Walking down the street one day in 2006 a stranger suddenly ran across the road yelling at me to stop. In her hand she was waving a $50 bank note and strongly insisted that I take it. That very same evening, eating out at a local restaurant with my husband, another stranger came over to our table brandishing a check book and asked who she should make her $100 check payable to. Wow I thought, the power of hair… or should I say, wow the power of no hair…

Let’s backtrack a few years…

In 1999 John Bender and Enda McDonnell decide to celebrate their good fortune in business by giving back to the community.

Over a few pints of Guinness at their local pub they come up with a plan to shave their heads to raise funds for childhood cancer.

On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th, 2000, the St. Baldrick’s event is born.

That day, at Jim Brady’s Irish pub in Manhattan, 19 volunteers have their heads shaved and $104,000 is raised for charity as people flock to watch the spectacle.

The following year St. Baldrick’s raises $140,000 and John and Enda begin making plans to expand their event.

Since then, every year on March 17th, in pubs, restaurants, schools, churches, parks, and anywhere willing to host the event, people queue to have their heads shaved to raise money for St. Baldrick’s.

And in 2006 I was one of those people who volunteered to go bald! My effort alone for flashing a bare scalp raised $36,000. Wow the power of (no) hair!

Hair is a protein primarily composed of alpha-keratin and is one of the defining characteristics of mammals. Hairstyles vary widely across cultures, and often indicate a person’s personal beliefs, social position, gender or religion.

From a spiritual perspective in the Rastafarian faith long hair is meant to mirror the lion’s mane and is proof of devotion. For Hindus and Buddhists, shaving one’s head is respected as a surrendering of worldly gifts so that one can concentrate on the eternal.

In the Old Testament, Samson letting his hair grow was an oath to God, which provided him power and strength… that is until Delilah sneakily cut it short.

Personally, I never really understood the attachment to hair, for me it was just another accessary, sometimes I grew it longer, sometimes I had it styled shorter. But I was very aware that for most people, hair is extremely important to their sense of self. Friends of mine spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars every year having their hair ‘done’.

And so, in an act of spiritual activism, or if you prefer, down-right stubbornness, I decided to go bald. I wanted to express that appearance is not a representation of who we truly are, that our bodies are an outfit meant primarily to host our soul as it travels through this lifetime and that here in this physical realm, hair is only meant to keep us warm!

During the chilly weeks that followed my head shave. I noticed how people treated me differently. And I further realized how ridiculous our western concept of beauty tends to be. I noticed how people, especially men, would turn their gaze away, how people would avoid being seen with me. I noticed how young children would stare mouth agape, but there was also a positive effect in that, if someone misconceived my baldness as being due to illness they would become very kind and considerate.

After my balding, I kept my hair shaved close until recently, preferring a five-minute number one buzz cut at the local barbers than the wasted hours sat in the hair salon. I felt a freedom and liberation from hair styling, washing, conditioning, combing. And I enjoyed always being ‘hair ready’.

I also felt a freedom and liberation from societal expectation on how a woman should wear her hair and it was only recently that I decided to grow it long again. After 14 years of maintaining a very short do I was quite surprised to see how grey I’ve become!

I like my hair; I’ve never disliked it, and I’m enjoying wearing it longer even in its greyness. I hope people see it as another form of activism around societal expectation, a less traditional style for women of my age.

In any event, if I decide to cut it again in the future, my intention is to donate its length to Locks of Love, a charity that helps return a sense of self, confidence, and normalcy to children suffering from hair loss.

So, if you’re wondering why I’m sharing this story, it’s because I choose to believe that on the inside, in that place where the soul resides, we are all beautiful, no matter how we look. And I hope to offer a sense of freedom and liberation in however you choose to wear your hair even if you have none.

Hair is an accessary to the outfit of life, bald or otherwise, we are all the same on the inside.

You may be interested to know that by 2023, the St. Baldrick’s event had raised over $352 million dollars.

Now that’s some powerful hair, no hair!

Feel inspired to go bald? Check out St. Baldrick’s.
Already have long hair and looking to cut it short? Check out Locks of Love.