Shorn

A picture of me shaving my head that I worked on for the I Am Art zine.

The idea for this came up from a conversation with my co-conspirators Eilidh, Ballari and Claire (and separate conversations with my friends Gi and Chels) where we were talking about hair and how it kind of became a big factor in some of our ideas about our identities. For me, finding out I was going bald was totally crushing, because I’d spent years trying (and failing) to get a hairstyle I really liked, and it’d come before I’d gotten a chance to work up the courage to dye my hair, which seems like such an insignificant issue now. Then, this year, I discovered the wonderful world of tramlines, slits and beard styling. Granted, I’m shite at all three, but I’m learning and getting better at them, and it still lets me mess around with hair as a part of my identity as well.

It’s pure weird that we attach so much value (consciously or otherwise) to hair and hairstyles, to the extent that it can actually affect our perception of other folk and ourselves.