San Antonio Spurs’ Lonnie Walker IV has revealed the reason behind the cutting of his signature haircut.
According to Walker, shaving off his hair helps him to put away some painful memories of his past.
The 21-year-old said he was sexually abused as a child while in middle school, which made him grow his hair.
In an Instagram post, he said after years of facing sexual abuse, he felt the only thing had control over in his life was his hair.
"The real truth as to why I started doing this early 5th grade, it was a cloaking device for me,” the Spurs guard wrote.
"During the summer of my 5th-grade year I was around more family. Some [whose] names will be left alone I was around more.
"I was sexually harassed, raped, abused. I even got accustomed to it because being at that age, you don't know what is what. I was a gullible, curious kid that didn't know what the real world was. I had a mindset that my hair was something that I can control. My hair was what I can make and create and be mine. And it gave [me] confidence."
He added that the Coronavirus pandemic had a mental toll on him, but said the period afforded him the time to rediscover himself.
He said he has since forgiven “everyone, even the people that don't deserve it. Why? Because it's dead weight.”
Walker noted that keeping his hair was a way of hiding his insecurities, but cutting had made him born anew.
"Time doesn't wait on anyone so why should I waste my time on it? Me cutting my hair was more than a cut. My hair was a mask of me hiding the insecurities that I felt the world wasn't ready for. But now, [I am] better than ever. Out with [the] old. In with the new. I have shed my skin mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually,” he added.
