Two weeks ago I walked into a salon with long brown hair and five hours later walked out with short purple hair.
I had never done something like that before.
The only two times I died my hair was in the bathroom of my dorm with a box from Target. Neither of them were super dramatic because I was afraid to bleach my hair.
There were thousands of excuses, but I had wanted to do this for as long as I could remember.
If you have dramatic hair, it's harder to get a job - currently working in my field and loving it.
My hair should look natural for major life events - I graduated college and both my siblings got married this year. The next major life event is me graduating from my master's program, over a year from now.
Upkeep was expensive - I have a good job now.
Your hair is so pretty, why do you need to change it - well....
This one had me stuck. I had been saying for a while I wanted to do this, and that was the reaction I got a lot. Why did I want to change it? Why were other people so afraid of me changing it?
If I cut my hair does that mean I wouldn't be pretty anymore? Did I feel pretty now?
I was scared to do something I was passionate about because I was believing other people's lies about it.
My value and beauty did not lie in my brown hair. I got stuck in that limiting belief - well if my hair is pretty now, and I change it, then it won't be pretty anymore and I won't be pretty. It was a terrible lie that I had gotten sucked into.
It took a lot of looking at inspirational women with short hair, like my roommate, sorority sisters, and women leaders, to finally try and change the story. Every time I was about to chicken out, I told myself "powerful women have short hair."
"You have never looked more confident."
I got this very specific compliment three times in different scenarios, one of my class mates, one of my Emerging Arts Leader/Leadership Council Members, and my friends.
"Even though it's purple, that hair looks natural on you."
The intent of dramatically changing my hair was not to prove people wrong, or to get the validation of everyone liking my hair, but it was to show that if I followed something I really wanted, even when other people told me it was a bad idea, it could turn out really well. It turned out really well.
This year one of my resolutions was to stop caring what people think, and live fearlessly.
That was step one.
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