Bethany C. Meyers Shares Her Best Tips On Feeling Confident (Even When You're Not)

It's nerve-wracking to shave your head, but Bethany C. Meyers—one of New York's smartest and most in-demand fitness teachers—wasn't nervous. She'd done it once before. The only difference this time was that she was bravely posting a video of herself shaving her head to Instagram. "My hair does not own who I am," she said, while talking about the impetus for a fresh shave.

Meyers, who said she's known in her friend and family circles to change her hair, said that hair changes always seem to correspond with a big, impending change. "This year, it's going to the jungle, a spiritual place for me, before launching be.come," she said. be.come is Meyers' new fitness program—she's been teaching the class live at Studio B in New York's Bandier boutique but wants to make it more accessible. The workouts are delivered in a password-protected video, 25 minutes long, and are live for a week only. The idea is to do the workout at least five times each week. (Sign-ups are still open, if you want to check it out.)

After her haircut, she started getting unexpected messages from people who had alopecia, who'd gone through chemo or otherwise lost their hair. Seeing Meyers chop her locks on Instagram helped them do the same and feel good about flaunting it. This brought Meyers to tears. For her, shaving her head was freeing, empowering, and exploratory. "Shaving my head is, in a way, taking on a nonbinary or more masculine role. It’s really powerful in that sense. Sometimes I want to live in the male body. There’s something about not having hair that gives me a bit of power," she said.

Meyers always wanted to have armpit hair, so in going on a trip, she started growing out her armpit hair just so I can see it. She described it as "an exciting stepping out of my comfort zone" and offers this note to others: "Find a time and place that feels safe to explore what it is."