My relationship with my father wasn’t built on ordinary circumstances.

Some of our memories were made during prison visits. As a child, I didn’t fully understand everything life was teaching me, but those moments with my father became part of my story.

Years later, in 2021, we began growing our hair together. Neither of us could have known just how much that decision would eventually mean to me.

When I lost my father, my hair became a connection to the memories we’d created together.

For years, I carried those memories with me. Every inch represented time, experiences and a chapter of my life I could never get back.

Eventually, I made the decision to cut it.

But I didn’t want somebody else to take that first step for me.

I wanted to cut the first pieces myself.

I documented the experience because I wanted to show that healing doesn’t always look the way people expect it to.

Cutting my hair wasn’t about forgetting my father. It was about honoring our memories while allowing myself to begin a new chapter.

Some things you carry forever. Others you learn to let go of.

— SIZZLE