I’d like to think that I’m pretty nonchalant when it comes to my hair and the length/style of it. Although I’ve had some pretty questionable haircuts over the years, I usually got over it within a few days and was able to work around it until my hair grew back, which luckily for me, grows fairly quickly. Over the last few weeks, though, I’ve noticed that I care a lot more about my hair than I was willing to admit to myself.
I had decided not too long ago to cut my hair after I had been telling my friends and family for months that I was thinking of cutting it shorter. They all urged me to do it since I had had a shorter cut before and they said I’d be able to rock it. Well, a few weeks ago, I finally stopped telling myself that I was going to do it sometime soon and I made an appointment at a local salon to actually cut it. I kept it a secret from everyone except for my mom thinking that it would be a big surprise to all my friends when they saw me with a new look- and surprised they were.
When the day finally came to cut my hair I still didn’t know exactly what I wanted. I knew I had to cut off enough for people to notice, but other than that I wasn’t 100% sure. I was told my stylist was a pro at creating bob style haircuts, so on a whim, I told her to go for it. When we worked out the length of the new cut, she asked me if I had ever thought about donating my hair. While I had thought about it in the past, I had never done it. Since I had coloured my hair in the past I assumed I was automatically disqualified from donating, but the receptionist at the salon told me that Locks of Love would take coloured hair. I said sure and that was that- she put my hair into a ponytail and snipped it off.
As I sat anxiously in the chair while the stylist worked on making my cut chic and doable, I thought to myself “what have I done!?” I immediately started calculating how long it would take for my hair to grow out- even if just a few inches! I left the salon feeling sad and angry with myself. I was sad that I had lost a part of my identity- my long hair. I could no longer feel it tickling my back and when I ran my fingers through it I wasn’t prepared for how suddenly it stopped. I was also angry at the fact that I was letting myself get so worked up over something so miniscule as a haircut.
As I went home I convinced myself it wasn’t that bad, but as soon as I saw my mom I started crying. I told her how I hated the cut and she told me she loved it and that she thought I looked beautiful (I think we can all agree that when our mother tells us we’re beautiful it goes in one ear and out the other- of course she thinks I’m pretty, she made me!!).
Later that night as I was standing in my bathroom with a flat iron in one hand and a Kleenex in the other, I thought about what was going to happen to my hair. It would be made into a wig, but for whom? Upon doing some research I found out that Locks of Love provides wigs to young people under the age of 21 who are suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.
After finally realizing that my hair was going to someone who needed it way more than I did, I felt better about the state of my own new ‘do.
While I was going to feel uncomfortable for a few months until my hair grew a few inches, many young people out there would be feeling this comfortableness for a lot longer than a few months. The fact that I had gotten so emotional over my hair made me very angry with myself. Instead of being sad for myself, I should have been thinking how people with hair loss causing diseases felt everyday that they had to face the world without hair. From that moment on, I decided that I would think about those people before complaining about my hair.
If you’d like to donate your hair (which I urge you to do!) there are many charities you can choose from. Here are a few that I’ve looked into: