Why do some women shave their heads?

[jera]

I've read in various threads that several members are growing their hair out after having shaved their heads. :confused:

Why would a woman shave her head in the first place? I've given myself a couple of bad haircuts in the past, but no matter how bad things have been, I've never been tempted to shave my head. :p

And if you're a woman who has shaved her head, what made you decide to grow it back out. Just curious about this. :)

[Roseate]

I shaved my head for the same reason I grew my hair long: to see what it looked like! I've had every length of hair from none to waist, and soon longer. Why not? :)

[wintersun99]

Well, when you have one too many run-ins with bleach, you may end up with mushy, fried, or unsalvageable hair. Sometimes it's worth it just to start fresh.

ETA: I didn't shave my head, but I did opt for a short pixie (about 1.5") to remove damage and start fresh. I choose to grow it back because long, healthy hair was always the goal, the pixie just a bump in the road.

[jojo]

Ive never shaved my head but I admire those who do. I suppose its done for a fresh start and I would imagine its very liberating too.

[Morningglory]

:) Okay, so I have not shaved my own head before but, you asked and I do know of someone who did.

So, my sister had a live in nanny. One morning she came down to the kitchen to find her nanny had shaved her head bald with a razor.:shocked:

My sister then asked her as to why she had done this in the middle of the night? Her answer was simple. " I can smell the flowers better now"!:flower:

[ravenreed]

I have had a few friends who have either shaved it all off or gone very, very short. It's cute... why not? I am not tempted but I have a really round face and I don't think it would look good on me.

[ecologystudent]

I didn't shave, but I did go down (up?) to an inch. I did so partly because my mom didn't want me to (:P), but also because it was easier to care for, cooler for playing sports (in upwards of 90 degree weather), and because I wanted to see what it was like. I really enjoyed it for a while.

[ale]

I shaved my head for the same reason I grew my hair long: to see what it looked like! I've had every length of hair from none to waist, and soon longer. Why not? :)

My thoughts exactly! I never shaved my head (and I'm not a woman as well) but I think the reasons are quite the same, with the obviuos differences.
Some choose to go towards an extreme, that is super long hair, and some choose the other extreme. Personal likes, personal taste!

[FallenAngel]

I know quite a few who has shaved their heads just because they wanted to. Males and females. Don't think it's a big deal.

Was almost a shaved punk myself, but I stopped at the mohawk... I thought I would be "ugly" without hair. (Of course the mohawk made me look like a doll! :D)

[enfys]

One of my friends did it just to see what it was like, but her dad said "Oh good, you looked stupid with hair!" Haha!!! Now it's to her waist and the thickest, blackest Spanishest hair in the world.

I'd maybe be tempted by a buzzcut if my ears didn't stick out. And if it wouldn't take years and years and years to grow back. It doesn't help that they feel so nice to rub your hand over, and I imagine it feels equally fuzy and soft on your scalp?

Short of losing my hair to chemo I guess I'll never know.

[edensapples]

I shaved my head in high school to be a rebel and push the boundaries of what was deemed "acceptable" by society - I went from shoulder length virgin hair to nothing, in one night!

I liked the feeling so much I did it again a couple of years later too :)

[manderly]

My friend shaved her heard in highschool, but she was always adventurous with her hair, constantly dying it different exciting colors.

Before starting college, I suddenly had an epiphany that my hair (which I always had the same, shoulder length style) GROWS, so I'm allowed to play with it. I had my stylist cut it into a very angular bob, where the front hit my chin and the back went up high to about ear height and was shaved down to my neck. I had her bleach out 2 large chunks in the front and dye them bright red.

It was liberating. It wasn't completely shaved, but about 1/3 shaved and completely different how I ever had my hair.

[jera]

My thoughts exactly! I never shaved my head (and I'm not a woman as well) but I think the reasons are quite the same, with the obviuos differences.
Some choose to go towards an extreme, that is super long hair, and some choose the other extreme. Personal likes, personal taste!

ale your hair is bellisimo. :) I think I'd actually weep if you shaved your head.

