There is a segment of the population that go to hair salons and another segment of the population that go to beauty salons. Growing up, the people around me went to beauty salons. And for a long time I thought it was the place where a woman was awarded her beauty.

As a girl, I observed woman returning from day long trips to get beautiful, learned how beauty would be defined in my own life and anticipated the day that I would be permitted to take that trip.

Months ago, I chopped off 12 inches or more of my “beautiful” hair. It was unplanned, it was liberating, it happened in my own bathroom, with my own hands, using scissors that I owned for more than 10 years. And as I cut out every chemical that was ever put in my hair at a beauty salon, who I am, and what makes me beautiful, was redefined with every snip of my scissors.

This isn’t about my hair. Chemicals or no chemicals. It’s not even about beauty salons. It’s about a liberation into beauty. It’s about gaining back a portion of what I’ve given to the outside world. It’s about knowing that the only place I need to go to be awarded my beauty, is within myself.