Katherine Burgstahler ’18 sports trendy bangs.
After noticing a sudden influx of bangs and blondes this week, my mind began drifting to a world of thoughts regarding hair that I never knew existed. “New hair new, new me,” “I feel like a new and improved version of myself,” and “GUYS! It’s me 2.0,” are all remarks that recently resonated throughout all sections of the dining hall. Coincidence? I think not.
The final days of the first month of 2018 have come upon us at an unimaginably fast pace, leading many individuals to ponder how they will actually execute those New Year’s resolutions. Some have even found difficulty in trying to spot the differences between this January and each of the twelve months past. Furthermore, the typically slow and difficult arrival of midterms filled our student body with the same, uncontrollable feelings of stress that they faced last year. The easiest and most spontaneous manner to convert pressure into confidence, you ask? Chop, chop. Yes, that is the sound of a brand new haircut.
Even in different types of media such as television shows or movies, we often see characters changing their look for all kinds of reasons. Whether it be trying to find his or her identity like Quinn Fabray in “Glee” season two, or attempting to show him or herselves under a different light like Sandy in the famous finale of “Grease,” a change in hairstyle is catching on. Slicing off a couple of strands, or inches, of a friend’s hair has even become a normalized event on campus. Within the last two months, for instance, my roommate, Josephine Hong ’19, has given four girls haircuts. She lays an extra large garbage bag on the ground in the dorm hallway, scissors in hand, and asks her (free) student client what kind of change, big or small, they would like to have done. These occasions bring out positive sides of students, who feel as though spontaneously changing their physique is an initial step to confronting the world with a fresh attitude. An important question to raise, however, is whether or not making an impromptu decision to alter the way you look truly eradicates difficult life issues. On this, Natalie Posner ’19 commented, “While a haircut doesn’t resolve any serious problems, it helps me begin the process of trying new things. We all need something unexpected to happen to us once in a while, especially in winter, which tends to get quite boring.”
It’s true that between the substantial period of time that separates our winter and spring breaks, students can occasionally feel the effect of certain cold and gloomy days. By cutting their hair in attempt to experience some exciting and unexpected moments, these students have also made baby steps toward beating the mid-year nerves.