[Pegasus Marsters]

Maybe they just feel like it? There's no reason NOT to shave your hair, other than ridiculous gender stereotypes.

Every woman I have ever seen with a shaved head I thought was VERY beautiful. Without hair to hide behind you can really see their features and bone structure. I personally find bald women very beautiful. :)

Why do you grow your hair long? If the answer is "Because I wanted to" Then you'll probably find that women who shave their hair have the exact same answer to your question.

[Tap Dancer]

:) Okay, so I have not shaved my own head before but, you asked and I do know of someone who did.

So, my sister had a live in nanny. One morning she came down to the kitchen to find her nanny had shaved her head bald with a razor.:shocked:

My sister then asked her as to why she had done this in the middle of the night? Her answer was simple. " I can smell the flowers better now"!:flower:

What does that mean? :confused:

[spidermom]

My niece shaved her head when she was 13 because "my mom grabbed me by the hair and dragged me down the stairs. Now she has nothing to grab." Her mom denied it.

[Peregrine]

I didn't shave my head all the way, but I did cut it to fingerwidth length. I would have shaved it but at the time I was in the middle of the woods with no electric shaver (I did it myself with scissors). It was partly because I had dry straw-like hair and partly because it was something I hadn't done before.

That and everyone I had talked to about the idea (namely family) said "DON'T DO IT!!:blueeek:" Really they don't know me at all.

[Aisha25]

What does that mean? :confused:
Im wondering the same thing??:confused:

[viking_quest]

I was going to shave my head just to see what it would look like but my mother wouldn't let me, and I'm glad she intervened.

[dearladydisdain]

I've thought about it, but it doesn't really go with my style. I think it would be cool to start from scratch, though. Also I have a weird head :p so that definitely stops me from doing it.

[Anje]

I haven't, but I have two female friends who did while I knew them. One was an identical twin and in high school her sister "B" had some of the most gorgeous classic-length blond hair I've ever seen. I imagine being a twin had something to do with "L" shaving her head, and they were definitely easier to tell apart. L then dyed her fuzz magenta, and B had the last few inches of her hair dipped in the same color.

Both the women who shaved their heads that I knew were fun people who purposefully did not conform. And they both loved the ease of caring for it while they maintained it at less than an inch.

It has tempted me, too, but I know I wouldn't look good with my head buzzed. Heck, shoulder length isn't even a good look for me -- long hair is much more flattering for me, and while I don't care much about conforming, I do want to look good as I express my individuality.

[Chromis]

My head was shaved for surgery.

[Eireann]

I've never shaved my head, but I have had it very short at different points over the years. The shortest ever was a pixie cut "trim" gone bad (when your hair is only an inch and a half long to start with, there's just not that much margin for error!) I doubt my hair was even 1/4 of an inch long. The stylist actually didn't charge me because she felt so bad, but I thought it was kind of cute, and it grew out pretty fast to where it looked just like a regular pixie cut. I looooove the feel of very short hair. It is so light and easy! I definitely prefer the way long hair looks on me, but I prefer the way short hair feels. If I could get away with it, I would consider shaving my head to see what it felt like, but I can't (conservative job, hair obsessed DH).

[Peter]

I don't think this question is very different from asking why some men grow their hair long.

I imagine that many of them just do it because they want to. :) Enough said.

[Morningglory]

What does that mean????

Well, I was simply telling the story of someone who did shave her head and her reason why.

She said "I can smell the flowers better now"!

Is this the question? What does that mean? One would want to ponder...

...She felt as though it was a freeing experience for her, as though her senses had been awakened.

She was going deep with it in thought.

