Cut your hair!

Have you considered cutting all your hair off before? Been there. And now, for the past year, done that.

Here’s my honest review of having short hair for the first time since being victimized by a bob in second grade: Just do it. Is it going to take some time to find your style? Sure, but it is sooo worth it, and it’s been my favorite hair-related decision so far.

I grew my hair out and kept it relatively long for a long time. In my memory, it was only really short twice– in second grade when I donated 18 inches of my hair to Locks of Love and was left with a blunt and overall awful bob, and in 2020 when my mom got a little too

scissor-happy and forgot that my thick wavy hair would shrink up and poof out.

Both instances were kind of (absolutely) a disaster.The blunt bob with my cavernous childhood teeth gap, the pyramid-shaped hair that appeared in my 15th birthday pictures and could not be tamed. Between and after those cuts, I didn’t let it get any shorter than my

shoulders, and at its longest, it reached my mid-back. This length was most often up in a bun because I had no clue how to care for my hair texture, and it was too much work for a high school athlete to do hair every night. I bet if I had just cut it, I would’ve run faster.

My hair texture always confused me. As a child, it was fine and straight, but as I got older, around middle school, it became incredibly thick and wavy-curly but

remained straighter on the top layer. I tried a lot of products and routines, yet nothing really worked. I’m sure the sheer volume didn’t lend me any helping hands,

either. To put it into perspective, I could put my hair into five buns. Yes, five. I could stick pens and pencils in my hair, and they would stay suspended.

Throughout high school, I pretty much just grew it out and barely got trims. I didn’t care to deal with it, and it got to the longest it had ever been. The Alabama

heat and humidity dragged the weight of my hair even heavier, and I constantly complained about my hair.

After a few years of going back and forth with it, and some shoulder-dusting trims, I finally made the decision last year after I moved in to chop it. My mom told me I

would regret it, and I was honestly sure I would. I was tired of dealing with the upkeep, the cost of products, the excessively long showers to wash and detangle, subsequently the tangles and knots, the weight and thickness of my hair and mostly how hot it was in the

summer.

... I walked out of the salon with a glorified mullet. You know what, it was fine. I kept more length in the back for some reason, but it was still pretty short. So what, it was fine, it’ll grow back. I wasn’t super happy with it, and my mom was right. I almost kind of regretted it. Moments of panic ensued where I was sure I looked like a frat boy (no offense) and that I was never going to recover. What’s a good haircut without existential dread?

Overall, though, it was great. Not hot, not hard to manage. It was a learning curve to style it, and I wasn’t used to not being able to just put my hair up. I felt like a new person. I have continued to trim it short since, found a better stylist who actually cuts it right and I’ve

never been happier with my hair.

For a full year now I’ve had short hair, and it’s been fantastic. I found a cut that suits me, and I’ve nailed down styling it. I still fight the humidity that turns me into a glorified cotton ball, the bedhead is unparalleled, and I’m now learning what to do with bangs, but bar none, it’s awesome.

Now don’t do anything rash, don’t all jump out of your seats and go chop your hair off. However, if you’ve been considering it for a long time, go for it. Chances are, you’ll love it.