Chip Chop

I have terrible anxiety about getting my hair cut. Years ago, I went to Dollar Cuts and got the most horrendous cut ever. I cried for days. My mom suggested that I go back and have the girl fix it, which made me cry even harder. I've mostly gotten over it, but I don't EVER look forward to someone approaching my head with scissors.

After months and months of letting my hair grow into an unruly, unwashed, split-ended, tangle-y mess, I decided it was time to chop off a couple inches, and - who knows - maybe style it a tiny bit! This was a huge step for me after a whole summer of ponytails and bandannas. I had very much grown accustomed to the hippie-ness of my nasty hair.

I thought I could get the best of both worlds by trimming it up just a bit to give it some style, but leaving it long enough to pull into my beloved ponytail. Here were my explicit instructions to the hairdresser: 1/2 an inch off the front (so it lays just below my collar bone), and round it out around my collar in the back so it will be a longer a-line. Stack the layers just a teensy tiny bit. Trim up my bangs so they look like they're there on purpose and not a mishap with the scissors.

Shouldn't be too hard, right? One hour later, the girl spins me around in the chair to look in the mirror for the first time and....MY HAIR WAS GONE! Completely 100% chopped off. She must have had a hearing problem because somehow collar bone translated to chin, and 1/2 an inch suddenly became 5 inches. How does that even happen?! I should have ran out of the salon early on when she mentioned that she forgot her own shears and wandered around looking for someone else's to borrow. So much for trusting humanity!

I was in such shock when I looked in the mirror that I couldn't even come up with one thing to say in response to my completely hacked off hair. I stumbled out of the salon in a complete daze - and I even tipped the girl! Why? I have no idea. It was a good tip, too! I am an idiot. I'm thinking a bit of retaliation is in order. Egging her car perhaps?

All I've been able to think about today is how heartbroken I am that I have to do my hair the same way every single day. I can barely even pull it half back! Plus I'll have to wash it every day. This situation just gets worse and worse by the second.

Luckily, hair grows (even if it is ever so slowly, in my case) and life goes on. Perhaps someday I won't hyperventilate when I look in the mirror.

Before haircut from hell...

(sorry...this isn't the best picture. I couldn't find any other recent ones with my hair down. But look how long and beautiful it was getting!)

After...

Bah. It's gone.