In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

I’m Shaving My Head

Lauren

My hair is so thick it takes five to six hours to dry. Even a full day after a morning shower, I have a damp spot on the back of my head.

I freshened up tonight before attending Ethan’s Hawaiian-themed spring program and come home to find that my hair is still not only damp after having blow-dried it, but that it’s so thick I couldn’t get all the conditioner off of my scalp.

The only thing holding me back from shaving my head (again) is vanity. I happen to like my damned hair, but goddamn if it isn’t a pain in the ass.

And this is where I leave the office to take yet another shower…

23 thoughts on I’m Shaving My Head

  1. I must be nuts, too, bc I’ve recently decided to grow my hair back out (your description of your thick hair would be mine, too). It’s only May and I’m ready to cut it all back off again – it’s only gotten below my ears. Slightly.

  4. Dr. B.: White people hair is supposed to be all easy and stuff. Right about now I wish I had locks. Then, even a simple ponytail would look put together.

  5. they make these sheers you know… for thinning the hair. i have my barber use them every other cut or i can’t comb my hair… thinning sheers… they help bunches.

    other than that, i have nothing bad to say about short hair, i’ve had it cut to 1/16 many a time and other than the need to wear a hat so i don’t get sunburn… it grows back…

  6. this hair love must be contagious: just today, my hairdresser talked me out of hacking my hair off(again). so i am growing it out. even though it requires a lot of time spent beneath hooded dryers. and hot oil treatments. and touch ups every 6 weeks.

    um… why do we like hair again?

  8. Now is the perfect time of year to do it; I shaved my head in December, and regretted it sorely, if only for the fact my ears nearly fell of from cold!

  9. i’m with ryan! buzz it!

    i had a buzzcut for 2 years after my son was born. i think every woman should try it once. it’s extremely liberating not to have to think about what your hair looks like.

    girls with buzzcuts are hot:)

  10. I have been hating my hair lately too. With the hugeness of my belly, with everything really hard (lying down takes like five minutes of effort!!) the hair is just another thing to deal with that makes me insane. Long, thick, hot. It ends up in a bun at the back of my head all the time anyway, so why not chop it off? I’m waiting till I’m more reasonable about it, so far. But it may go the way of short. I’ve had short before, and loved it…easy, light, NOT HOT. (But hot in another way). I grew it this long to be a contradiction anyway…. all the women’s studies folks at my school had super short hair, and I just wanted to be different. Now I’m not at that school so much, so who am I being different from? 🙂

    By the way, I had a dream about you Lauren… we were writing papers for some reason and I was taking your sage advice about something. 🙂

    Because of you as an undergrad, I can’t wait till I’m a teacher of people in my major (thus far I only have gotten to teach First-year Comp classes which equals mostly non English majors, since they CLEP out).

    🙂

  13. y’know, you could keep the long hair but cease caring what it looks like. Comes with some social costs though, trust me.

  14. just got a buzz myself & let me tell you: now is the time! ain’t nothing like a spring breeze over sun-warmed peach fuzz… mmm hmm!

  16. I’ve shaved it before and it wasn’t pretty. Bald people need nicely shaped heads. I, unfortunately, have a massive bulge on the back of mine. It’s where the bulk of my brain resides. 😉

  17. And I say you’re spoilt for choice 😉
    I have the finest hair that will just not grow long, and I’d give anything to have my mum’s hair (who complains like you about it always being unmanageably thick). I suppose you always want what you can’t have.
    I’d suggest trying the thinning sheers – if that doesn’t work you can always shave after 🙂

  18. Ms. Lauren said: Bald people need nicely shaped heads. I, unfortunately, have a massive bulge on the back of mine.

    poppycock! i’m surprised that you would buy into such a tired old beauty myth! i personally have a haidbone that looks like a damn Sleestak. but does that stop me from shaking my peachfuzzed pate for all the world to see? hell no! your occipital bulge is a beautiful thing & you should share it with the world! haven’t you ever read “Our Bulges, Our Selves”?!!

    and anyways, those lizard-men were the coolest! putting the fear of, well, lizard-men into all those long-haired back-to-the-land commiepinko types…. ha ha ha haaa! yeah, that was great.

    sorry, what were we talking about again?

  19. I’ve got the bulge going on, too. (Back of the head, people!)

    Stop making excuses, Lauren. 🙂 You know you just don’t want to have to update your “About” page.

  20. “Bald people need nicely shaped heads. I, unfortunately, have a massive bulge on the back of mine…”-LOL!!!
    Take me to your leader!(snark)

  21. Sarcasm alert: But Lauren, you have to love your head as it is. You’re not allowed to say that it is not pretty. 😉

    (I tend to bulge on the sides more than the back. The language areas you know. But I won’t shave my head either. I had to shave my beard for the surgery and I am impatiently waiting for it to grow back. Can’t stand that bare butt face look.)

    I think you can do the saffron robe thing with or without hair. You can always start something, you know.

    Anne: I have the same problem.

  22. I would suggest that you go fro locks, but I’m not too keen on white folks with locks. One they usually just don’t look good and (prior to the newest fashion craze) they are usually done by Black folk with a connection and dedication (damn does it take dedication for the first year or so…if you do it the natural way) to their cultural selves. Yep, I’m a lock snob. I walked through the fire with twisting and retwisting and didn’t go quickie with the new fashioned techniques. 😛

  23. Dr. B, there’s no way I’d actually get locks. I have yet to see a white person they really look good on. Plus it feels too much like coopting a culture I’m not a part of.

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