Pride month and a good therapy session have me thinking about my hair, and having long hair as someone who grew up male and is still perceived as a man in public.
I grew out my hair in two stages, both on accident - in my teens when I just went without a hair cut for a long while for no particular reason and realized I liked my newfound curly mop, and during the pandemic when it actually became shoulder length and long enough to tie up, and I liked it even more.
And the whole time and still now, I'm met with snide comments from family, acquaintances, family of friends, who honestly seem to think it's completely natural for them to have a say in what I do with my hair, and are aghast that I would be annoyed with them for it.
"When are you going to cut it?" (not "are you" which is a bit annoying in itself, but "when are you")
"Aren't you hot in this weather? / Wouldn't you feel lighter without it?" (not something they would ask women, who I'm sure get similarly annoying remarks about having short hair or exercising any bodily autonomy)
"We miss seeing your forehead" (an especially baffling one)
Of course this whole thing is rooted in transphobia, and people letting themselves become tools to pressure others into strict gender presentations.
But what I want to say now, is that I love my hair, and I love your hair. Whatever you're doing with it, you look rad as hell. Get weird with it. It's yours and yours alone.
