep self doubt?

Get the haircut, book the plane ticket, fulfill what you want without hesitation.