Bold, Bald and Beautiful

I think pretty much everyone who knows me knows by now that I buzzed my head afresh in order to participate in Cat Palmer's latest art shoot; a project including a dozen or so women who, like me, also sport shaved heads. I had gone back and forth, uncertain if I wanted to have a buzzed head for a longer period of time, but when I considered the importance of Cat's message, I just couldn't say no. Her message is simply this: women can be beautiful, sexy and powerful without hair. A very timely message, considering that we're in a month highlighting Breast Cancer Awareness.

I think some people became confused with the message. Much of the news coverage we received conducted interviews between shots of the women getting their makeup done and some viewers felt this was antithetical to our message. However, our message was that women could be beautiful sans hair; that without hair, women are able to focus their own idea of beauty in other places. Because of this, I wasn't bothered at all by the seeming "contradiction". Cat's goal was to have us look feminine so that anyone simply walking by the gallery would know without a doubt that these were women with shaved heads. Thus, we wore sundresses and sported a very light amount of makeup.

A very funny, intense picture of myself post-makeup. Honestly, I'm so glad I participated. Truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience...or so my parents hope :)

Almost ready for the shoot. This is a friend I made during the shoot, Alana. Behind her is the owner of the furniture store we were shooting at. I wish I'd gotten a picture of her bathroom. On second thought, a photo wouldn't do it justice. She had political cartoons, old-school advertisements and other bits and scraps of newspaper articles literally papering her walls. Very cool looking, regardless of your politics (she was an unabashed Obama-supporter/ Bush-hater). I thoroughly enjoyed the hours I was able to spend lolling about in her store.

If you haven't seen or read some of the press coverage, you'll find the links below.
Fox 13 coverage.
Channel 2 coverage.
An article by IN magazine.
I am excited beyond words for the gallery event which will take place November 19th at the Hive Gallery in Trolley Square from 6-10pm. This is your offical invitation, if you're able to make it.