It Felt Different
She was waiting for the announcement, so she held her breath. It had been a long road to get here. It wasn’t long ago when she thought this wouldn’t be a reality.
She felt everyone’s eyes on her, but it wasn’t a feeling she was used to. She enjoyed it this time and couldn’t believe how much things had changed. There was so much more than just her hair that became unrecognizable.
A Troubled Past
Kira Mason had been a shy and nervous child, and her upbringing had been a strange one. As a child, Kira’s hair grew into fine golden brown locks. Her father loved her hair but often made her feel uncomfortable about it.
It started off as a strange rule. Unfortunately, his obsession with long hair and his weird rules would leave Kira scarred as much as her father’s own childhood had scarred him.
Mistaken For Beauty
Every time Kira thought of cutting her hair, she wasn’t allowed to. Her father’s craze over long hair was rooted in the strange ideals that he was brought up with.
To Allan Mason, long hair was synonymous with beauty. In his own weird way, he felt that not allowing his daughter to cut her was a way of expressing how much he loved her.
Things Changed
As Kira grew, her father was taken from her suddenly. While this finally meant Kira was able to salvage something of a normal childhood, she also missed him greatly.
In many other ways, Allan Mason had been a good man and a loving father. Kira was able to now live a relatively normal life. It was only when she reached her teens that Kira realized just how deep her scars went.
Entangled
Kira’s subconscious issues with her hair and how it correlated with beauty would resurface throughout her life. All she knew at the time was that she constantly experienced different phases.
One was being completely normal. The other was an obsessive need to grow her hair or face intense anxiety about cutting it. She wouldn’t realize until much later that was actually a pattern to when these periods of life affected her most.
The Good Phase
As she neared adulthood, Kira went through a long period of relative peace and happiness. She met a man, fell in love, started a career, and soon fell pregnant.
After giving birth to her first child, Kira began to notice cracks in her relationship. When she unexpectedly fell pregnant again in her early twenties, the worst possible outcome came true.
He Bailed
Her partner at the time, Glen Johnson, up and abandoned her and the kids. Kira was devastated. While happy, she had lived a relatively ordinary life. Now severely depressed, for the first time in her adult life, she began obsessively growing her hair again.
Kira was a beautiful woman, but her depression and the resultant psychological trauma it rekindled was beginning to hide that beauty far away.
A Shining Knight
Kira had pretty much given up on love when Jesse Stevens entered her life. After getting to know each other, Stevens made Kira feel whole again.
He was only ever able to see inner beauty, raised her girls like there were his own, and filled a deep void within Kira. She was in love again, and it soon began to show.
A Period Of Hope
The years passed and Kira was happier than ever. Kira began cutting her hair again, and life was back to normal. One day, out of the blue, Jesse proposed and Kira ecstatically accepted. Kira began growing her hair again.
That’s when her familiar anxiety set in. She found herself obsessing and fearing that Jesse would abandon them as Glen had. Soon after, Kira began growing her hair yet again. This time, her anxiety reached a fever pitch, and she really couldn’t stop.
Things Went Downhill
In a few months, Kira’s secret anxieties left her hair long, overgrown, and more unkempt than ever. The worst part was that with the wedding date getting closer, time was running out to remedy it.
Jesse stayed as understanding as ever and never put any pressure on her, but Kira faced a lot of inner turmoil. She knew she had to do something. Luckily for her, that was when she met another special man.
A Special Team
Living in a gated community, another resident had noticed Kira more than others. Jason was the owner of a sleek, trendy salon and could tell that Kira needed help with her hair.
After hearing her story, Jason assured her that his salon team would help get her ready for the wedding. Jason even went a step further and invited her to take part in a makeover competition where she would get the chance to model on a runway.
The Transformation
Despite all her anxieties, Kira decided to be courageous and take up Jason’s offer. When the big night arrived, Kira had to sit through a 7-hour makeover. When she emerged on the runway, she had been so radically transformed that even Jesse could not recognize her.
Not only was her hair cut, but she also looked amazing and completely stole the show. The night completely changed her life, and she also knew now that she had to seek long-term help.
The Breakthrough
Kira’s amazing transformation showed her that beauty took many forms. She had one of the most wonderful nights of her life and even won the best make-over award at the show.
Kira began regularly seeing a therapist who helped her unpack her childhood issues. They soon made a breakthrough and realized her father’s well-meaning but strange obsession with long hair equating to beauty, had left Kira with a skewed reality.
Taking Control Again
Heightened periods of stress made growing her hair an anchor point that helped Kira feel normal. Her father’s belief that long-haired girls were more beautiful made Kira feel a sense of comfort in having long hair but also afraid to cut it.
Now that she better understood herself, Kira began to embrace her new look and live a more healthy lifestyle. In time, she naturally began to feel less anxious and more confident about herself, even with short hair. It was finally time to live.
A New Start
Kira also used her therapy sessions to work past the hurt and abandonment issues she and her girls had been left with when Glen walked out. It made her realize that she had found an amazing person in Jesse and needed to embrace her new life with him.
Kira made it to her wedding day a happy and beautiful bride. She and her girls were finally ready to start their new life and move forward. Strangely enough, it had all truly started with a makeover.
