Getting over a haircut

So last Wednesday I went in to get my hair trimmed for the holidays, hoping to have an inch or so trimmed off the ends and the front shaped up around my face.

I sat down in the chair and asked for a 2” trim. The hairdresser cut the back of my hair, and then turned me around to look at it. I said “Wow… that looks short…” and she held up a piece of hair that was close to 5 inches long and said “well, I just took two inches off!”

I let her finish my haircut, but told her I was not entirely sure what to think about the length, that it was way shorter than I’d expected. She kept stating that she’d only taken 2 inches off the ends.

I got home and realized I wasn’t mistaken. My hair is just about to the top of my shoulderblades when it’s dry. It was about to my bra strap just after getting it cut in September. I’m pretty sure I didn’t magically lose a bunch of hair between then, and in fact it should’ve been about an inch longer when I went in to cut it.

The proof, as they say, is in the pictures.

This is my hair immediately after having it cut in September:

Note that in this picture my hair is a fuzzy mess, because my stylist is a clueless noob that doesn’t know how to properly dry curly hair, and thinks teasing it with her fingers while aiming a diffuser at it is going to result in something other than looking like a deranged lion.

This is my hair after having it cut last week (and having styled it myself):

Now, I suppose with long hair it was only a matter of time before some stylist got the idea that she should just cut my hair to a length SHE thought was OK. And I did not actually pick up a ruler and say “I want THIS MUCH cut off, and no more, and if you cut more I’m not paying for my haircut” (which I’ve been told to do by other long haired women who attempt to get their hair cut by stylists instead of doing it themselves).

Everyone at work loves my hair, which is hard for me to swallow because while it does look “cute” (and it does frame my face nicely, and the curls are more stable) I can’t do any updos with it beyond a ponytail anymore. It doesn’t even really go into a bun, so I can’t use hair sticks, or hair forks, or any of my octopus clips.

This length makes it look much thicker, and the curls spring up a lot more, which I like… but it means doing my hair regularly instead of being able to take a shower before bed, sleep on it, and just pull it back into a sleek updo with pretty hair sticks the next day. Drying my hair takes about 20 minutes if I use a diffuser/blow dryer (and several hours if I let it dry on its own, in which case it tends to not curl as well, and likes to stick to my head like plaster).

My mom thinks this is a “more adult” length for my hair (she never liked it when it was long, and kept suggesting I cut it). SSH thinks it looks healthier and otherwise doesn’t have much of an opinion, though he does like the curls.

I just can’t get over how drastic it feels. It was less of a shock to go from tailbone length to mid back than it was to go from mid back to shoulder.