A couple years back when I was 16, I gave myself a mohawk using scissors and one of those electric razor thingies. I didn't know what I was doing, and when I was all done it looked goddamn' awful. So, after my mom wiped that look of horror off her face once she realized her blonde, long-haired daughter shaved it all off and dyed it this strange looking reddish-black, she fixed it for me and ended up giving me a buzzcut.

Honestly, while I liked my short hair for the first couple of weeks, it didn't take long for me to realize that short hair just wasn't for me. I felt extremely uncomfortable in my own skin, and I didn't feel like it complemented my features at all. I have strong masculine-looking features as it is, and while I know that short hair doesn't equal masculinity whatsoever, I definitely felt way more butch with it cut since I wasn't able to hide behind my long, flowing blonde hair. Also, it didn't help that my family would ALWAYS comment on how I looked so much better with longer hair (my mother even used to repeatedly tell me how I embarrassed her when going out in public and that I looked like a freak), which was a killer for my self-esteem. Like, yeah, I get it, short hair doesn't look spectacular on me, but you making me feel like shit all the time about my hair wouldn't make it grow back any faster. Granted, it really didn't help that I didn't know shit about styling and product, and so I sort of just stopped caring about it after a while and went out of the house with it looking like a mess half the time. If I had actually put some effort into my appearance, I'm sure it wouldn't have looked as bad and I would have felt more confident. But, after seeing all the negative comments I was getting from people and after realizing it was going to take a long-ass time for it to grow back, I just said, "fuck it," and stopped giving a damn. With my longer hair, men notice me more, but the moment I cut my hair short, I would always either feel extremely ugly, or completely invisible. Many guys and girls would come up to me and tell me that girls weren't supposed to have short hair, that I was ugly with my hair like that/that I wasn't pretty anymore/that I ruined my looks, etc. and a shitload of people were convinced I was a lesbian.

The pros, though, was that it was much easier to maintain. Hair dye wouldn't last long, it felt light and breezy, and at times -- at least, in the beginning -- I liked feeling unique. I don't think I'd ever do it again, but if the situation ever arose where I did need a buzzcut again, I would definitely put way more effort into my appearance so I wouldn't feel as invisible and uncomfortable like I did before, since I'm sure that was a huge contributing factor to it. My hair now is boob-length, and I have no desire to cut it anytime soon.