The humming sound of a razor, a few seconds go by and there goes my hair to the ground…leaving me with one side buzzed short, and the other long.

As the chair swivels around, the mirror greets me with a new and different view of myself. As the harsh reality of what has just happened started to settle and I have to say I liked what I saw (luckily).

What I was not prepared for however were the reactions my new ‘do would garner from others. From my parents, friends, strangers, and bosses as well. At times their reactions would make me question the way one portrays themselves to the world, and the acceptance of a sometimes-bold statement such as the act of shaving your head as a woman.

Like many other girls, I used to relish my long locks. At one time they were long, brown and wavy, but a few years ago I slowly began chipping away.

Some people get tattoos to remember or define certain points in their life. Over the past four years or I’ve been doing that with hair.

Going shorter and shorter, playing around with it, there have been many different reactions. For the most recent look, my nod to punk culture has led to every comment from, “Did you really mean to do that?” to “Your hair looks great, it really frames your face.” Followed by a bit of a warning “I had that same haircut when I was twenty-one, it is hard to grow out though once you’re bored of it.”

Realizing the scary fact early on that indeed one day, my whole head of hair will have to be evened out. As a woman, your hair is a major part of your femininity. The classic representation is that women have long hair. Period. That is the way it is. This haircut in particular, though I have a lot of feminine qualities, sometimes worried me that I maybe was not girly enough. But as one side grows long and the other stays short, the extremes seem to balance themselves.

Not only was this an experiment in my personal presentation to the world, I realized the identity that I send to others when I take such a noticeable risk in my appearance.

According to Merium Webster’s dictionary, one’s identity is the distinguishing character or personality of an individual. With the hair, it was an exploration into individuality. It took some around me a while to warm up to it. At my work, customers would sometimes be taken aback for a moment, which was always fun to see. Others truly hated it and told me so. I learned quickly not to take too much offense, but it is always fun to hear people’s reactions and ponder them.

There are less drastic ways to experiment with one’s identity, but this particular experience was eye opening as a person, and the change it brought to my interactions with others. Who knows what is next on the new frontier of possibilities, will I shave it all? Or will I not? We will have to wait and see.