I DID IT!

Hello, Dear Readers! Remember last week's post about my hair?

Well, I did it!

Yep, this is me. I went out and got it done the day after I posted; I had reached the point where if I didn't get it cut professionally, I might have been tempted to have a go with the kitchen scissors (or snap and just rip it out with my bare hands). This is option two, basically, with some added layers in the front. A few pictures of me throughout the week - apologies for the terrible photo quality and lack of make-up in most of these:

Agent Carter-style 1940's retro curls

Blow-dried straight and pinned on one side

Modern, messy waves

I am looooving how washing and conditioning and combing out my hair takes about five minutes now. I used to actual-facts *dread* it because just making sure I had all the stuff out of my hair at the end used to take about fifteen minutes, and that was if I didn't accidentally dip it into any sudsy bits in the bath. Combing it through after washing? Another fifteen minutes, plus a detangling spray and leave-in conditioner. I don't think I really understood how much hassle it all was until I didn't have to do it anymore. At this length it takes about five minutes to rough-dry it with a blow-dryer, and perhaps three hours to completely air dry. At the previous length blow-drying (not anything fancy, just getting it dry-ish) took around 30mins. Air-drying was an all-night process - I'd sometimes wake up to find it was still damp.

I'm also having fun discovering all the new hair things which have been invented since the last time I dared to do anything interesting with mine. When your hair is really long you worship the fickle god of No Damage. You're terrified it'll all go horribly wrong if you so much as look at it funny. I blow-dried my hair less than once a month and probably used any kind of heated tool on it about three times a year. Having found a few products that worked on my hair half a decade ago, I stuck to them religiously and never wavered, just in case. My hairdryer was brought for me as a Christmas present about fifteen years ago and I kept on using it because it said 'Ionic' and 'Protect' on the box.

But apparently loads of fun stuff has been happening while I was playing Sleeping Hair Beauty (or would that be Rapunzel? Answers on a postcard). Like amazing products for your hair that don't make it feel sticky or crunchy yet hold your style in place! And cool appliances that you can use to make your hair do all these new things but somehow don't fry it! And looks that are less about being perfect and more about being a bit quirky and messy!

Quelle Surprise!

So anyway, it's been fun playing around with it. I might keep it at this length for a while, maybe experiment some more - just so long as I can keep the option of throwing it back into a ponytail, because that's a lifesaver some days.

Mainly what I wanted to say was: getting your very long hair cut doesn't have to be a big deal, so if you, too, are hesitating? I recommend you go for it. Your hair is not you. It's not even the best part of you. Take a risk. But make sure you have a great stylist! Good luck, cuties.