[Teazel]

Funnily enough, I mentioned to a friend the other day that I've wondered what it would be like to be bald. She said she'd shaved hers off once because she lost a bet with her DH. :lol:

There was a shaven-headed girl who worked at a petrol station here, and I used to covertly watch her, fascinated. I thought she looked beautiful, and I wondered about how freeing it would be to simply not have to consider hair all the time: no caring for it, no blowing in your eyes, no feeling grotty on a bad hair day. However, I don't think my features are good enough to successfully carry off a bald head, so I'll stick with my hair while I can. :)

Fair play to the women who do proudly sport a shaven head, though, whatever their reasons. They rock. :rockerdud

[Tap Dancer]

Well, I was simply telling the story of someone who did shave her head and her reason why.

She said "I can smell the flowers better now"!

Is this the question? What does that mean? One would want to ponder...

...She felt as though it was a freeing experience for her, as though her senses had been awakened.

She was going deep with it in thought.

I was just confused about the reply. "I can smell the flowers better now!" is a strange thing to say when asked why she shaved her head. I'm still very confused. LOL

[Morningglory]

:p Yes, I agree it was an unusual answer, a little funny to me.

She was serious and I have pondered it myself many times.

Oh, she was on a spiritual journey of some sort too.

Does that clear it up?

[Helen Baq]

I clipped my hair down to half an inch to even it all out from a mohawk. It felt great and I loved it for that, but I have a pointy head, so it didn't look so great.

[spidermom]

I was at a yoga training camp years ago, and one of the young women in my group shaved her head because the spiritual leader of the camp told her to. He said she was too vain about her hair. She agreed.

[chrissy-b]

I did it the first few times because I felt like doing it. No special reason.

Then I did it again when my hair was BSL the day after my best friend died of cancer. Her husband, two other friends and myself all did.

[Roseate]

Well, I was simply telling the story of someone who did shave her head and her reason why.

She said "I can smell the flowers better now"!

Is this the question? What does that mean? One would want to ponder...

...She felt as though it was a freeing experience for her, as though her senses had been awakened.

She was going deep with it in thought.

See, I guess I am just not very deep. I thought she meant she could smell the flowers better, because her hair was not in the way when she bent over to smell them! :D

[Arctic_Mama]

I've never understood why someone would shave their head, any more than why someone would grow it long... I've never understood because the reasons are varied and personal to each who does it!

I would shave my head to see what happens except it would look terrible on me - I already hate updos because I can see just how fat my face is (currently trying to lose about 100 pounds) and it makes me self conscious, so shaving would be like streaking nekkid through the street. But in some sense I WISH I were brave enough to just *do* it, and not care what others think.

It's an experiment, and a liberating one at that. I can totally 'get' why someone would feel it is an interesting or even necessary thing to do, just like growing hair long may be necessary to that person's self image at the time.

[jahof45]

I didn't shave it completely but I injured my back and need DH to help with showers so I had a stylist cut it into a very, very short pixie. I loved it for the ease of care too. Jump in the shower, wash hair, slap in so Mudd and go. It looked like hell on me but it sure was easy to live with and gave me the chance to begin again with virgin hair after 20+ years of dye.

[PrliamntofRooks]

A friend of mine had almost BSL-length when she shaved her hair. She did it because her neice was diagnosed with Leukemia, and she told people at work that she would shave herself bald for $1000 in donations for cancer research. She had the donations in less than 3 days, and her managers arranged for a whole staff meeting to watch her being shaved. They have since become corporate sponsors for a cancer charity.:love:

[RancheroTheBee]

I did it for lots of reasons.

1. Raised money for cancer research.

2. I was grieving over a death.

3. My hair was falling out in chunks anyway from bleaching it, so I decided, eh, why not.

I can't say it didn't come with its share of problems. Like the dental hygienist who treated me rudely because she thought I was a Neo-Nazi. The cold looks from people.

That said, I got a lot of positive reactions from people like the elderly and small children, the last people I would have expected to accept it so easily.

Typical old-person reaction: "Well, that's nice. You must save a lot of money on shampoo."

