It Was Just A Haircut
The Transformation
“Each time you try something for the first time you will grow — a little piece of the fear of the unknown is removed and replaced with a sense of empowerment.” Annette White
Braids swinging, pat-patting my back as I walked. That sound, which had been with me all my life, was the only sound-producing element of my being. Quiet timid me who rarely spoke. Never answered questions in class. After-class fun? Forget it. School and back. The quintessential mouse in her hidey-hole.
One morning, of their own volition, (this is the honest truth) my legs wandered into the hairdresser’s salon. Well, what do you do at a hairdressers? I looked at the braids one last time. Saved in my memory bank the the sound they made as they swung side to side. And then, snip-snipity-snip, the braids were gone. In their place was a pageboy cut — short, short hair. I was a free person.
Not so sure though, once I stepped outside. What would my friends say?
“Look, look. Our shy little friend has got a haircut!” said one.
“And not just a simple cut, she chose the latest style,” a second friend added.
Oh what had I done? Wrapped in the throes of agony, I vowed to hide at home till the hair grew back.
Really? And miss six months of study?
Next morning I tied a scarf and left for school — just a short walk from home. A strong morning breeze loosened the scarf. On the busy road it landed, gone forever. Maybe that was symbolic. The wind tousled my hair, now free of the constraining braids and blowing every which way. “You are a modern woman now,” it whispered.
I breezed past the ‘friends’ who had commented on the haircut, on way to math class.
“Hi. Lovely day,” I said. Modern women don’t wait for replies.
The professor posed a question on the blackboard.
“Who will step up and solve it for all to see?” he asked.
Of their own volition (this is the honest truth) my feet walked me to the front of the class.
Step by step, very sure of myself, I solved the problem. Large clear writing. Not the tiny indecipherable scrawl the old me would have written (IF I had stepped up to the board).
“Well done,” the professor cheered. “You have shown us a simpler solution than I was going to present,” he said for all to hear.
After class a couple of students came up to me.
“We didn’t know you are so good at trig.”
I smiled. A modern woman is good at everything.
Who knew just a simple haircut would open up a new and exciting world.
A new me.
