I have had this haircut since I was nineteen years old, and I like it!

My husband was recently looking for one of my recipes that he knew I had written about on my blog. So, he googled my name. Google came back with suggestions for popular search terms, and one of them included my name + cancer.

I rarely think about what people might think about my haircut, but this simple experiment says a lot. I'm not sick though, thankfully. I just like shaving my head.

More about my style: Sara's Icelandic wool sweater

Why I'm shaving my head

I have had this haircut since I was nineteen years old, for more than twenty years that is. Time flies. My hair was long and wavy before I decided to shave it. I left my home town Gothenburg when I was eighteen to start a radio station in a small village further north, called Torsby. I took the train back home to the big city every other weekend. One day, my train was delayed and I decided to use the waiting time to get a new haircut. All I could find was a men's hair salon, and I went for it. But unfortunately, none of the hairdressers wanted to cut my long hair. The only person who was willing to do it was an intern. Needless to say, it didn't exactly turn out great.

I immediately cut another few inches by myself when I got home. It didn't feel quite right either though, so I just decided to shave it instead. And surprisingly enough, I found myself in the middle of my fallen locks. This is the haircut I decided to go with ever since, except for a few years when I worked at Swedish public television and my bosses thought it was inappropriate. I actually think it's inappropriate to change your appearance like that simply for a job.

More about my life outside the garden: It brings me down

Strange experiences

I wrote a piece about my hair in the local press a few years ago. Here are some of my thoughts:

Imagine standing in a line, and suddenly feeling someone's hand on your head. So, you turn around and discover that a woman, a complete stranger, is touching your scalp while exclaiming "I just had to feel it!". When I was younger, I used to put my hand out and tell them that there was a fee. Now I just feel embarrassed.

When I'm out late at night, drunk guys ask me if I shave more than my head. They think it's hilarious.

An old friend once told me to let my hair grow before a meeting with a potential new boss so that I didn't seem so "revolutionary". And one of my old supervisors blatantly told me that my haircut was inappropriate since it would "send certain signals". 

People seem to come to a few conclusions when they see my haircut. They usually think it's a feminist statement, that I'm a lesbian or a hardcore vegan (there's nothing wrong with any of that of course, but it's just funny to me what people assume). Some people seem really confused when I tell them that my partner is a man. And some of my acquaintances actually still ask me if I eat meat or not. I do.

I'm not sick

This is a garden blog of course, but I still felt like I wanted to say something about my hair since people seem to have a lot of opinions about it. I actually think that this hairstyle is really pretty. I have met so many women who are too afraid to try it though, simply because of what others might think. We live in a strange world!

A few of you might be suffering from hair loss, for different reasons. I hope that shaving my head doesn't offend any of you, or that you think I take these issues lightly. I want to send all of you my love, with or without hair!
/Sara Bäckmo

August 2016: The most popular search term is my name + age.  

June 2017: The most popular search term is my name + family. My family consists of my husband and four kids.  

December 2018: The most popular search term is my name + hair. My hair is starting to get slightly gray here and there, but still as short as ever. And I love it!