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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Chatham chapter.

I always had long hair. I looked at my newborn picture and I had a lot of hair.

It did not stop there. It kept growing and growing. I wore a ponytail all the time and people would ask me why I never wore my hair out. I didn’t like it. It was too much, but people envied my hair length. I never understood why anyone would want all of the hair I had.

For me I saw my hair like my past and expectations, holding me back. I saw so many happy people with short hair. I could really see their face and the little facial features you wouldn’t otherwise see.

I hid behind my hair and pulled it forward whenever I felt uncomfortable about my appearance. I sometimes felt myself pulling at it out of frustration.  

It was when I finally decided to cut it without telling anyone that I was happy. Whenever I brought up cutting my hair as a joke, people would tell me “no” like the dead skin cells on the top of my head belonged to them. I basically said “f*** you” and cut it anyway.

I felt so happy and my head felt so light. I took control of my hair and my life. I think that cutting my hair was probably the first decision I made myself and I kept going. I’m continue to make my own decisions and cutting my hair started that. I couldn’t be happier.

It’s the little changes that start the big ones.

Iyanna Armwood

Chatham '20

Iyanna is an English and Creative Writing major at Chatham University. You can follow Iyanna's Instagram @lively_bones where she pretty much posts selfies and crafts, or you can follow her Studyblr @studymydeer.
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Indigo Baloch is the HC Chatham Campus Correspondent. She is a junior at Chatham University double majoring in Creative Writing and Journalism and double minoring Graphic Design and an Asian Studies Certificate. Indigo is a writer and Editorial Assistant at Maniac Magazine and occasionally does book reviews for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She is also the Public Relations Director for The Mr. Roboto Project (a music venue in Pittsburgh) and creates their monthly newsletter. During her freshman and sophomore year, Indigo was the Editor-in-Chief of Chatham's student driven newsprint: Communique. Currently, on campus, Indigo is the Communications Coordinator for Minor Bird (Chatham's literary magazine), the Public Relations Director for Chatham's chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, and a Staff Writer and Columnist for Communique. She has worked as a Fashion Editorial Intern for WHIRL Magazine, and has been a featured reader at Chatham's Undergraduate Reading Series and a featured writer in Minor Bird. She loves art, music, film, theater, writing, and traveling.