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So WHY did I shave my head?

The simple answer is because I wanted to.

But wanting to do something and actually doing it are two very different things.

My earliest memory of wanting to shave my head is from high school. Though I did grow up in the 80s during the time of punk rock and outlandish styles, it wasn't about making a fashion statement. I wasn't an angry, defiant teenager. I wasn't trying to prove a point.

I simply wanted to experience the freedom of not having any hair.

But, of course, since I wasn't rebellious by nature, and I already struggled with "fitting in," the thought of doing something as socially taboo as shaving my hair off was out of the question.

And so I just wished I was of African descent so that I could be part of a culture where it was more accepted. And I wished that it would come in style so I could just "follow the crowd." And I wished that I would be cast in a play that would require me to do it.

I wished and wished for "an excuse," and since I never found one, I never did anything about it.

Over the years, the subject would come up and I would think about it again. In college, I had a friend whose roommate buzzed her hair. I admired her so much--but she was thin and pretty and could get away with it, I reasoned.

And I remember in our 20s when my brother shaved his head--I told him how I wanted to do it, too, and he said I should. But, he's a boy--it's nothing unusual for a man to do it. Besides, he's always been a little rebellious.

In my 20s, my hair started thinning pretty noticeably and I was worried about it (seems contradictory, doesn't it?). I was at the hairdresser one time and she was telling me how she had recommended to someone that they shave their baby's head in order to bring in the hair faster. I asked her if that would work for me and she said it wouldn't, but the seed was planted and I had this notion in the back of my mind--another reason to go through with it if I ever had the guts.

Then in my late thirties I made a life changing decision... [more]