In my opinion, your hair is an extension of your personality. Â The color, the style, all aspects speak to who you are. Â Throughout my life, I toyed with my hair. Â I was never sure what style or color fit my personality. Â In seventh grade, I chopped off all my hair into a short bob. Â After that traumatizing haircut, I began to let my hair grow out. Â I tried highlights and dyed my hair dark red (bad decision), but always kept the length generally long. Â The summer between my junior and senior year of high school I dyed my hair blonde for the role Elle Woods in the musical Legally Blonde, and my life was changed. Â I finally found a color that fit my sunny disposition! I loved the idea of having long blonde hair;Â I felt that it perfectly fit who I was.
I kept my hair long and blonde for the remainder of my high school career and well into college. Â As time went on, I felt like my hair became stringy and straggly. Â It sort of just hung next to my face and would get greasy extremely fast. Â I had been seeing photos on Pinterest more and more often of the “lob” (long bob) haircut and always thought it was adorable, but nothing I could pull off. Â I finally made the decision to chop off my long locks during a weekend trip to Lake Powell. Â My hair was out of control, it looked unhealthy and was hard to style and deal with on the trip. Â I made an appointment for a haircut as soon as I got back.
I’m sure you know the feeling of sitting in the chair at the hair salon, looking at yourself in the mirror and thinking, “am I making a great decision, or the worst choice of my life”. A bit mellow dramatic, I know, but I had not cut my hair since seventh grade!!! I was so used to looking at a reflection with hair that hung well past my breasts.  As soon as I told the hair stylist that I wanted the majority of it off, she grabbed the bottom of my hair and chopped it all off. “Easier to wash” she said.  I watched about half of the length of my hair fall to the floor.  I was so nervous that I would regret this decision. Â
Once my hair was washed, she began to clean it up and took more and more length off.  All of my nerves turned to pure bliss though as I felt my hair become lighter and lighter.  With each snip my smile grew wider, and once she was done blow drying it and adding the layers, I was practically jumping for joy.  Changing up my style made my feel like a new woman, as cliche as that sounds.  It was bouncy, it was fun, and it was a little bit edgy.  I looked more mature and loved how simple and healthy it was.  As scared as I was to begin with, I gained a new level of confidence once it was all finished. If any of you are thinking of changing your hair, DO IT! You might just discover a whole new side to yourself.