Overall, the response has been positive. "A lot of my exes... so many guys were calling me, saying, 'I wanna rub your head,' and I was like, 'What are you into?,'" she joked. And for Lathan, it's exactly the freedom she needed. "It was kind of a perfect time in my life to do it," she said. "I have a lot of hair, and it’s thick. I was just so over it. If I got it straightened and then I worked out, it would go right back into the original—the Afro... my girlfriends would even be like, 'Why aren’t you doing anything with your hair? You look crazy!' In all, Lathan says the change represents more than just a cut. "[It feels like this is time] in terms of women of color coming into this amazing renaissance of owning who they are, and owning all of their beauty in whatever shape, size, color it is. There’s no more cookie-cutter, like, 'This is the ideal.'"