“Have you heard of this whole thing about getting a new haircut for the New Year?” I ask my flatmate in the kitchen. To my surprise she says that she, in fact, is one of the many people who are in on “the whole thing” as she had just got a haircut with a fringe — I just couldn’t see it yet because her hair was wet!
So what is it about fresh starts that coincide with a new haircut? Are people looking for a change? A shift towards something different?
I remember in my mid-teens just about all of the girls in my friend-group got a short haircut and I was about the only one with longer hair — these things seem to sometimes spread in influence. A few years later, one boy in our school musical rocked a buzzcut with leopard print hairspray, and his bravado was outstanding when he was walking through the lunch hall and corridors.
New haircuts may change how we are seen by other people, but it is most significant and meaningful for the individual. It is described as a ‘powerful’ thing to do in many TV and hairdresser advertisements, tempting us to go for it. But hair is just hair, right?
Anyone who watches film and TV will observe that it is a popular symbol of growth to cast a character with different hairstyles between lapses of time, to show just how much they’ve changed since then. Usually, the new haircuts make them look older, more mature, grown into who they are. How many times did J.K Rowling reference Harry Potter’s shaggy black hair or Hermione’s wildly frizzy locks? In media and literature, the construction of a character’s identity takes this core feature of appearance as a reflection of one’s personality.
Just as fictional characters often take scissors to their hair after a significant event happens, such as a graduation or promotion, so too in the real world we see haircuts holding real, meaningful significance for many people. This is not just for younger generations, and the older ones who have tried it will also tell you: hair grows back.
As we pursue New Year’s resolutions, or even just small amounts of something new, it is clear that haircuts enact a much more immediate change than those which take time and patience. The stark difference of “before” and “after” our haircuts with just a few snips shows us that we can change at any time. Just as the clock chimes midnight, we are filled with hope that we can embody the person we envision to be in our minds, the person we want to be. New haircuts help us visualise this. As our hair grows, so do we: constantly becoming new people, with the free will to choose how that happens.If you want to explore your individuality, maybe this is one simple but easy way to do it. Maybe this is your sign. The New Year says, “go for it!”