This  happened around thanksgiving of 2016. My brother Hayden just began attending the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland in August. I was so excited when we found out the day he was coming home for Thanksgiving. A few days after he came home, he started talking me into cutting my hair. I was so annoyed with people telling me what I should do with it already. “Just do it!” he’d tell me. My hair at the time was very long and I didn't want to cut it at all. My brothers started teasing me, as all brothers do, about how scared I was to cut it. My dad would grab kitchen scissors and pretend to cut it, “if your not going to do it, I will!” he’d shout. I got way too angry with my family teasing me. I knew Hayden had to be the reason everyone was trying to convince me. “Why would you tell everyone that I don't want to cut my hair?” I asked hayden one night, “Because I think they agree that change is what you need!” Hayden explained. “You can keep this dumb hair forever!” As angry as I was, deep down I knew he was right. My mom overheard us talking and told me about hair donations. That's when I got interested. I had always been interested in donating something to people who need it more than me. It took me awhile to think about it, but after a couple days of thinking, I finally agreed. 

The day before Thanksgiving, my mom made a hair appointment for me. I was so scared before we left. I remember looking at the mirror and just thinking, this will all be gone in a couple hours. At the time, I wish that I could realize that it always grows back and that I was doing a really good thing for someone. But, of course, I didn't. My entire family came to see my hair get chopped. They would practically shout, “Go Olivia!” It was embarrassing, I'll admit. My hair was braided and the next thing I knew, it my hair was gone. That moment felt like forever. I was practically sweating and felt thirsty all of a sudden. When I saw braid in the hairdressers hand, I wanted to cry. My family was cheering and woo’ing as if I just got a scholarship to the college of 

my dreams. I gave them an awkward smile to show how embarrassed I was. They didn't get the message.

When we I left the place, Hayden wanted to talk to me in the car. Of course I got a little scared because knew we fought about this topic all the time. “I really am proud of you even if it's just hair. Every once in awhile you jsut need to let change happen.” he said, in a very calm and assuring voice. “You know I don't like giving into pressure. I guess that's the main reason we fought, and I'm sorry.” I told him. “Don't be. I totally get it.” Hayden said, with a smile.

The day of thanksgiving was amazing. The entire day was spent on talking with each other. Hayden shared a bunch of stuff that has happened since we last saw him. “I made the sailing team!” he told us. We all looked so confused. “What? We’re from Arizona and you’ve never set foot on a boat, how did you make it?” my mom asked. Hayden laughed and said, “I don't know, it just happened!” He has been in love with sailing ever since he got on the team. 

After we ate dinner, we all started watching family movies from a long time ago. My little brother Mason was pretty mad that he wasn't in any of them. We all laughed at my hair practically being an afro. I of course hated it but they didn't. “Maybe if you painted around that age you could've been the next Bob Ross!” my mom teased. “I wasn't into art at the time! Plus, I was too young.” I told her. We all laughed and it was a great night. 

When fall break ended, everyone was shocked to see me. I am the type of person who likes to see everyone's reaction so I kept looking at other people's faces, not trying to be creepy of course. I was most excited to see my friends. They started asking me, “What happened to you?” “When did that happen?” “You cut your hair?” “Do you like it?” It was a lot i’ll admit. But it was cool to see how people think of it. I started to gain confidence when I got feedback. I felt good about myself and started to love my hair the way it is.