00:00I think this hair is really bold.
00:02This hairstyle is strong, it's powerful.
00:05I think it's very risky,
00:07but you have to kind of find your own ways to make it versatile.
00:10My name is Monica.
00:12I'm a freelance illustrator, and I'm removing my braids
00:15and cutting my hair like the Frank Ocean album Blonde.
00:18I always said I was going to cut my hair off when I turned 30.
00:20I'm 27, so I'm almost there, so I'm just going to do it now.
00:24I'm a big fan of Zoe Kravitz,
00:26and I noticed a few years ago
00:28she cut off all her hair and dyed it blonde,
00:30and I thought it was something very edgy and cool
00:32and something I wanted to try.
00:34The hairstyle I have right now is single braids,
00:36and I do them myself, and they take me about 10 hours,
00:40split into like two days to get done,
00:42so I'm excited to have a hairstyle that's going to be a lot quicker.
00:46My natural hair is about to my shoulders,
00:49and that's the longest it's been in my life,
00:51and now I'm going to go to the shortest it's ever been in my life.
00:53I guess I'm nervous about my hair because my hair grows very slowly,
00:58so cutting it all off is going to be a journey.
01:03My name is Aaron, and I'm a hairstylist at Salon Kasumi
01:05in Beverly Hills, California.
01:09Hi, Monica.
01:10Hi.
01:10Hi, I'm Aaron.
01:11Nice to meet you, Monica.
01:12Nice to meet you.
01:13Nice to meet you.
01:13All right, what are we going to be doing today?
01:15So I'm going to be cutting it all off and dyeing it blonde.
01:18Nice, nice.
01:19We're going to cut off the braids?
01:20Yes, we're going to cut the braids off and stick it all out.
01:23Go super, super short?
01:25Yes.
01:26Nice, nice.
01:26I'm excited.
01:27I think, so we'll see.
01:29Yeah, I'm excited.
01:30All right, cool.
01:30Let's get started.
01:31Yeah.
01:32I'm ready.
02:00I'm ready.
02:03Yay.
02:13So we're going to get your hair all combed out here,
02:15and then we're going to start cutting this off.
02:23All right, you ready?
02:24You good?
02:25All right.
02:25All right.
02:28All right.
02:39All right.
02:43All right.
02:48This is like surgery.
02:50Yeah.
02:52My God.
02:54It's so weird to, it's like I push on my hair and it goes straight to my scalp.
02:58It goes in.
03:09I like it.
03:10I like it.
03:11What is the plan, I guess, for like the dyeing process?
03:14I'm excited.
03:15Okay.
03:15So we're going to, we're going to breach your hair.
03:18We're going to take you quite light.
03:19Yeah.
03:19So we're going to do some fun talk today.
03:21Okay.
03:22Okay.
03:22Yay.
03:23Yay.
03:23Yeah.
03:35Whew.
03:36How is that?
03:37I feel it a little.
03:38Well, I do feel it, yes.
03:40Yeah.
03:40Yeah.
03:40It's like stinging a little bit.
03:43Yeah.
03:45Yeah.
03:54I'm good.
03:56Yeah.
04:11So after taking out the braids, her scalp was a little bit sensitive.
04:14So we stuck with a medium blonde.
04:33How do you like it?
04:34I love it.
04:36I like it a lot.
04:37It looks so cool.
04:37It's crazy.
04:39My mom is going to be very excited.
04:42She's going to freak out.
04:43Working with Monica, you can see in the way she dressed and her personality with the bright
04:47colors that she was super excited about going short and taking a short, strong haircut definitely
04:54meant empowerment for her.
04:56Having never cut my hair this short or cutting my hair really this much at all, it was great
05:00having Erin, you know, do my hair and guide me through the process and keep me up to date
05:04every step of the way.
05:06I think that my new hair will inspire, you know, a lot of creativity for me and some new
05:11outfit combinations and new silhouette that I have.
05:13So I think it'll be really fun.
05:15I think that everyone's beautiful.
05:17I think that people need to, you know, love the way they are.
05:20Just because you're not the same as the people around you doesn't mean you are beautiful.
05:23You're beautiful the way you are today.
