Red Hair Long, Red Hair Short

I have red hair. It has always *always* been long. Sometimes really long.

So long that to this day I have a habit of pulling my hair over my shoulder before I sit down to go to the bathroom.

When I turned 20 my college suitemates and I had this big party. My hair hadn't been cut in something like 2 years. Afterwards I saw the pictures. My hair was down to my hips. It looked positively ratty. I immediately walked into my most adventurous suitemate's room and asked her to cut it off up to my bra line.


Now, having her cut it instead of a professional may not have been the smartest move, but it sure did look better!

Finally, when I was 23 years old, I got my first professional haircut. And I will never go back to the way it was before. *Never* I'm still guilty of not getting it cut often enough. I hate paying $30 for a haircut. But I love how I feel afterwards. Love it. My still long hair feels light and airy and bouncy.

And my headaches usually go away, at least for a while.

And the length of my hair has slowly been creeping up ever since. It is still long, don't get me wrong. But below the shoulders above the bra line long. Not below the waist long.

Now I haven't cut my hair since October. I meant to go in March, but got sidetracked. Then in April I thought I'd just put it off til the wedding in July. I want to do my own up-do for the wedding, and having the layers more grown out will make it much easier. The problem? My head has been killing me lately! I can't guarantee that it is the hair. It could be the hormone change. It could be some sort of whack sinus infection. But I really think it is the hair.

I think I'm going to try to put up with it until after the wedding. I have been thinking about donating a bil ol' chunk to Locks of Love. The thing is that every time someone comments on how long my hair is getting, I've been mentioning that after the wedding I'm thinking about doing this. I'm guessing that to cut off 10-12 inches would put the hair just around the base of my neck. Then of course I'd get it styled. I dream about the freedom of shorter hair simultanously with fearing the loss of something I consider an identifying factor of me. It doesn't help that every person I've mentioned this kooky plan to has been like, "Noooo!! Don't cut your hair!! It is so beautiful long!"

It may be beautiful, but I'm getting sick of it. Isn't 25 years enough?