Typical little-kid reaction: "Did that hurt?"

[ratgirldjh]

i used to regularly cut my hair with clippers to either a 1/2 inch long or 1 inch long. i loved it short like that and so did my husband.
now that my husband is gone and i have a bf - he did NOT like me cutting my hair so short - so i started growing it - and i love it! i had long hair before too - but just got started cutting it off for some reason...

[jera]

Funnily enough, I mentioned to a friend the other day that I've wondered what it would be like to be bald. She said she'd shaved hers off once because she lost a bet with her DH. :lol:

There was a shaven-headed girl who worked at a petrol station here, and I used to covertly watch her, fascinated. I thought she looked beautiful, and I wondered about how freeing it would be to simply not have to consider hair all the time: no caring for it, no blowing in your eyes, no feeling grotty on a bad hair day. However, I don't think my features are good enough to successfully carry off a bald head, so I'll stick with my hair while I can. :)

Fair play to the women who do proudly sport a shaven head, though, whatever their reasons. They rock. :rockerdud

True, but a bald head would get very cold in the wintertime. :p I guess I agree with the consensus of opinion that long hair is a gift and not a burden. Just my personal feeling. Those who shave their heads for kids who have cancer are awesome.

[JessTheMess]

I always wanted to shave my head. I still joke about it now and then. I would love to start from scratch and grow all virgin hair. I think that I would look so wierd though, my neck is long and thin, and I have a wierd head.:rolleyes: I find most women that I have seen with shaved heads beautiful, I wish I had the guts to do it.

[Suldrun]

I have never shaved all my head but I shaved 1/2 in HS just for fun. My friend did it and I only vaguely remember it actually happening..I think alchohol was involved lol.

I did cut it very very short in 2004. I cut off all my blonde.I have naturally dark brown hair. It actually was not supposed to be that short but the first hair dressor gave me a horrible mullet :( I went somewhere else and she cut off the back and fixed it into a cuter pixie..I was shocked because I had never had my hair that short but I did grow to like it actually. people at work did double takes though because it had been shoulder length and blonde lol.

I kinda wish now I had shaved it...it would have been neat to see what I looked like. After all this waiting and Monistate I dont think I will shave it anytime soon :)

[rapunzhell13]

I've done it twice. Why? Just because. People either loved it or hated it, but most people loved it and said I had the face to pull it off. Most importantly though, I loved it.

[BlackfootHair]

I was dying my hair twice a week. I couldn't make up my mind and I was seriously disturbed. I was taking out my frustrations on my hair. I had a lot of crap going on in my personal life and was very uneased.

I was tired of coloring my hair so much but couldn't stop. I didn't realize until later that it wasn't the color on the box I wanted but the long hair. But either way I couldn't stop coloring it.

Finally one night I lightened it, dyed it with a light brown, that didn't turn out so I dyed it with the plum color I had. It ended up turning bright pinkish red. I was so sick of my hair. I could have dyed it dark brown since I had that, but was tired of all the coloring, waiting, rinsing and drying. My hair was still in fairly good condition after all that...but I was just sick to death of all the dying. SO....I shaved it.

It felt so damned liberating.

I broke the cycle. I had nothing left to color. I wore wigs till it grew long enough to look okay without one. It was maybe an inch all around. I had so many women tell me they loved my hair cut and it looked so cute...blah blah blah. I thought it was so bizarre!

I've since grown it out, colored it again, bleached it till I had to chop it all off and now am back to healthy non bleached hair. I still color it, but it's nothing like it was.

[saxgirl]

I've never shaved my head, but when I was bald while going through chemo a friend of mine did. I don't really understand why people do that, because it just made me feel sad that she shaved her head. I know she did it because she felt it would be some kind of support, and I would never tell her that it just made me feel bad. I liked it better when everyone would wear a do-rag or a hat depending on what I was wearing that day (I never did wigs). That was kind of fun and was actually quite supportive.

