The list of celebrities who have gone through a buzzcut phase is ever-growing: Britney Spears, Natalie Portman, Millie Bobby Brown, Florence Pugh, and most recently even Harry Styles. This was a list I frequently consulted in March when debating whether I was going to take the leap and buzz my own head. I was offered a role in a play that required a buzzcut, and I ultimately decided that changing my hair for the sake of art was the exact kind of thing I wanted to do. When else would I get the opportunity to shave my head for a role? Despite my excitement, I also had some hesitation about making such a bold change to my appearance, and learned some new things about myself as I got used to it. Now that I’ve lived my life with a buzzcut for the last 6 months, and am starting to grow it out, here are some of my biggest takeaways.
Getting compliments on your hair is SO validating
This can be said about any new change – a hairstyle, a piercing, or even just a piece of clothing. When someone goes out of their way to say you look good, it boosts your confidence! Getting this kind of validation from friends, acquaintances, and even strangers after my initial haircut made me feel a lot better about it.
Being confident in your head and face shape is important
An oddly specific compliment that I would get a lot is that I had a nicely shaped head or bone structure for a buzzcut. I feel like one of the main fears when going (almost) bald is looking like an egg. People would tell me that they could never shave their head because they had bumps or scars that they wouldn’t want to become more visible. Hair hides a lot of things, and it’s definitely up to personal preference whether you want certain features of yours to be highlighted.
Having no hair can feel very vulnerable
In the same way we might use hair to literally hide physical insecurities, it can also serve as a more metaphorical security blanket. I had my fair share of moments feeling pretty self-conscious about having extremely short hair, especially as a woman, because it’s not a style you see the majority of women wearing. This brings me directly to my next point:
Subverting gender expectations can feel overwhelming
It’s hard to exactly phrase this without doing a deep dive on gender theory and expression, but I had a lot of reflections on what it felt like to present myself in a way that opposed the gender binary. In many ways, in 2023, it’s just a haircut, but in certain settings I found myself abnormally self-conscious about how I was being perceived and what assumptions people might make about me based on my appearance. I felt especially noticeable going to the gym, which is a male-dominated setting where I already feel anxious about being perceived. I often found myself struggling to style my outfits out of worry that I’d be perceived as more masculine than I wanted to present myself. Sometimes I really did just want to feel like a girly-girl with long hair, and to some degree, because I shaved my head for a character I played, it would sometimes feel like I was playing a part that wasn’t entirely ‘me’.
Being in the right environment helps
I spent the majority of my summer working at a very LGBTQ-friendly thrift store, so needless to say, I saw plenty of women rocking buzzcuts and felt right at home. I do think that if I didn’t live in such an urban and progressive area, I might face a lot more discomfort sporting an unconventional look. Luckily where I live, dyed hair, piercings, tattoos, etc. almost feel like the norm, so I often felt like I was in like company with my hairdo.
Experimenting with hair dye and patterns is so much fun
One of my favorite parts of having my hair buzzed was when I bleached it – this was when the hairstyle felt the most ‘me’. I also briefly had stars painted in it, which was really fun to do and wear. Everyone I’ve talked to that has had a buzzcut agrees that it’s a rite of passage to bleach and dye it – your head is a blank canvas! I wasn’t brave enough to follow through with some peoples’ suggestions, including basketball, spiderweb, eyeball, and many more, but if I ever go back to being bald, I’ll have lots of ideas to choose from.
I do miss my hair
As I mentioned, there were still times when I missed having long hair. It was part of my appearance for so long, and sometimes I felt like a completely different person. Certain outfits I wore felt like they were missing something, and I missed the fun of experimenting with braids and ponytails and everything that long hair has to offer. Adding bows to hairstyles became a really big trend recently, and I’ve had no way to participate! Once my hair gets long enough, I might end up tying all sorts of things into it, just because I can.
Growing it out takes forever!
I last buzzed my hair in August, and have been growing it out since then. Right now, it’s about an inch long, and I’m extremely impatient for it to be back to bob length. Although it feels like my hair barely grows, I look back at pictures of how short it used to be, and can see that it’s making progress. I’m excited to try all sorts of styles as my hair reaches different lengths – my mullet era may be approaching. For now, in the words of my roommate, I’ve graduated from being referred to as the ‘bald friend’ to the ‘pixie cut friend’.