Welcome to The Bald Wave! If are a woman (whether you identify as cis-female or transgender female) reading this, you either are thinking of shaving your head or have shaved your head. Or maybe you have alopecia, or another form of hair loss. Regardless, you are not alone.
This blog began in August 2008. I always expected it would be a niche blog, and I've never been disappointed. Even when I went on an extended hiatus, people continued to visit. I've never known entirely what to make of that. I am hoping that mostly my intended audience found this blog, bookmarked it, and revisited.
When I started this blog, there were a couple things going on. This blog was started in the wake of Brittney Spears shaving her head the year before, and that her doing so in the midst of an apparent meltdown increased stigma for anyone identifying as bald cis-female, trans-female and non-binary in the process. What if a female shaves her head just because it looks really cool without having to justify it or remain under scrutiny? Imagine what that world would look like.
In 2008, there weren't any good blogs to advocate for women and non-binary people who shave their heads simply because they want to. There were individual social media profiles at a time when social media was in its infancy. But that was was pretty much it. So, this blog had a unique niche of highlighting women with bald and shaved heads, without any of the fetish baggage that would probably have existed at the time. Perhaps my hope is that this blog helps to normalize the concept of women shaving their heads or being open about their baldness in the case of any of a number of conditions that can cause baldness. Ultimately the goal is to normalize the shaved or bald head for those who identify as female in societies that have used hair as a means of control.
Ultimately, this blog is about empowerment. The vloggers you see are the ones in control. They are the ones who are deciding to shave their heads. Many do so just to experience it. Others end up deciding they just like shaving their heads. Those who experience hair loss are in control of when they are bald on video, or in public. The fact that we can live in a time when those are actual choices is itself beautiful. Let's respect that, nurture that, and realize that any one of us can live our best life.
The videos I share are of real vloggers who chose to share their experience of shaving their heads or of coming out about being bald due to alopecia, etc., for their own reasons. I've shared some articles as well. These are women who deserve a great deal of respect for opening up a long overdue conversation about social norms.
This blog is meant to be educational, informative, and entertaining. Those are not mutually exclusive concepts. Shaving one's head should be a positive and transformational experience. Going out in public without wigs should be a positive and transformational experience. Being the real you should be positive no matter what. And you should know that no matter what, you are not alone. Along the way, I hope that some articles I post help to reinforce the primary purpose of this blog. I'll continue maintaining this blog for as long as you find it of value. Bald is beautiful, and the bald wave is on its way.
If you wish to contact me, my email is TheBaldWave@gmail.com
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