10 things to know before shaving your head

So you want to shave your head? WELL I SAY GO FOR IT! I recently shaved my head for the 2nd time in my life and if I’m honest (if you feel comfortable to do so) a womXn should shave her head at least once in her life. Why? We’ve been brought up from a very young age to believe long hair is a main attribute to acceptable femininity and beauty.

If it’s short you would get things like this

“she must be going through a phase.”

“Oh no you look like a boy! Girls should have long hair!”

Your value shouldn’t increase or decrease despite how much hair you have on your head, which is why I love making posts like this for my self care diaries column, time to break down age old values. By having this in your mind, it might help you (if you do decide to get the cut) to know that you’re still amazing and fantastic. You’re you…just with less hair.

Shaving your head is quite liberating, it felt like I was stepping away from what I was meant to look like as a black womxn and making my own rules.

I just want you to know a few things before you get the buzz through this post. It’s your experience. Embrace it 😄

1. You will get stared at. For positive and negative reasons, some people will come up to you and compliment you, whereas others will just badly stare. Regardless, just know your inner bad-ass isn’t doing this for anyone’s validation and keep your head held high *flips non-existent hair*
2. People will want to touch your head…people touching your hair was bad enough, especially if they didn’t ask. Yet, when your head is shaved, if it’s as low as mine, that’s your scalp, it feels soooo weird. Like damn, I’m not a genie lamp…
3. You’ll notice your face more (depending on the type of hair you have) it can hide some of your face and make you look completely different. However, now that your head is shaved, it literally accentuates everything.
4. Can you handle the possibility it might not look good on you? If you can get around Photoshop pretty well, maybe you could Photoshop some hair off to get a slight preview. There is a 50/50 chance you won’t like it. There’s always wigs if you really really don’t like it…
5. Are you following any baldie social medias? E.g. @baldierevolution you’ll see a lot of other bald womXn providing you a good support group, different types of hair cuts as well as their own merch and blog posts. It’s a beautiful community.
6. Can you get your hands on your own pair of clippers? When I shaved my head the first time I heard a story from the other guys in the barbershop that some barbers don’t clean their clippers which can lead to all types of infections….Lovely….I really recommend buying your own and cleaning it yourself when you go every time. I’m sure there are really good barbers out there that take the best care with their products but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
7. Would you feel comfortable in a male barbershop? There aren’t any womXn in my area that can cut hair, very rarely there will be another woman getting her hair cut. When I walk in I get a lot of stares, nobody says anything bad but it’s clear what they’re thinking lool. If something like this would bother you, maybe call the barber shop and ask if they can do private appointments.
8. Can you look after it? Yes, it’s short and needs the least maintenance than any other style however it still needs TLC. I made a video on my channel about my mini-routine check it out here I love to use Cantu leave in conditioner and hair gel with a curling sponge to define and moisturise my hair, then I brush the sides where there’s a fade. Simple but necessary, even though it’s really low you still need to brush it a little. You will also have a lot more hair appointments with your barber than you did with your hairdresser, hair growth is so much more noticeable when it’s shorter. I go every fortnight, it might be more or less for you. Find your groove.
9. Have you got healthy natural (not dyed etc) hair? Maybe donate it to charity before cutting it off? Check out some charities here that would love your donation
10. Understand you’re the bomb.com before those clippers touch your head. Visualise the badass you are before and the badass you’ll still be after. Be fearless 👏🏾

And that concludes this blog post! I really hope you guys liked it and maybe someone out there is a step closer to those clippers 😀 whatever you decide know you look amazing inside and out. Comment down below what your favourite hairstyle is. Have a great day you fabulous angel x