I needed to lose 5 lbs, so I cut my hair off.

Hair before

Hair after

I have really thick, heavy hair. It’s like the rain forest.

I’m really proud of my hair. I’ve always thought I had good quality hair density.

When I was three years old, my long, blonde, wavy hair was halfway down my back. My grandmother noticed how docile I was and told my mother she needed to cut my hair because it was “sapping her energy”. My mum thought she was crazy, that I was just a mellow kid. That summer she gave me a Dorothy Hamil pageboy and she said that it was like I was floating I had so much energy! I became a normal kid!

Weird, right?

Wrong.

I have this long, thick, wavy hair. When you run your fingers through it, you can get lost. It is SO heavy. It hurts my neck. Several times in my life I have grown it out long because it’s so pretty, but I can’t handle the weight or the maintenance of it. It doesn’t matter how many layers I get, it’s still so thick and so heavy.

Also, it doesn’t grow straight down like Marsha, Marsha, Marsha, it grows OUT. Like a triangle. I grew it down to my waist when I was on my mission, and it was like a cape around my shoulders in the winter time. That was a good thing because it helped to keep me warm. In the summer, I just French braided it and tucked it up so that it wouldn’t weigh me down.

I was growing my hair long so that I would have long beachy hair for our trip to Kauai. It was driving me crazy because there was so much of it, but I endured. I found that if I invested the time to blow it out, that the style would last for days and I didn’t have to do it every day. It takes 20 to 30 minutes to blow out my hair. In order for it to be done properly, I have to section it off in four layers, blow it out with a big round brush, and then flat iron all the sections.

My arms and shoulders hurt so much after spending so much time up above my head. Between washing it (ten minutes of scrubbing and making sure that all the soap got rinsed out), having my wet hair be EVEN more heavy, and then all the sectioning, blow drying, and flat ironing, it was a wonder I didn’t have massive guns. Drying my hair was exhausting.

I had planned on cutting it off into a shaggy bob when I got back from Kauai, but a couple of girls in my neighbourhood just cut off their long hair into the exact same haircut, and I didn’t want to look like I was copying them, so I debated whether or not I was ready to cut if off just then. Maybe I should wait until spring or something.

When we got back from Kauai, I noticed my weight was up to 165, so I decided it was time to chop. The last time I cut my hair off two years ago, I got a longer pixie/shorter shag cut and I really liked it, so that’s what I got.

I feel free again!

The only downside is that this haircut does not look good curly. I have to at least iron my bangs. I’m okay with doing this as it takes less than 10 minutes to do my hair now. That includes washing.

The funny thing is, my hair cannot be around humidity or it curls. Living in Utah, that is not usually a problem, but this month has been one of the wettest Februarys that I can remember, so my cowlick is now out in full force.

Ah the irony…