With confidence and support from each other, more women are redefining baldness as beautiful

“Being bald is sexy. It’s an attitude. It’s a luxury. It’s a lifestyle.”

That’s how Brennan Nevada Johnson, who shaved her head voluntarily 14 years ago, opens the video podcast she launched last November to celebrate the advantages of choosing a bald look.

Sensuous, self-assured and glamorous are not the adjectives typically assigned to women with shorn hair. For centuries, many cultures have viewed long hair as a symbol of femininity, health and fertility. But more women are defying that traditional beauty standard and finding empowerment by baring their heads.

“Once you do it, it brings all this confidence into your life,” Johnson, 34, said. “Whenever you see someone who’s bald and not wearing a wig, just know that they have fully embraced themselves, and I think that’s something that’s really challenging to do.”

Her initial decision to go baldheaded was practical. Johnson played competitive volleyball in college and found