Every woman has reached a point in her life where she wants to make a radical change. 

Usually reinventing ourselves comes in the form of moving to a new city, breaking up a toxic relationship (with a boyfriend of a boss) starting a new career, or simply chopping our hair. 

Coco Chanel used to say, “when a woman cuts her hair she is about to change her life.” For Coco (who as we know stayed with that style for the rest of her life), it represented the burial of her previous life, and finally finding her true identity.

Exactly a year ago, I decided to cut my hair to the shortest I’ve ever had it in my entire life. This was around the time that the 10-year challenge was trending on social media. As I was looking for old photos to compare my old look to my recent one, I figured out it was all the same.

Every single year I had the same look. For me, it wasn’t just about the hairstyle. I felt I had been hiding behind my hair. My long hair was my comfort zone and, little did I know, cutting my hair made me feel liberated. Here’s why you will too:

You’ll cut your morning routine by half

You’ll start standing up taller

You’ll feel sexier

You’ll look younger and be a style icon

You’ll use fewer hair products

When I cut my hair, I took ownership of my life and control over my emotions. 

Believe it or not, hair (specially for born and raised Latinas) has a very emotional connection to our roots. 

I have noticed that there is a strong relationship between the times when I have felt the most lost in life, with the times when I tend to pay more attention to my hair. But who would have thought changing my hair is always the preamble to some crisis or change and sometimes cutting it shows the beginning of a new life. 

Cutting our hair is definitely a simple way of moving on… take it as cutting ties with your past!  Your old emotions, patterns, thoughts and memories, as well as dirty and spiritual energy. Chop, chop, chop!

Cutting or changing our hair in one way or another, will generally symbolize the beginning of something new in our lives or the end of a chapter. Embrace it!

Special thanks to Abel Najher Salon in New York City who took this project on (with just a little bit of convincing).