What's 而 doing in this sentence?

[Baron]

Can someone tell me what's going on with the 而 in the sentence below? 

 

彼时，她还顶着一头短发，而两个月前，因为不满高校招生的性别歧视，她和朋友一起剃了光头抗议。

 

It appears to be introducing an explanation or reason (why she shaved her head), which isn't a function of 而 I've noticed before. The dictionary hasn't helped.

 

Is 而 here used to avoid using 因为 twice? Is this something I should be looking at as a construction, or at word level (ie a use of 而)? If it's the former, what's the technical name for the construction so I can look it up in a grammar book?

 

Thanks

[Guest123]

It means "but".

"She used to have short hair, BUT two mont ago , because... " Well, the rest you understand

[xiaokaka]

I also think it means ‘but’; “At that time, she still had short hair *but* two months earlier, because of sexism during the recruitment for higher education, she and her friend shaved it all off in protest.”

So the but is to contrast bald vs short hair I think.

[Baron]

Yeah it makes sense now. I see it's contrasting the two times (at that time..., but 2 months ago). I guess I'd ignored the 彼时 in the sentence. Thanks both.