I shaved my hair and became an invisible woman

Two weeks after giving birth, exhausted and overwhelmed, I decided to shave my hair to save time and to escape the idealisation that surrounded new motherhood. I asked a barber for a number-two buzz cut; the change took minutes and left me euphoric.

Within days the mood had shifted. People stopped stopping to help, I felt invisible at counters and on public stairs, and dropping that single marker of femininity altered how strangers treated me. I found myself envying other women’s hair and felt my cut had made me a monster; there are no pictures of me as a true baldie.

My hair eventually grew back and I now wear it long, but that brief period of being ignored offered a stark glimpse of how appearance alone can lead to exclusion or fear. The experience lingered as a reminder of how quickly social responses can change.

shaved my hair, number-two buzz cut, new motherhood, postpartum, barber, invisible woman, social exclusion, appearance, public stairs, envying other women