On Liberation (And Hair Dye)

This weekend I cut off a giant chunk of my massive head of hair. 

And I'm feeling pretty liberated.

It's funny how innocuous hair is - it's always there, its dead, but its also serious business. Time and money and resources and jobs are all based around the care and keeping of it. It matters (which is weird). Maybe that's why changing it seems like such a big deal. And it is, isn't it? A big deal?

"You cut your hair!" "You look different, did you get a haircut?" 

Everyone. Always. Notices. 

So naturally, in true form, I didn't care about my hair for at least two years. I just let it grow, I didn't tame it, I didn't even get it trimmed. Someone told me my hair reminded them of a body suit, because it got so long it overtook my face. 

Point is, I got fed up. And I hacked it off. And I love it. 

And that wasn't enough, not even close, so I took my sister to Sally's and bought all of the needed supplies to effectively transform my whole self by tossing some turquoise ends onto freshly dyed black hair. I would be crazy not to thank my sister, by the way, for sitting through a five hour hair dying extravaganza, which she absolutely blew out of the water. I haven't ever been happier and I owe that in large parts to her styling prowess and, more importantly, confidence boosting support. 

The end result is fabulous. It's just different. I might even look cooler than I really am now, which is weird, but whatever. It's my personality in a nutshell. And it is radically new to me. In fact, I couldn't understand why I hadn't cut my hair sooner. 

I think it's so wild that change is liberating. It always is. Because we're taking our decision-making skills and putting them to use, and we're doing what WE WANT. I wanted blue hair, so I got it. You want a boss pair of boots to stomp out the haters, so you get them. Your mom wants to make a pie with someone else's recipe other than your grandmothers for once, so she does. Think about that feeling of successfully doing something new- it's the bomb. You know its the bomb. 

But we don't always let ourselves do it. I almost didn't take the advice of my sister or my room mate to dye my mop. You might not buy those boots because they're not your "style". Your mom might be too afraid to make your grandma sad if she realizes the pie isn't quite how it usually is. All of these little hindrances are what hold us back from making strides. 

I'm no radical life changing lady, and some things really don't need to be revamped. But that feeling of being free from whatever was keeping you from trying something new is too good to pass up sometimes. And believe it or not, it carries over. It impacts the way you carry on with your life. It makes you realize that little changes make big waves. Even haircuts, if you can believe it. 

I guess it takes some hair dye and growing a pair for some of us to realize it. 

All the best, 

Paige.