About a year and a half ago, my hair looked like this.
It was summer, it was hot, and I decided to buzz off all my hair. I did it myself at home, with a clipper I bought at a Canadian Target (RIP). I’d had short hair for a while prior to buzzing my hair, so I decided that after this, I was going to grow my hair out. Little did I know that this would turn into an 18 month process with lots of ups and downs, and hair gel. For those of you thinking of cutting your hair short (which I recommend to every girl out there – it’s the most liberating thing), or for those of you with short hair who are thinking of growing it out, I thought I’d document my hair journey so that you know what to expect. My first piece of advice – grow the top out first, and keep the sides and back short. This makes it easier to style, and will give you a better shape as you grow it out. If you let the sides and the back grow out too, you’ll start to grow a mullet. This picture was taken about two months after my first picture.
I also decided that, while my hair was growing out, I was going to play with colour.
THIS WAS NOT A GOOD IDEA. Try and get your hair as close to your natural colour as possible before growing it out. You need to keep your hair healthy as it grows out, because any trims that you get will be minimal and are just to shape your hair. My hair is pretty dry and brittle at the ends now, which isn’t ideal. Now comes the hard part – the part where your hair is inevitably going to look like your grandmother’s. At a certain point, you’re going to have to start growing out the sides of your hair once the top gets long enough.
You’ll want to keep trimming the back of your hair to avoid the mullet look, but I’ll be honest – it’s going to be hard to style your hair at this length. My hair naturally has a lot of body, so I went to the drugstore and got a good hair gel to keep my hair from going bushy. I used L’Oreal Paris Matte and Messy for day-to-day styling, and L’Oreal Paris Studio Indestructible Extreme Hold for a slicked-back look (which I unfortunately don’t have any pictures of). After that point, you’re going to keep growing out the top and sides of your hair until they meet the bottom of the back of your head, and then you can start growing out the bottom. This will take forever, but be patient! I can’t tell you the number of times I wanted to buzz off all my hair again, but I stuck with it. It will involve a few more awkward stages, including this one:
Invest in some cute hats. There will be some days when your hair won’t cooperate, or where you’ll want to give your hair a healthy break from heat and styling, and throwing on a cute hat is the best way to hide a bad hair day.
Also, try headbands – cute ones for days where you feel like giving up, and regular ones for days where you want your hair out of your face for the gym or for an exam.
Eventually, your hair will stop being so difficult and start to look like a bob. And when it does, you’ll probably run around your house like I did yelling, “IT’S A BOB! I FINALLY HAVE A BOB!”
My final tip is to be patient. There will be days where your hair is going to look like crap. It’s important to remember that it’s just hair, and that it will be worth it in the long run.