On Friday night two weeks after school started, I cut my hair in front of my mirror at 1:34 a.m. with an IKEA LED light acting as my only light source. No, I was not in my emo hours, and no, I was not stressed from school. Well, at least, I wasn’t then. After a few months of teasing my friends about getting bangs, it finally happened without thinking. The impulsivity! The audacity! Crazy, I know.

Last year, when I brought the idea up to a friend, she responded with “No, Angela. You are better than that!” Immediately, she assumed that my desire to change my hair stemmed from academic pressure and romantic frustration. In retrospect, she wasn’t too far from the truth, but it further emphasized the “negative connotation” and symbolism behind cutting your own bangs in 2020. At one point, cutting bangs by yourself began to symbolize heartbreak and midnight sadness. It seemed as if cutting bangs by yourself was a sign of defeat against your inner struggles, whether that’s loneliness, anger, heartbreak, or boredom. It said that you did not possess the ability to internally process and cope with these battles, and had to resort to external means to reflect your frustration. But why is that so frowned upon?

We often get so caught up in other’s perceptions of us that we hesitate to do what our heart desires, and frankly, that’s so not Gen Z. Furthermore, society has conditioned us into thinking that a well-founded glow-up requires time, as if we are grape-juice trying to become wine. Because God forbid a make-over overnight! That would be ingenuine and forced!

But make-over movies like The Princess Diaries and The Devils Wears Prada portray the main characters (Thank you, Anne Hathaway) as individuals whose lives were merely inconveniences before they turned a new leaf. Their overnight make-over becomes justified when others start to treat them differently. 

Why do we have to have a sad excuse in order to justify our decision to get bangs? The mindset that we aren’t entitled to a make-over or revamp until we have an excuse to do so hinders our possibility to be ourselves. Despite how much we make fun of those who get bangs at 3 a.m. in the morning, we all secretly yearn for that kind of confidence. 

In this fast-paced world largely influenced by social media, it’s important to remember that we owe it to ourselves to revamp our appearance or personality or spirit, or all of them, whenever we like. Have a hair color that you like? Dye it. See someone who was rocking a mullet? I think you can pull it off, too. Want to wear mismatched socks to school? Love to see it.