#StopThePress Cheryl Fernandez-Versini has a brave?! new haircut... Open letter to the press

#StopThePress, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini has opted for a '70s inspired 'lop' in what's being described as a brave haircut.

Credit to Cheryl, as always she looks gorgeous and her latest hairstyle is as stunning as you'd expect...



What I'd like to take a minute to do is write a post for the wonderful UK Print and Broadcast Media who are describing this move as brave?!?! True, it's an unexpected change, but is that really the same as being brave?

To me, when it comes to hair, brave is...

• the six-year-old girl I met who gets up and goes to school everyday without hair because an under-researched condition made all her hair fall out. Even braver is that she goes with a smile, despite being teased for her lack of locks
• the ten year old lad who shaved all his hair off to support his friend with cancer
• the lady climbing a massive mountain to raise money for AlopeciaUK specifically because she struggled to cope when her own hair fell out through Chemo.

Brave is not shortening your hair by ten inches knowing that even if it goes wrong, it'll still grow back!

Sorry guys, but it's sloppy articles like these where the focus is on the appearance and not on the person, and which link changes to that appearance with an act of courage, that means we have teenagers in this country battling to overcome anxieties about their appearance, with their body confidence at absolute rock bottom! It's articles like these that lead us to define a person by what they look like and not what they can do or achieve! It's exactly why brands like Dove seek to redress the balance with Real Beauty Stories, and Sport England are forced to create an emotive and can-do advert with the hashtag #ThisGirlCan. 

Reading an American article the other day I was dismayed and disappointed to spot that in a survey conducted at the end of last year, 57% of the teenage girls and 44% of the adult women questioned said that their hair defines who they are. Not just contributes to their confidence, but actually defines who they are. Does that somehow mean that because I personally have no hair, I'm somehow worth less or should believe I am worth less than those who have it?

I understand people consume this kind of story and that to an extent it's born from our society attitudes, but come on guys, please opt for a word other than brave! It's a thoughtless and demoralising choice of words for many people and really, you can do better!

Victoria 

www.prettybald.co.uk Twitter: @PrettyBald