Skinheads are in vogue

Clara Perlmutter, whose TikTok username is @Tinyjewishgirl, recently decided to shave her head and document the process on the platform after seeing the hair stylizer Dyson Airwrap go viral, with which people curled and styled their long locks of hair.

“I made a deal with myself that I would learn to style my hair very well so that I could give a finishing touch to all my outfits, or I would shave my head,” she said. At the end of January, when Perlmutter, 23, was at a photo shoot, she saw a hair stylist style the hair of a model with great care. “At that moment, I realized that I didn't have the emotional energy to do something so elaborate with my hair,” she said. “I went home and said to my boyfriend, 'I want to shave my head. ' We went crazy with the razor and filmed the whole process for my TikTok.”

Perlmutter immediately adapted to her new 'look' due to the comfort and the fact that her hair is now “one less thing to worry about”. It also goes well with his style. “I like that dystopian future aesthetic of the nineties and 2000s, and I love that the shaved head gives that vibe to all my outfits,” he explained. Lately he has worn bulging headbands over his hairy head.

There is quite a lot of evidence that the shaved head is the first fashionable cut in 2022. Iris Law, Demi Lovato and Saweetie have said goodbye to their manes. Actress Jordan Alexander, from the remake of “Gossip Girl”, and model Slick Woods have made it a hallmark of their style.

Camille Rogers, who works in marketing and uses the pronoun elle, is also proud of her skinhead. “Every time I shave my head, I feel like I take a weight off my shoulders,” he said. “I am flooded with a new wave of confidence.” There's something about that “fresh-shaven feeling” that “just invigorates me,” he said.

Rita Melssen, art director and stylist, shaved her head on a whim and now changes the color of her hair, from cold white to light pink, as she grows. Also experiment with vintage hats and scarves to change their appearance a little.

“I walk the world very differently when I have a shaved head than when I had long curly hair,” said Melssen, 29. “I feel more powerful and elegant. It has a hue of purity and ferocity. It's like taking a layer off my back so that people can see a deeper part of me.”

“Besides, I can be ready much faster now, it's changed my life.”

For people who have been considering this cut for a long time, 2022 seemed like the ideal year to do so. “I still feel butterflies when I look in the mirror,” confessed 23-year-old Emma Fridsell, a fashion influencer who changed her 'pixie' cut to a shaved one. “I feel stronger without hair. I walk more safely. I also hope that I can inspire other people not to feel that they should fit a certain parameter. I have struggled with that, and this cut finally allowed me to free myself once and for all.”

Joseph Charles Viola, 26, who works in the fashion industry, also turned to the razor. “Life weighed too heavy on me and I thought my hair could lighten some of that burden,” he said.

Why do it now?

Tumultuous times often result in extreme personal expression through beauty. “It's a matter of appropriating your identity and allowing yourself to control at least one aspect of what is going on around you,” said Rachael Gibson, who tells the story of hair on her Instagram account, Thehairhistorian.

“I think it also comes with a 'why not? 'mentality” , he added. “If you can't shave your hair while we're living this thing we're experiencing, when are you going to do it?”

The shaved head has its history, with origins in mourning, religion, rebellion and even ostracism. That story is also what makes the cut inspiring and provocative at the same time.

“Shaving your hair can also be a kind of discipline and uniformity for soldiers, or purity for Hindu priests, as hair is associated with sexuality,” explained Valerie Steele, director of the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

“Now, a skinhead is increasingly perceived as a symbol of strength and gender equality,” Steele said.

Viola said: “I feel that there is something in the act of holding my Vivienne Westwood bag with a bare head that affirms my gender. I don't necessarily align myself with any gender identity, but I do realize that, with my shaved head and mustache, ordinary people perceive me in a certain way.”

Wearing a bag “creates a 'queer' Walter White fantasy that, personally, fills me with life,” he commented, referring to the character in “Breaking Bad”.

For others, this' look 'allows them to live a new kind of empowerment.

“We tend to live very clinging to our hair, as if it were the only thing that makes us women or feminine, and that is very far from reality,” commented actress and author Samantina Zenon, who changed her natural afro hair for a shaved head. “Being a woman is more than just looking like one. We have so many capes and, although some proudly wear their crowns, we also carry a lot of heavy burdens behind our backs. As the years go by, it seems more vital to me to always walk in my power no matter what I look like.”

Rogers says something similar: “I feel like I regained my relationship with my hair and a sense of identity, not only in terms of a gender euphoria, but also in terms of the importance my hair has had throughout my life, as a black person.”

There is great merit in a cut that gives you a new beginning and at the same time contains a world of expression. Those who have just shaved, like Zenon, plan to keep the cut in the long term.

“I don't think I'll ever want to let my hair grow again,” he said.

© The New York Times 2022