Somebody asked me the other day what the best advice is I could give to someone who’s feeling depressed.
They were probably expecting something deep. Something clinical. Something that sounded like it came out of a textbook. Instead, I said, “get a haircut”.
They looked at me like I’d just told them to rub a crystal on their forehead and drink celery juice. But I wasn’t joking.
Because when you’re depressed, the world shrinks. Your thinking slows down and turns backward. You start replaying things. Conversations. Mistakes. Regrets. You sit in the past and stare at it like it’s a place you can still change.
And while all that’s going on, you stop doing the small things that keep you connected to yourself. You stop taking care of yourself. You stop looking in the mirror properly.
Or worse, you look in the mirror, and all you see is the same version of you that’s been stuck for weeks or months. Same hair. Same face. Same story.
Depression loves that. It feeds off sameness. It thrives on stillness. It tells you nothing’s changing, so nothing will.
That’s why something as simple as a haircut matters more than people realise. It’s not about the hair. It’s about interrupting the pattern.
It’s about sitting in a chair, having someone ask you what you want, and making a decision. Even if it’s a small one.
It’s about looking up at the mirror afterwards and seeing something different looking back at you. Not a new life. Not a miracle cure. Just a shift. And sometimes, that’s where it starts.
Because when you’re depressed, the idea of fixing your whole life is overwhelming. It’s too big. Too far away. So, you do nothing.
But a haircut isn’t overwhelming. It’s a step. And steps matter. They remind you that movement is still possible. That change doesn’t have to be massive to be meaningful.
That you’re not as stuck as your mind is telling you that you are.
Depression will always try to drag you backwards. It will keep pointing you to who you were, what you did, and what you should’ve done differently.
But healing doesn’t live back there. It lives in the small, forward movements you make today.
So yeah, get a haircut. Not because it fixes everything. But because it’s a start. And sometimes, a start is all you need.
