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Sensual, confident and glamorous are not adjectives that are usually given women with short Hair,
For centuries, long hair has been seen as a symbol of femininity in many cultures, Health And fertility. But more women are challenging that traditional beauty standard and finding empowerment in baring their heads.
“Being bald is sexy. It’s an attitude. It’s a luxury. It’s a lifestyle,said Brennan Nevada Johnson, who voluntarily shaved her head 14 years ago when she opened a video podcast launched last November to celebrate the benefits of choosing the bald look.
“Once you do that, it brings all this Self-confidence In your life,’” Johnson, 34, said.
“Whenever you see someone who is bald and not bald wigJust know that they’ve fully embraced themselves, and I think that’s really challenging to do.”
His initial decision to go bald was a practical one. Johnson played competitive volleyball in college and found that the sweat she produced on the court affected the expensive hair-relaxing treatments she frequently used. However, once she started shaving her hair, she was charmed. She found relief by saving money on salon visits.
Johnson now owns a New York public relations firm. “Bald and Buzzed with Brennan,” the video podcast she posts on YouTube, was an effort to fill a void in social media content that affirms bald people, especially women. She says she always thought baldness was sexy.
“It’s a fashion statement and it’s a really powerful look,” Johnson said.
Other women who do not have hair, whether by choice or due to medical conditions, have also looked for ways to support each other, attending conferences, joining “bald” groups, and swapping beauty and scalp care tips.
“We have a whole community there,” said Dash Lopez, a content creator who posts a weekly video series of her shaving routine called “Fresh Cut Fridays.” “We need to talk about it because we find comfort, empowerment and beauty in what some people consider weird.”
Lopez said that her family members admired her long curly hair. Some of her friends played with different hair colors and styles, but Lopez said she didn’t have the same freedom. And she didn’t like getting her hair combed out or spending long afternoons at the salon.
She cut her hair into a pixie cut as soon as she turned 18 and started getting haircuts without permission. Then she shaved it all off during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It makes me feel powerful in the sense that I’m able to be different from the things that people place so much emphasis on,” said Lopez, 29. “I’m not sitting here planning, ‘Oh my God, when am I going to get my next color appointment? It’s going to cost me $300. Oh my God. I have to get my hair done before I go to this event.'”
Lopez signed a contract with a modeling agency in 2020, she said, at a time when brands wanted to show diversity. At the time, being bald worked to his advantage professionally.
“Quirks were appreciated, and if you had a gap in your teeth, if you had a bald head, if your face was full of freckles, that’s what the casting directors were looking for,” Lopez said.
She noticed a change in situation last year, when her bookings for modeling jobs decreased. “Honestly, the odds were against me in the modeling world,” Lopez said. “I was 5′ 4″, 5′ 5″ on paper, no hair.”
A client suggested she wear a wig to get more work. Lopez did not want to do this or grow her hair out. Her modeling contract ended. Since then, she has shared glimpses of her life as a bald woman on Instagram and TikTok, where some of her videos have received millions of views.
“I feel powerful in the sense that I’m making my own choices,” Lopez said. “I’m doing it for my self-empowerment, I’m doing it for my self-clarity, for a deeper understanding of what I value, for a deeper understanding of what beauty means to me.”
Many women struggle with how they define beauty when they lose their hair due to health conditions like alopecia or during chemotherapy treatments for cancer.
Felicia Flores, a flight attendant who lives in Atlanta, was diagnosed with alopecia, an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss, in 2001. Six years later, all his hair fell out. Initially she used to wear wigs.
Then his eyes fell on a group called The Baldy Movement on Facebook. “Women really inspire me,” Flores, 47, said. “They really helped encourage me and give me strength, … and they were very reassuring.”
She eventually decided to stop wearing wigs and go bald in 2015 after a romantic breakup. She said, “I was tired of lying. I felt like I was hiding something. I felt like I wasn’t myself.”
To help uplift and inspire other women, Flores founded an annual convention called Baldy Con. The fourth draw drew more than 200 people last month in Atlanta for a fashion show, guest speakers, a jazz brunch and a black-tie gala, she said.
Aicha Soumaoro, who works as a nurse on weekdays and as a mechanic on weekends in Philadelphia, said some of her patients call her “sir” instead of “ma’am,” but she doesn’t let it bother her. “It’s new to them, the girls who are bald.”
Soumaoro, 27, said that after she shaved her head, her mother told her that most men would not want to marry a woman without hair. Instead she focuses on compliments she receives in public, including “You wear this with confidence” and “Your face is gorgeous.”
“Being bald is like suddenly getting a boost of confidence,” said Soumaoro, who cuts her hair every Sunday. “It’s like a new skin, a new layer, a new personality. I just feel refreshed. Like I’m born again.”
She also goes hiking on Sundays and feels the cool breeze on her head.
“Having that connection with the Earth, it feels amazing,” Soumaoro said. “I feel like I can hear everything more clearly. It feels like my mindset is clearer when my head is bald.”
Tiffany Michael Thomas, an Atlanta-based artist who goes by the stage name Amor Lauren, shaved her head to show support while her mother was being treated for pancreatic cancer.
After his mother’s death, Thomas continued to receive praise from other women. He decided to maintain the bald look.
“Once I really started embracing it, I felt like I was invincible,” said Thomas, 37. “Now there’s nothing I have to hide behind. …It’s forced me to deal with all my insecurities.”
If you’re thinking about shaving your head, don’t hesitate, Thomas advises. Women tell her they are worried their heads aren’t shaped right, or that they have lumps or scars. “Do it without thinking,” he said. “Do it out of fear. Everything in life, just do it out of fear. The best way to get over that fear is to actually do it.”