On October 30, 1996, I shaved my head.

Some background information, I guess, would be in order. In New York city during my Winter 1996 work-term, I'd got into hair-dyeing -- New York has that effect on me, it's also where I'd got my nose pierced my previous work-term. First I played with Manic Panic, and inspired by my success, I decided to dye my hair black.

To this end, I bought some Clairol Natural Instincts "Midnight" dye. The box claimed it would wash out in 24 shampoos, so I figured it would be gone in a month or so.

Not! Almost two months later, it was still as black as ever, and grad photos were coming up. I did not want to be immortalized with black hair -- my hair is red, dammit! So, inspired by that thought and the Web essay "What I Learned By Shaving My Head", I went to the hairdresser and asked her to cut it until it was red.

So she did.

And I liked it. I liked the convenience of it, I liked the way it looked, I even liked the way it felt (I was rubbing my head for days...). So when it grew back a bit, I got it cut off again.

This went on for months, me getting my hair cut every four or five weeks or so. Finally, I decided I didn't want to have had this haircut without ever having gone down right to the bone. I figured Halloween was as good a time as any to do weird stuff like this, so I went for it.

Actually, I did it the day before Halloween, the 30th, because it had just been an all-around bad day and I needed something to make me feel happy and in control of my life. So I went over the hairdressers and told them to shave it bald.

And once again, they did.

Not without asking me if I was absolutely certain I wanted to do this, mind you. And I did feel a bit of a twinge in my gut when the razor started going across my skull -- no turning back now, Foster...

I have now grown it back -- I think the point has been made, and besides, it's getting cold out there! :-) I now know how much hair grows in a year; unfortunately, I neglected to get an exactly-one-year picture taken for posterity... oh well.

Some initial reactions

• "Can you run any faster now?"
• "Hey, you look like a Ferengi!"
• "<stunned stare> Why don't you try growing it really long next time?"
• "Nice occipital protuberance!" (My housemate was an optometry student, so she knew anatomical stuff like this)
• "Some people have hair and choose to shave it off, and some people don't have any choice!" (a prof, and my dad, independently)
• "Can I rub your head?"
• (Rub head without asking)
• "Isn't it a little cold for that?" (I did this the day the temperature started going below freezing... excellent timing)

From another defunct website.