Astra-Anne Taylor
A similar incident occurred in Texas where a hair stylist was met with one of her biggest challenges. Astra-Anne Taylor had been in the hair business for a decade, yet what she saw that day made her stomach churn with anxiety.
She had just reported to work on a Sunday afternoon and was getting ready to start working on the day's clients when the most unexpected happened. A girl she hadn't seen in months suddenly showed up.
She Comes In
The girl, an eighteen-year-old senior, had a massive mop of hair, dirty and matted all over. It was shaggy above her head, with sprouting tendrils that spoke of the weeks the girl didn't wash it.
The mass of hair was so long it reached the girl's waistline, yet it was so dirty that its bad smell blanketed the entire salon. Astra knew she had to step in.
A Good Life
Astra had been a hairstylist for over ten years, with a long list of satisfied clients who always sought her out whenever they needed their hair done.
She was a warm and welcoming woman with a three-year-old angel named Camilla and a husband who loved her to the moon and back. Her life was perfect, happy. Little did she know the worst was ahead of her.
Night And Day
Astra recognized the girl the minute she stepped into the salon, although she couldn't believe what she saw. The last time she'd been here, she'd asked one of the stylists to help trim and style her hair.
She'd been so happy then, dressed in a flowing blue sundress and talking with a broad smile. But now she was dressed in dirty sweats and a hoodie that had dried food and sauces on it. What happened?
Kerry
The girl, Kerry, looked around for a moment, her vacant eyes hidden behind the steel wool-like fringes of hair before her forehead. Astra had seen that look before on many clients who came in to survey the line.
The salon was packed for the afternoon, with each stylist having three or more clients waiting. Astra knew the girl was going to wait around.
Following Her
Kerry stood for a minute and turned abruptly to leave. But Astra hurried after her. She tapped her shoulder and called, "Hi!"
Her enthusiasm seemed to frighten Kerry because she took a step outside the door and wrapped her arms around herself. "Do you want to come in?" Astra asked, hoping the girl wouldn't leave.
A Bad Idea
The girl's lips trembled, and her eyes darted all over the place. "This was a bad idea," she mumbled and turned on her heels. But Astra was never one to give up so easily.
She hurried after the girl. She knew what anxiety and depression looked like and could tell that it had taken everything for the girl to come to the salon. That thought made Astra do the unthinkable.
I Want To Help
"If you come with me, I'll clear my client's list," she began, but Kerry didn't stop. "I can do your hair free of charge and have a nice chat and some pumpkin spice latte. We have the best muffins this side of town, too."
The girl stopped, prompting Astra to hold her hand out. "Whatever's happening," she began. "I only want to help." She had no clue what dark thoughts swirled in Kerry's mind.
She Follows Her In
Kerry nodded after minutes of thinking things over. She took Astra's hand, and they walked back to the salon. She watched as Astra cleared her client list for the day, apologizing to everyone before distributing them to her colleagues.
With a smile, she ushered Kerry to her station. She thought this would be a typical styling session. She was deeply mistaken.
Her Wish
"How do you want it?" Astra whispered immediately after Kerry sat down. Her hands were warm against Kerry's neck as she ruffled the mess of hair.
"Cut it," Kerry answered, revealing what she had in mind all along. "Cut it all," she seethed. "Leave nothing." "What?" Astra asked. "I want it all gone!" Kerry screamed.
Shave It All!
Tears broke through the girl's eyes as she looked at the human-sized mirror before her. "I want it all gone," her voice broke as she spoke. "Please."
"Of course, honey," Astra said in a soothing tone. She remembered the last time Kerry had been at the salon and why she had come in the first place. "Let's see what we can do," she said.
Her Last Visit
Kerry had been at the shop because she had been preparing for prom. She had been so happy since her high school crush had asked her out.
She had been accompanied by her grandma, who Astra heard had fallen sick recently. Looking at Kerry now, she couldn't pinpoint why she was so upset that she'd want all her hair gone. But she suspected it had something to do with the boy or her nana.
Starting The Process
Astra began by moving Kerry to the washer and cleaning her hair. They spent over an hour separating dirt, grease, grit, and dried chunks from the mane. Kerry was quiet throughout the process, her tears telling Astra all she needed to know.
After the washer, the two moved to the drier, and Astra got to work. Slowly and slowly, the once dirty and dry hair was coming back to life. But she couldn't have expected what would happen next.
The Truth Comes Out
"I loved him," Kerry whispered under the dryer's growl. "I really did." Astra finally understood what was happening. The boy that Kerry had been so excited about had mistreated her.
If only she knew how long the poor girl locked herself in her room, crying herself to sleep. She talked Kerry down, promising her that things would get better. But she offered one thing that would change the girl's life forever.
Turning It Around
The only thing Astra could give Kerry was a piece of advice that her mom had once told her when she got heartbroken in her younger years. "Work on yourself and shine so brightly that the only thing your ex can brag about is telling people he once knew you."
Those simple words, decades old, had been Astra's mantra. As she passed them down to Kerry, she told her she wouldn't cut her hair. They would style it and turn a bad day around. In Astra's own words, "There is nothing a good hairdo can't fix."