For the past few months, I have wanted to cut my hair short. I have had long hair for a while and have been feeling a little bit bored with it. Not only is long hair a pain to take care of, but it is rare that I actually do anything with it. In turn, I am left with a mop of air dried, half-dyed hair. But every time I think about actually making the chop, I hear a little voice in my brain telling me, "But you’ve been growing it for so long. You’ve just figured out the best way to curl it and it will take such a long time to grow back.” The voice guilts me into keeping my long hair, promising to try out new looks in the future. But the thing is, I never keep this promise. Now I’m making a list of all the reasons why long hair is a pain. Maybe this will push me to make the cut.
1. Hair everywhere
One of the biggest problems with having long hair is that it gets everywhere, and it is disgusting. As a person who sheds often, everything I own is full of hair. My clothes, my bed, the couch, the carpet. Hair collects in every nook and cranny, including the armpits of all articles of clothing. Traveling with a mini lint roller just so it doesn’t look like Rapunzel is trying to escape from your armpits is really a pain.
2. Showering
The shower is no exception for hair getting everywhere. Long hair is the shower’s worst nightmare. The drain is constantly clogged and the shower walls get covered in loose hair that comes out while washing, leaving you with a ball of hair to deal with when you get out. Sure, it’s normal for hair to shed in the shower, but having long hair just makes it that much worse.
Not only does hair shed everywhere in the shower, it also seems to get extra tangled. Somehow my hair is always more tangled when I come out of the shower than when I go in. No matter how smoothly I brush it before I hop in, I come out with a knotted mess of sopping wet hair.
3. Expenses
The cost of having long hair is tremendous. Long hair seems to suck up an endless amount of shampoo and conditioner. Having to fill up your bottle of shampoo every month gets expensive. As a college student, I don't have the money to keep up with that. Not only are there the expenses of shampoo and conditioner, but don’t forget about the long hair accessory necessities: hair binders and bobby pins. If you want to be really fancy, you might even invest in buying hairspray and dry shampoo.
4. Long hair and vehicles
Long hair and vehicles just don't mix however hard I try. There is always something that ends up going wrong, pinching or pulling. Whether it is getting your hair stuck in the door when you try to close it (yes, this actually happens to me on a semi-regular basis) or having your hair tangled with the seat belt.
But the biggest problem with having long hair and being in the car is having the windows rolled down. Picture this: It’s a hot summer day and you’re driving around town. It is so nice out that you want to have the windows down. Think again, because you do not want the windows down. Long hair + open windows = constant rearranging of hair, holding it down to stay in place, picking it out of your mouth because the wind keeps blowing it in there, and eventually when you get out of the car, you are left with a big tangled mess.
5. Time
Having long hair eats up a lot of time. Just brushing it takes a lot of time, especially on days that there are a lot of snarls. Getting out a tough knot can take up to five minutes, and you actually have to take your time because if you don’t, you end up ripping out a chunk of hair. Styling is an entirely different time consuming issue. On average it takes me 20-25 minutes to blow dry my hair. If you add in the time to straighten/curl the long locks, the time it takes to get ready steadily goes up. Usually it takes about an hour to wash, blow dry and curl my hair. If I’m not feeling up to blow-drying, my hair takes at least an hour and a half to dry, sometimes more.
6. Unpredictability
When I wake up in the morning, I am hit with a sense of dread because I have no clue what my hair is going to look like or how much time it will take to fix. Some mornings my hair looks glorious, like I didn’t sleep on it at all. No pieces sticking up at odd angles and no frizz. Other mornings it is a completely different story. One look at my head and you’d think I was doing a complicated gymnastics routine in my sleep.
7. The daily routine
Wake up. Look in the mirror, horrified. Hop in the shower. Debate whether I want to spend the time blow drying. Decide it’s not worth it, and let it air dry
8. Constant desire for change
On a day-to-day basis, my hair is in one of three styles: air-dried and down, in a ponytail or in a bun. Because I am often too lazy to actually blow dry and style my hair in a presentable manner, I am constantly wishing for a change. This makes it especially hard to be happy with the way my hair is. I am in a constant state of wanting to cut it and wanting to keep it.
9. Ouch
Long hair can be physically painful. The daily brushing of the mane hurts like hell and it doesn’t take long for it to become knotted again. Having your hair in a pony for more than five hours tends to leave you with a lasting headache and straighteners and curling irons leave instant burns when touched. Having long hair can be a pain (literally) to take care of.
Long hair can be beautiful, sleek and voluminous. But it can also be a pain in the butt. I think I’m ready to make the chop.
