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Elite Daily – Here’s Why Cutting Your Hair Is Empowering, According To Experts Who Get The Urge To Chop

Dr. Danielle Forshee, Psy.D., spoke with Elite Daily about why cutting your hair is empowering when going through a transition in your life.

Look, maybe you’re skimming through this article right now and thinking that I am the most dramatic of drama queens, but I’m serious: Once in a while, there’s a driving force greater than split ends leading you to the hair salon, and according to mental health counselor Dr. Danielle Forshee, Psy.D., that gut feeling poking and prodding at you to go brunette, to get those lavender highlights, or to really take the plunge and give your stylist permission to do whatever feels funkiest, often has to do with who you feel you are at your core, and how you want others to perceive you.

“Hair is an extension of our identity, how we see ourselves, and how we would like others to see us,” Forshee tells Elite Daily. “When we need a change, cutting or changing our hair is usually considered because there is a significant amount of meaning about what our hair means to us in terms of our identity, and how others perceive us.”

However, Forshee adds, people don’t solely yearn for this type of change when they’ve been through something traumatic or upsetting. Though she does say that breakups and loss are among some of the most common reasons why people will opt for a bold new haircut, Forshee tells Elite Daily that positive life changes — like having a baby, starting a new relationship, or getting a promotion — might also inspire you to go for a different ‘do. “The decision to cut your hair during a transition period, whether it be a positive or negative transition,” the mental health counselor explains, “symbolizes to the individual themselves a new start.”

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