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My wife Ann has been cutting my hair for 30 or 40 years, ever since she got a book titled “How to cut your own or anybody else’s hair.” It used to result in a great mass of brown hair on the kitchen floor. Now it results in a pathetic few wisps of gray/white hair on the floor. Oh well...I’m not bald yet!

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My hair naturally dreadlocked when I was in my early 20s. It had been curly and frizzy before when I let it grow, but then one day I noticed a little clump. I decided to let it go, and the next thing I knew it was becoming dreads.

That lasted for at least a couple of years. Then I decided that, for me, dreadlocks aren't just a fashion statement. For me, dreadlocks are about Rastafari, and I'm not a Rasta, so I cut them all off. It's grown out as much many times since then but never dreaded again.

Seriously makes me wonder what that'd look like now almost 30 years later if I hadn't cut them off. That, and it also makes me really want to know what all is in my DNA since, from what I understand, only certain kinds of hair will naturally dreadlock.

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Oct 19, 2022Liked by Hal Walker

While recovering from an illness that devastated my nervous system, I lost 20 lbs of weight I didn't need to lose and ended up at 88 lbs. My hair stopped growing along with other body functions nearly shutting down. There wasn't enough hair on my legs or in my armpits to shave and all the pesky maintenance tasks such as plucking eyebrows and tweezing rogue hairs from the mole on my face, chin or around my nipples became unnecessary. The hair on my head was thinning from lack of new growth but that wasn't as much a concern as was the overall lack of growth. It was alarming and creepy that my body could no longer grow hair. I threw out all my razors. Fast forward three years and a lot of healing, my weight has returned to normal and my lower legs are covered in a shiny peach fuzzy softness of hair that has also returned to those pesky places. Each morning when I put on my socks, I take a moment to stroke the hair on my legs with gratitude and when I brush the hair on my head, I give thanks for the return to fullness.

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Oct 19, 2022Liked by Hal Walker

I’m transgender and have always had to keep my hair short in order to pass as male. Now that I look and sound more like how I feel, I can afford to grow my hair out a bit more in between cuts. Out of sheer habit, though, I always show my barber a picture of Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks when I do get my hair cut. Works like a charm!

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I was a natural redhead. As a child, I hated my hair colour and wished it was the same colour as everyone else's – brown or blond or black – so I didn't stand out. I used to ask my mother if I could dye it and, when I was about six, I vowed I'd spend my first pay packet at the hairdresser's. Over time, I realised it wasn't so much the colour that I hated, but the fair skin and freckles that came with it. Worst of all was the belief that redheads had fiery tempers, which was brought up whenever I got angry, even though my blonde-haired sister and brown-haired brother got just as angry as I did. My grandmother, Edna, had red hair and a notorious temper, so I was called 'Lil' Edna,' which really ground my gears and made me even angrier.

Funnily enough, when I was in my mid-forties I dyed my hair for the first time – back to its original red, because I was losing the colour. I grieve a little that I'm no longer a true redhead.

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Oct 19, 2022Liked by Hal Walker

After having long hair for most of my life, when I was 35 I decided I wanted to shave my head. I had the desire periodically, but being a young woman very identified with her looks, I’d quickly attached to my hair and never followed through. Until one day I simply decided and asked my friend to shave my head. We cut the braid off of my long pretty blonde hair. Instantly I could feel energy releasing from my body, my friend could actually see it leaving my body. It’s amazing how much energy our hair holds. After cutting the braid we realized we did not have clippers. She Started chopping it off with scissors. At a certain point I couldn’t bear it anymore and stopped her. It looked horrible. A butchered haircut - chin length in the front and chopped nearly to my scalp in the back. A bad punk rock hairdo at best. I went three weeks like this until I serendipitously ended up at a Buddhist retreat center where a friend had clippers and finally finished the job. Of course it was much easier to be at a Buddhist retreat center with a shaved head. It was liberating, and it was challenging to my ideas of femininity. It was interesting how it actually upset some people. I highly recommend the experience if you’re thinking about it. Everyone I’ve ever seen that has shaved their head - there is a raw essence and beauty that is somehow easier to see without the hair.

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I cut all mine off during the pandemic after being separated from people (and therefore any influence other than my own thoughts) and my first reaction, for the first time in my life, was "there she is".

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When I was 37, I decided to stop dying my hair to hide the silver. At 41, I died it hot pink for the first time, because it looks rad on silver hair. At 42, I did a side buzz to embrace more of my masc side. My journey has been one of letting go of beauty standards and expressing myself more fully.

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Oct 18, 2022Liked by Hal Walker

In my 30s and 40s I was a hair farmer. I would grow my hair until I had 10-12 inches to spare, then cut it off for Locks of Love. Then I’d grow it again. Over and over. Until I had too many gray hairs. Now I just shave my head each solstice.

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Growing up, I had two grandfathers. On my mom's side was Papa Trostrud. We called him "Papa T." On my dad's side was "Grandad." Neither of my grandfather's approved of my long hair. When I visited them, I would pull my hair back tight into a ponytail and tuck the ponytail into my shirt. I wish I could go back and have a conversation with Papa T and Grandad. I wonder if they had any good hair stories to tell.

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