In the last 12 months I’ve cut my hair twice. That’s it. That doesn’t count, of course, the occasional bang trim I gave myself. Once in November, and once again in May. For the last few weeks I’ve toyed with the idea of another cut. At first I told myself I’d just get a trim. I liked the length and being able to pull it back, but the bulk of it around my face was getting to be too much. So I told myself I’d just have them trim it so I could keep pulling it back but it would be more layered and even.
And then, as it usually does, it evolved into more than that. I started scouring the internet for cut ideas, which then led to me seeing all these adorable cuts – making me miss my short pixie cut I had a few years ago. Which then started a whole evening of the stressful “do I or don’t I?” game where I talk about how much I miss my short hair and my husband then counters with all the reasons why I love my longer hair and reminding me of how long it took me to grow it out and the old standby: “You’re going to miss being able to pull it back in a pony tail.” But those short cuts! Gah! Love them. I decided to go halfway with it to start so I’m not totally giving up my length to go back to a pixie (plus, hello! Winter is coming. At some point soon, at least.) Besides, I feel more… professional, I guess, with shorter hair. Not that you can’t be professional with long hair – there’s just something, for me, about having a shorter cut that makes me feel less flirty and more business. Which is important since I have a business to run.
When I got in the car today and took my “before” photo before heading to the salon I almost chickened out. I mean, my hair felt dry and awful, but that picture? It looks fabulous. And I could probably do what I originally intended and just have a trim. But you know what? Hair grows back. So I went for it (kinda). I went with an angled cut, shorter in the back and graduated in length to frame my face. Short layers to help my natural curls lay right. The inspiration pic I had was shorter, and in my fear of hating the cut I opted to leave it a bit longer.
I’m not going to lie – looking at the before and after… I kinda wish I hadn’t cut it. There’s a lot of time invested in growing that hair out. But at the same time I sit here with my new cut and I love it. It will curl better and dry faster and require far less product to maintain (always a good thing). We’ll see if I decide to maintain this or if I decide to grow it back out again. At least this time around it shouldn’t take 2 years.
