The Power of Hair

Yesterday, on the first day of the year, I cut my hair. No I didn't do it in honor of a spiritual meaning, it wasn't done because I wanted to follow a trend, and no I didn't do it because I had suffered a chemical mishap and this was the only solution. I did it simply because it was my hair, and I wanted to. Until I saw the effects of the finished product, I never realized how powerful the presence of hair was; suddenly people who never spoke had something to say, and people who ignored me miraculously noticed that I existed. As a woman, I have always been taught that my hair is my crowning glory, so to cut it, was to cut my connection to God. Clearly, I don't believe that now, but at one point in time I did. Ironically, as much as our society strives to deny the presence of God or a higher power, I think the power and effect of  hair has pretty much the same meaning; in a sense anway. For men, hair and lots of it, represents femininity and sex appeal. For women, it represents beauty and makes us more attractive to the opposite sex; how many times have we been told that long hair looks better, or that it's a man's preference. Society has taught us a Black women that "if we can't achieve it, weave it." Stereotypically, short hair has also erroneously been used to characterize us as being lesbian, while on the other end of the spectrum, long hair has been used to define our essence of being a woman. While India Arie proudly declared that we were not out hair, sadly life has demanded that we be defined otherwise, how many times are we scrutinized or judged for the hair we wear, or the styles we choose? At the end of the day, we fight for equality and the right to be judged by our merit; how did we end up being defined by our hair?