KH COMMENTARY: Chop Chop

A few years ago, I made the monumental mistake of cutting my hair short. I did it on a whim, a really stupid, irrational whim. My luscious long locks were hacked off into a blonde bob, one I didn't know how to style or maintain correctly and the whole drama resulted in me becoming self-concious and overly precious about my hair.

It was my own fault. I was the one who went in 'wanting a change.' I was the one who said "Sure, go ahead and chop it all off." I was the one who sat in the hairdressing chair while the hairdresser cut it way shorter than we discussed and I was the one who DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING.

We've all been there before. We've all sat in the hairdressing chair watching the hairdresser snip away our hard-grown tresses, our mouths clamped shut but our insides screaming, "STOP YOU HAIRDRESSING MASSACIST! STOP YOU SILLY EXCUSE FOR A PAIR OF SCISSORS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!" and yet not said a single word. That is, not until you've got home to the private safety of the bathroom where you ball your eyes out and clutch at the missing locks like they've been horrifically amputated.

When you've been through this kind of hairdressing trauma, you'll find stupid smart-arse people will make stupid smart-arse comments which are somehow meant to make you feel better. "It's just hair, it will grow back" is up there amongst the 10 Most Stupid Smart-Arse Comments Made By Stupid Smart-Arses. It's not just hair, it's an extension of one's physical character and confidence and it doesn't just grow back like some kind of refridgerated fungus. It takes time and time isn't something you have a lot of when you're nursing a haircut that looks like its been initiated with a rusty hacksaw. "Why didn't you say something when it was getting cut?" Because my hairdressing tunic turned into a straightjacket and I somehow managed to swallow my tounge. "Why didn't you say something after it was finished?" Because I didn't want to cry infront of the hairdresser and have to spend the next half an hour sitting infront of a mirror, staring at the thin line of mascara running down my cheeks. "Why don't you go back to the hairdresser and tell them you're unhappy with it?" Because I don't want to become the hairless by-product of Sweeney Todd meets Edward Scissorhands you unsympathetic fool!

Needless to say, while my hair did indeed grow back, I vowed never to go short again and for the last three years, I have been the happy hoarder of a crop of long, blonde locks which no hairdresser has managed to pry from my tight grasp.

Until yesterday, when I had them all chopped off again.

They say a change is as good as a holiday and after everything that I've been through over the last 10 months and despite all my vows and promises, perhaps a change was just what the hairdressing doctor ordered. The long hair had literally become a weight on my shoulders. So armed with opinions I was prepared to voice, I went to my (new and trustworthy) hairdresser for the big short chop. When I came away, there were no tears, no tantrums, no plans to send angry poison letters to my wayward hairdresser and absolutely no regrets.

It's funny how simply getting your hair cut can give you a new lease on life. Without the dead weight of long hair, I felt surprising relieved, like I had shed some sort of burdensome weight which had been holding me back. The world didn't seem like such an unconcorable place anymore. I felt adventurous. I felt like myself again, but a shorter, blonder, bolder version. Say hello to KH 2.0

Ciao for now. xo