I did jokingly tell my friend that she was taking away all of the extra attention I got as a cancer patient by trying to look like another cancer patient. I didn't want to tell her that if she ever shaved her head again I would bonk her on her bald head, but it is what I wanted to say. The second time I lost my hair, she didn't shave her head.

[Pegasus Marsters]

True, but a bald head would get very cold in the wintertime.

But you could wear a hat without hat hair, and without a bun getting in the way! :silly:

[SHELIAANN1969]

I have had some pretty short haircuts, about 3 inches or less. But I have never completely shaved it all off.

My mother on the other hand would shear her locks off about 2 or 3 times a year, she loved it, she had a mind all her own and nobody could ever change it once she had it set to do something! :D

[lilmisspicky126]

I shaved my head because, believe it or not, a haircut can indeed be that bad. It was slightly traumatic, but an interesting experience. I would do it again.

The most beautiful woman I have ever seen had a buzzed head, it can be just as beautiful as long hair.

[Chromis]

But you could wear a hat without hat hair, and without a bun getting in the way! :silly:

Heh, my hats didn't fit fit right when my head was shaved! Warm woolly ones kept sliding off. I dunno how bald guys pull it off, I must have a conehead or something :lol:

[Alun]

Maybe to be unconventional?

I can't say I really like the look, though, except on Sinead O'Connor. Perhaps there is something about her that reminds me of an imp or a pixie? She has this appealing waif like quality that I don't think she'd have with long hair.

The only guy that I honestly think looked good with a shaved head was a lawyer I used to work with, and I never saw him with hair. Maybe he was just too handsome with hair, so he had to shave it off to be fair to the rest of us guys. I suspect that the more prosaic reason is that he was probably bald on top anyway. Most of them seem to be.

[Ash]

I wanted to. ;) Right before I shaved my head, I had chin length bangs and about 1 inch spiky hair everywhere else. I was fed up with the way my hair looked with a hair net at work, it looked quite ridiculous and I had gone from waist length to very short in 2 months with a couple of cuts so I figured going even shorter would not make any difference. Also it was symbolic of getting rid of the crappiness of my past and starting over. I handed the clippers to my SO and asked him to buzz my head. I enjoyed having a shaved head, it was really easy to take care of.

[vampodrama]

well, I was bored and the clippers were in handreach so.... it sorta made perfect sense.

I don't get the panic that surrounds shaving one's head. we shave the majority of our bodies these days, don't we?

[Elbereth]

Because I liked it, how it looked and how it felt. It was also super easy to care for and wonderfully cool in the summer. I shaved my head for a couple of times (at most, from shoulder length). It was an enjoyable experience.

When I had shaved head, I knew one day I would want to go to the other end and grow my hair extra long. Then, one day I decided that the time to start growing had come. Since that day, I have kept on growing and now I have hip length hair.:D

[Finoriel]

Why do some women shave their heads?
:shrug: Why not? I think it can look quite fantastic and if they like it, why not?
I did not exactly shave my head, but I kept it very very short for some years. With no other reason for it than just plain liking it on me at that time.

Why grow out the hair again?
:shrug: Why not? :wink: Preferences can change or sometimes it´s just time to try something else and change styles. It´s not that one would be required to either choose long or short and never switch between those styles. It is possible to like both. :wink:

[LutraLutra]

Because I'm vain :p and I know that I look best when I look unusual.

I loved having a very short pixie (about 1/2 an inch at its shortest). It made me look and feel very s*xy. They say that most men like women with longer hair, and that's true, but believe me the guys who like really short hair on a woman, well they really love it including my partner at the time.

This might sound strange, but I think that having long hair will feel the same way that having short hair does. There's some drama to it, some level of display.

What I'm finding difficult right now is having mid lengh hair, it makes me feel bland, I don't feel like I'm 'wearing' my hair, it's just kind of something that's sitting on my head. I can't wait until I can rock a french braid or a bun held with a stick. I like glamour, and to be very honest, I like the attention that glamour brings.

