Herbal Essences' New Video Is All About the Liberation of Changing Your Hair
[BLANK_AUDIO] [MUSIC] Changing my hair changed my life. A few years ago, my fiance and I broke up. We were [MUSIC] Three months away from our wedding. And my hair, at that point, was like halfway down my back. Suddenly, the life that I thought I was gonna have, that's not my life anymore. I can see. It's right there. Growing up I was a really big tomboy, and I never really identified with being a girl, or really being a boy either. [INAUDIBLE] I said I hope you are considering auditioning, but you might wanna get a wig or get a weave or something, because your hair might not work for dance theater. I tried to talk to her, but it just went on. You can't have your hair like this. Your hair is too edgy. I didn't really understand at that time the whole perception around hair. I made friends with a lot of young women who were in punk bands. I really wanted to be in that scene. I wanted to be close with them. And the hair Was like bleached, and like your roots are coming out or short and like greasy, so I bleached my whole head so I had long, like almost as long as here, but straight and, because I never liked my curly hair. It was strange I was like "no it looks too Latina". As soon as she was born, I think she was just a few months old. I decided to cut my hair and shave my head. So that when I took my weave out and went natural. Just in case you didn't see, I don't know how people don't see, but I said, I have an afro. Instead of playing punk, I started going to school and I started learning about jazz. When you look at pictures of trumpet players or something like you have a gig, something, he'd be wearing a suit. And I was like, man I wanna put on a suit. I wanna refine my look. I don't wanna be dirty anymore. [LAUGH] I just tie my hair back really tight in a bun and then I put on my makeup. And I wanna look and feel like I cut it like this short. It was like a physical, visible commitment to the change that I was making. And I think it did help other people walk in the truth. And that's what I'm all about. I'm liberating myself so everybody can be free. [MUSIC] Cutting off my hair felt like I was cutting off that past person. That I didn't identify with. [MUSIC] [MUSIC] What I did realise, especially with my parents, was that they finally started to see me for who I was. They were like, you are more comfortable in your own skin. Now this is actually who you are, not that other person that you were trying to be. [MUSIC] I feel like when I have my hair a certain way, when I have a suit on, it's like I can trick them for a second, that there are no roles. [MUSIC] If I can change this much about my life, what else Can I change? You can't love if you don't have the courage. You can't be yourself if you don't have the courage. You can't do anything if you don't have the courage. So be courageous and do you. [MUSIC] [MUSIC]
We all have our reasons for making a drastic hair change. Sometimes it’s what one would call a "breakover," and it happens when you’ve called it quits on a relationship. Or maybe you’ve just always wanted to live the "short hair, don't care" life, and you’ve never worked up enough courage to actually call the salon. Regardless of why you made the switch-up, one thing is for sure—the change can be incredibly liberating.
That’s the idea behind Herbal Essences' new documentary film—change can be really freaking scary, but it can also help you grow and make other changes you’ve always wanted, or needed, to make.
The film features real women sharing their own stories of a moment that seriously impacted their life, and how the hair update they made quickly after it left them feeling positive, true to themselves, and alive. Seriously—try to watch it without tearing up. After ending a relationship, one woman cut her hair into a cropped bob, while another woman, who had long wore her strands straight and platinum, returned to her roots and let her career as a jazz musician inspire her new look. You can watch the entire video above, but maybe grab some tissues. It makes you feel all the feels.
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In coordination with the video, the brand also released statistics of a survey of woman ages 18 to 35, who were asked about the impact of change. Eighty-seven percent of American women who took the survey said they made a significant change to their appearance after a life event. What’s more, a third of the women who took the survey said it would be hard to change their lifestyle without also changing their hair.
So if something is giving you the urge to finally try that Bella Hadid-inspired bob, or shave your head like Kristen Stewart, going with your gut might not be that bad of an idea.
