Why You Should Cut Your Hair During Social Isolation

The overwhelming restlessness that has been stirred up by isolation has reduced me to pure impulse. When I want to rearrange my closet, I do. When I want to snack, I do. When I binge-watch “Baby” on Netflix and watch Alice Pagani play ‘Ludovica’, who sports a chin length black bob with short bangs, and then I see my blue craft scissors, I think Fine. I’ll bite. 

“Gone Girl” gif via

My Roommate Trimming My Hair

And maybe I don’t really feel any reaction when I see my own face, prominently displayed at the top of the screen. In Zoom discussion, on FaceTime, and over Instagram, why is the temptation to constantly be checking out your own face so magnetic? I think that the more I look and my own face is reflected in the black mirror of a dark laptop screen, the more I want to change it. 

So, whatever.

I cut five inch chunks from my hair. And then, immediately call in my lovely enabling roommate to straighten the edge and uniform the length. We sit on the floor in front of my mirror, black hair forming a circle around us, and laugh. She tells me that she once cut her friend’s hair with small scissors in her high school’s bathroom. 

This is a time honored tradition. Perhaps because it feels good to do something and immediately see tangible results. Perhaps because it makes you feel like a new person, when all other modes of expressing yourself have been taken away. Perhaps it is about bodily control in an uncertain time. I say that you should go ahead and cut your hair. After all, it will grow back. And all we have is time. 

Featured image via Alice Pagani’s Instagram