[ilovelonghair]

One of my friends shaves her head (well not really completely shaven, stubbly I should say) because she likes the look and feel of it (and it's cool in summer). I don't have the heart to tell her it doesn't suit her :(. She already has this style for years.

[longhairedfairy]

Because I'm vain :p and I know that I look best when I look unusual.
*snip*
What I'm finding difficult right now is having mid lengh hair, it makes me feel bland, I don't feel like I'm 'wearing' my hair, it's just kind of something that's sitting on my head. I can't wait until I can rock a french braid or a bun held with a stick. I like glamour, and to be very honest, I like the attention that glamour brings.

Well, your hair might be long enough to do a bunch of little twists/buns all over your head with smaller hairsticks. It would look unusual and I think it could be really cute.

[Fethenwen]

here's an article about the subject :)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/6375683.stm

I really do admire women who have the guts to shave their heads, I'm quite surprised that so many of you have done this!

I would never do it myself, I think I would look absolutely awful, I don't have the right shape of head nor the looks to pull it off. I think that a shaved head suits women the best who has high cheekbones and a little pointy chin.

[crystal_89]

I guess they do it to try it. I think about shaving my head one day, just to see how I would look, if I could pull it off. I'm not sure I could, though. I think I would be scared that my head might be oddly shaped underneath all that hair and that my ears will stick out. And then if I did shave my head, or just cut it short, I would probably get bored after a few days and want longer hair again, and I would be very impatient about growing it out again.

[Dreams_in_Pink]

I didn't shave it, but did something very similar.

I just grabbed scissors and chopped off, like, 15+ inches of hair...

I seriously have no idea why i did it, neither did i ever think about it. I decided to do it after 2 minutes of consideration and then my mind blacked out XD I did feel better right after the haircut (but now i almost regret it :/ )

[ravenreed]

One of my girlfriends who is drop dead sexy has super short hair. It is just long enough to french braid if she clips the wispies down. She has black hair with two purple streaks, she puts clips in it, twists it, does awesome stuff with it. I love her hair!

[Bene]

i've never shaved my head, but i've wanted to very very much. the only thing that stopped me was the sheer terror that i have a funny shaped head to go along with my funny shaped body, and i figured my ego couldn't handle that sort of trauma.

but i wanted to because the idea that i could just jump into the shower, and not have to worry about my hair getting wet on days that i have no time to deal with wet hair. and the prospect of just not having to deal with my massive frizz. it seemed like something totally liberating and the freedom was sooooo tempting.

[sneakybea]

I remember reading that the actress Tyne Daly shaved her head when she turned 50 to signify rebirth for the second half of her life. I think that's a beautiful idea---though I'm sure I'd never have the courage to do it myself!

[cynthia.md]

Probably for the same reason we grow ours long.

[Madame J]

I've been tempted to shave my head before, but stopped at a shaggy, grown-out-looking pixie. I wanted to go for a true pixie, but my hairdresser said I was look like a boy. Now, I'm not so sure I always agree with him. For now, I'm in the mood for long hair.

I have informed him that if and when I get tenure as a professor, I'm going to cut it to pixie and dye it pink or purple.

[Flynn]

Because it's completely different, or for charity (we have "shave for a cure" annual thing here. You get sponsors, then you shave your hair and donate the sponsor money -- and sometimes your hair -- to a cancer charity.)

[LadyEliza]

Zoe shaved her head for 30 years. She use to perform and used her head as part of her makeup. Even after she stopped performing it was "her" and she didn't feel right with hair. She is now (at age 53) growing her hair and it's very nice and wavy.

I shaved my head once, bad hair cut + wanting to know what it was like. I loved it, but after I did I didn't cut it again for 10 years and it reached classic length.

[LadyEliza]

Oh, I meant to give you this link

http://www.miss-muffet.org/Zoe/