The Whole 9 Yards...okay it was only 10 Inches

I realize there are many of you who will read this and think this is quite possibly the dumbest thing you have ever heard. Nonetheless, I will risk my spotless reputation.

I have always liked having long hair. At one point in high school it reached all the way to my waist. Long hair. Its easy. Its versatile. Its low maintenance/inexpensive - I cut it only once every 6 months or so.

All my pregnancy books say NOT to cut your hair when you are pregnant because inevitably pregnant women hate their new haircut and it causes them emotional stress. You laugh. I’m serious. The books honestly say that.

Hubby does not like long hair. Hubby has been begging me to get it cut for somewhere around 2 years. And truthfully, lately I have been getting really tired of it - the long hair that is. I can’t seem to get it to look the way I picture it. Other people have hairstyles. I have a hair default. My hair goes immediately back to nearly the same condition whether I curl it or straighten it or... I was ready for a change. I got many "pep talks" from Hubby, but I was still very nervous about how it would turn out.

So yesterday evening at 5:45 I sat in my beautician’s chair, stared in the mirror at my long-haired reflection for one last time, and told her to chop off no less than 10 inches.

I have been growing my hair out for years and years. People would ask me why and I would look at them blankly and say "I have no idea". But today I put 10 inches of my long blonde hair in a envelope with appropriate documentation and mailed it off to Locks of Love. Somewhere out there I hope that some little girl who wants hair (but chemo or disease has taken hers away) will benefit from having some of mine. My hair will grow back. She doesn’t have that option. And so my intense fear of the unknown is replaced by feeling like a goofus for having been afraid of giving up something so minor. But I also feel like I did something purposeful. It makes me feel better knowing that the last 3 or 4 years of growing my hair out haven’t been all for me. Its been for her, whoever she is.