Need an icebreaker? Shave your head.

I went to my little sister Cami's senior choir concert tonight. Which meant stepping over the threshold of my old high school--- which is as draining and overwhelming as an extended family reunion. Despite my constant attempts to alter my appearance I inevitably get recognized by my old teachers and principle and everyone else involved with the school. It's that small of a school. And unlike a family reunion, much of everything in that world has stayed the same, while my life, like my appearance, has changed dramatically. So I hyped myself up and got my short and sweet explanation all ready.
Now that the mohawk has gone and my head is completely shaved down to 1/8th of an inch ala Evie in V for Vendetta my head sparks the most conversation.
The best was the woman at the bank when I got my travelers checks: "Oh honey, tell me you did that on purpose".
Yup. No hard drugs or nervous breakdowns. I said Natalie Portman, not Britney Spears.
Everyone wants to know what would possess me to do it. And everyone remarks about what a "nice shaped head" I have and how my "eyes just shine" and my "cheek bones glow."
It happens to look pretty alright on me, but I knew that since I did it a year ago before I went off to Maui. My mum calls it "elegantly tribal"
Cutting off hair signifies a lot of things in a lot of cultures. A renouncing of the past and a renouncing of wealth, appearance, and the material. Princes grew their hair out long. When Prince Siddhartha took the path of spirituality, he cut off his princely locks and became Gautama Buddha.
The short and sweet answer that I've got prepared is :
"Yea, I cut off all my hair again, I'm going to be backpacking around Thailand for three months and staying in a monastery, it's one less thing to deal with and carry, I don't have to carry as much shampoo and it's a cultural signal of what I came to thailand to do, which is practice buddhism."
When people ask my dad "Thailand? Why is she going to Thailand?" He says "To grow back her hair."
When they ask my mum, she gets a little strained and says "because she's the adventurous one of my daughters and its the furtherest, strangest place that she got her heart set on." Then they say "She's going alone?!" Then she pretends to be non-nonchalant and aloof, like it doesn't worry her at all.
Then again, I'm pretending the same thing and saying "if I can get a bus from the airport to Banglamphu and get into a hostel, I'm set from there on." One foot in front of the other.