The reason:

I am currently studying Sustainability and Global Development at Bath Spa University and during the next 12 months I will be carrying out my placement year. I have been accepted to study and survey the fascinating flora and fauna on a research camp in Sainte Luce, a natural preserve in southeast Madagascar that is home to one of the nation's last truly pristine coastal rainforests. Over the coming months I hope to make some money to support this charity called SEED (sustainable environmental education and development), a small non-profit organisation that runs the reserve, which depends on volunteers to assist and carry out significant conservation projects. Planting this seed for me has led me to decide to become an egg.

Why?

All humour aside, I truly hope that this experience will be motivating. I feel inspired and influenced by those individuals that, due to illness do not have the choice of this change. Living and learning along the way to accept and adjust.

'You are afraid of changes and yet you embrace them' - courage

There are all sorts of reasons to why people part with their hair from illness to ideology; all associate themselves with boosting confidence and a sense of resilience.

As a symbolic stripping of identity ... the act of shaving one’s head goes back centuries. In ancient Egypt, priests ritualistically removed all the hair from their bodies to avoid lice and general uncleanliness. In other ancient cultures including Buddhist monasticism, it was and remains a sign of religious devotion, often to signify the sacrifice of vanity.

After recently returning from a field trip in India I learnt about the meaning behind religious rituals and the historical heritage.The follow findings resonated with the reason as to why I wish to take the time to fundraise for a particular purpose: if you prune a tree, the tree will focus its energy towards the area that has been affected. Notice that new shoots will then generate and grow from this part of the tree. The same happens in the body, this is why people perform this sadhana practice. In the Hindu calendar this is known as Shivarati named after the God Shiva, the creator, preserver and destroyer and is held on the darkest day before Amavasya (new moon day). Looking more into the moon as it is rather special to me I have decided to base the dates on this dedication. Soon in September, the day before the new moon I will be setting my scalp free.

I am becoming an egg ... I believe a shaved head is no longer just a religious commitment, an act of rebellion or punishment, or even simply a fashion statement. Lets look past the stereotypes... because women are beautiful bald and become bolder.

Through change I will celebrate this creativity and bring to light that real beauty lies and comes from within. In the face of societal pressures and in the wake of a global health crisis I hope to free myself and others from a feeling of fitting in and allow all to accept who we are as we are.

CHANGE ... takes time,

it takes time for the seeds to begin growing within,

time to understand and process,

time for the growth to mature and time for the old self to die and fall away.