For ten years, from third grade to freshman year of college, there was a great big bush attached to my scalp. My hair had the distinct texture of a Brillo pad: dry, frizzy, nothing but split ends— generally very unpleasant. I even tried two years of Mane ‘N’ Tail horse shampoo to try and coax my locks into smoothness. But what bothered me the most, I think, is that it wouldn’t grow. I’d given in to the pixie cut craze in elementary school and had gotten nothing but trims ever since. My hair was an inch or two past my shoulders when I started high school, and when I left, it was barely reaching boob length. I thought that if I could get it long enough—think Miley Cyrus in the Can’t Be Tamed years—it would flow prettily down my back. But it just wasn’t meant to be. I tried bangs, layers, and even blue extensions to try and distract myself from the fact that my hair was driving me absolutely insane.
I think it was the thick heat of my dorm that made me snap, in the end. The weight of all that hair on the back of my neck made me feel constantly sticky. So by the time Fall Break rolled around, I knew I had to abandon my dreams of Miley hair. I wanted to cut it all off.
Here we go—here’s why you should follow my lead and cut off all your hair (or at least some of it) this upcoming break!
Fare thee well long hair. The occasional side ponytails weren’t worth it.
1. NOT ALL HAIR IS MEANT TO BE LONG
Stop looking at that girl who sits next to you in your core history class and wondering how the hell she got her hair that long without extensions. I tried growing my hair for years with all the serums and conditioning treatments I could find— but nothing would stop it from breaking. Turns out it wasn’t my fault, and it’s probably not yours, either.
This article from “Today I Found Out” explains the science quite well: basically, your follicles have a limited cycle during which they produce new hair. It could be 24 months, it could be 48 months, or it could be even longer depending on your genetics. But after that cycle is over, the hair falls out. This is the reason why your eyebrows can’t grow to the same length that the hair on your scalp can.
I can’t even begin to describe how much softer, smoother, and all around better my hair became after I cut it short. Probably because I stopped trying to keep it attached to my head after it was meant to fall out.
My first plunge into short hair—WHO’S WHO, YOU CAN’T EVEN TELL THE DIFFERENCE, HONESTLY.
2. THERE’S A SHORT CUT FOR EVERY FACE SHAPE
This is mostly here to dispute the myth that only certain people can have short hair. If you’re thinking of cutting your hair but you think your face is too round/narrow/long/whatever, don’t fret! The Internet is your best friend in this instance. About.com has a great detailed guide to picking out the best haircut for your face shape. I also love scrolling through F**k Yeah Short Haired Women before I go in for a cut—celebrities are wonderful for reference pictures, but sometimes you just need the reassurance of knowing a regular person can pull off a certain look.
Long hair also runs the risk of hiding your beautiful face! My favorite example to use is Carey Mulligan—with long hair, she blends in with the crowd. With short hair, though, she’s an absolute bombshell:
3. SHORT HAIR DOESN’T MEAN BOYISH HAIR
I might be dissolving into combatting short hair myths, but I feel this one is important. First and foremost, I know so many girls who work the androgynous look like they’re getting paid for it. There are short haircuts that are more masculine and those can look fierce as anything. But there are also short haircuts that are exceedingly feminine. You do you, in my opinion, you go for the look you want to go for—but don’t cross short hair off your list just because you think it’ll make your face too manly.
Because really, anyone who thinks Carey Mulligan looks like anything but the sweetest apple in the orchard with her post-Gatsby hair is off their rocker. (I’m sorry to keep referencing her, but who doesn’t want to look like Carey Mulligan?)
4. SHORT HAIR CAN WORK FOR ALL HAIR TYPES AND ISN’T AS HIGH MAINTENANCE AS YOU MIGHT THINK
I’m mostly putting this in here because my sister’s immediate reaction to my decision to cut my hair off was that I couldn’t, since mine is curly. That is silly and wrong. Sure, I was a little afraid that I’d come out looking like a human Q-tip, but I couldn’t have been more off—on top of being much, much healthier, I also feel that my hair experiences more of its natural texture now that it’s short. When it was short, it weighed itself down too much to curl properly, thus resulting in the large poof that drove me up a wall. Don’t get me wrong—it curls everywhere now. But that’s what it’s supposed to do.
I do realize that not everyone has my hair type, though. This is another time when F**kYeahShortHairedWomen is a great resource—there’s inevitably someone with your exact hair type and color showing off their new ‘do.
Also—again, speaking from personal experience—my hair is lower maintenance than when it was long. All I do is dampen it in the morning so it can re-curl properly after my bedhead. I have a friend with a pixie cut who prefers Twiggy-esque straightness—she wears a ski cap to bed, and when she wakes up, it’s already done.
Shot hair don’t care
5. IT FEELS AWESOME
I’m not entirely sure how else I could describe this. Few things are more satisfying than running your hands through your hair after a trim and suddenly nothing there where it was before. There’s just something really empowering about haircuts that’s multiplied when you’re going short. Don’t question it! You have to cut your hair to know what I’m talking about! Aren’t you curious?
6. IT GROWS BACK
This is your chance. When’s the next time you’re going home? Thanksgiving? Christmas? How many of you actually get your hair done out here at school? (I actually just started getting trims at the Ulta in Plymouth Meeting, but that’s a story for another time… and it’s significantly harder if you don’t have a car on campus.)
The thing is, what’s the worst that could happen? Your friends will fawn over your cut for a few weeks, you’ll get to experiment with new hair accessories, and if you hate it, it’ll grow back faster than you think. I suppose that’s the one thing I really dislike about having short hair: you have to get it cut more often to maintain the style. So if, at the end of the day, you prefer your hair long—good news! It will grow back. In the meantime, wear your hair with confidence. That’ll make you look better than any cut.