On Short and Long Hair
A conversation that has occurred quite often, lately:
“Hey, your hair is so long!”
or,
“Hey, your hair looks good!”
And I answer this with a scrunched nose and either, “I know!” or, “Thanks!” respectively. The scrunched nose, which happens no matter what, comes about from this reflexive thing that goes on inside my head - which feels undeserving of receiving compliments since I haven’t gotten a trim or cut or anything done to my hair for about a full year. Only I know this, and only I know my ends are dry and split. And every observation or compliment seems to be a reminder of this.
See, I used to spend boatloads on my hair. It never came down past my shoulders for over 3 years - and most of the time it was probably above my chin. “Appointment with Lauren” - with Lauren being a very talented Vidal Sasson grad - was its own item on my balance sheet about every other month. Every time I got a new cut, it was like taking a beauty-slash-fashion hit. I could wear a fuzzy, Juicy pant- Hanes sweats and I’d feel great out of the salon.
There’s something to having short hair, I think, that’s more revealing. See, with short hair I think you just have to have your “face on” all the time. Your face is more out there and there’s a tendency to feel … nekkid, so I tended to dress up a little for that girly component when my hair was short. I’ve even had hair “Winona Ryder short,” before, and there’s not much I can tell you about that time except that I felt the need to “glam up” in a few more ways. I needed to balance that ish out. In addition to that, I always had to have product in my hair, so overall the upkeep was also a lot more damaging to my wallet.
A major plus to short hair, though, is I think I looked older. It was a good image fit to my career. I think that since I even really enjoyed the attitude it projected at times it’s indicative that it was probably more reflective of my personality.
Long hair, you can hide behind. Guys generally like it better because, heaven forbid, their imagination doesn’t have to go into overdrive to imagine you as feminine. Maybe it’s just an L.A. thing; I’m not sure. Maybe it’s as simple as the fact that long hair means there’s an increased likelihood that the head from which it flows belongs to a girl. It’s as if we’re willing to cut out the work for you: “Good-bye, guesswork!”
I loved the way Lauren cut my hair so that it could be styled in so many different ways. I could spike it; I could leave it tousled. There was a lot of versatility and attitude involved. Though it could be a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence, I could swear there’s an Underground Society of Short-Haired Women (USSHW). It’s the coalition to which daring women everywhere belong and their mantra is: “No, I don’t freak out at seeing 10 inches of my hair on the floor next to your barber chair.”
I might have had a dream about it once. (Isn’t that so extreme?? It’s like having a piercing, or something.)
Meanwhile, I’ve saved a crapload of money on this ‘do, so I’m milking it. When I “go back to my roots” (har), maybe I’ll try donating to Locks of Love. Or maybe I’ll just sell it and donate the proceeds to a non-profit org of my choice.
I’m just a short-haired girl trapped in a long-haired woman’s body.
to them I say! OK, yes I envy the women on TV with their long, smooth tresses, but I KNOW my hair never does that even with professional help, so I try not to get too jealous.
Lol. But yeah, I’ll soon grow disgruntled, sure enough, and definitely chop it. I would give it another couple months. Is your hair length still current with what’s in your gravatar? It looks cute, with its color! Now I want color (again)!
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