Help me out ... I've got the scissor bug!

[Elithia]

Maybe it's that I've been making a lot of big life decisions in the last few weeks, but I am so. sick. of. my hair, and I am itching to just cut it all off. It's only a couple inches from classic, which I've been dreaming of for years but it's tangly all the time and I can't wear it down and I'm sick of buns. Also I live in a really dry climate and it's less and less curly at this length, which makes me sad. It's taken 3.5 years to grow it out from chin-length (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=3852&d=1366166560) and the deal I made with myself then (feb. 2010) to ride out my periodic scissor-itch was that I would keep growing till May 2014, full stop. And then if I hated it, I'd cut it.

Help me control myself and hang in there for these next 8 months please! I've taken to browsing curly haircuts and that is not good news. My S.O tells me I should cut a few inches and see how I feel then (I cut it myself so whatever I do it won't cost anything), but that is not what my scissor-itch is about. It wants the full chop, 25 inches in one fell swoop or something. Plus the promise was no cuts except slight trims so I'd still be breaking my little deal with myself.

I've always loved it long, the longer the better. Not today. I have sudden onset hair hate.

(my hair in June (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=6342&d=1379354825) and early August (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5793&d=1376521343) this year, when it was slightly shorter and I was still feeling good about it)

[Flor]

Hide those scissors! Hide them good!

If still itchy in a few weeks, revisit the few inches trim idea. Deal or no deal, a good trim might be enough to bring hair peace to you at a much lesser cost than a giant chop.

[ravenheather]

It's your hair and you have to be happy with it. That being said I think your hair is gorgeous. Also seems a shame to give in this close to your goal.

[vendethiel]

I agree with Flor, hide the scissors! If you do a massive chop right now, I think you will really regret it. Give yourself some time (a few weeks, at least) then start small, you can always cut more later. Sometimes these feelings of wanting a major life change can be strictly emotional and when we look back, we really regret a rash decision. You may feel like you want to get rid of all your hard work right now, but in a few weeks you could find yourself heartbroken. Make sure this is a permanent decision, not a temporary one. Until then, start researching some curly hair styles for your current hair length: half-ups, braids, a snood, maybe even a deposit only dye, something, anything different that doesn't involve scissors!

[spidermom]

All I can do is commiserate. I want to go to the salon RIGHT NOW so that I don't talk myself out of it. I got my hair caught under a drawer pull knob this morning and ripped some hairs out, had to break off others because I couldn't get it out, and I didn't have scissors within reach. :( I'm just so tired of it all!

That wasn't very helpful, was it? Sorry.

[Anje]

Have you had your hair as short as you're considering going before? Did you like it? What didn't you like about it? Would you be able to stand the styling time that short hair would need, now that you're used to long hair? Think about those things to start with.

Um, failing that, you could have someone else hide the scissors. Go try a different updo, not just a bun, and consider doing some sort of moisture treatment (or whatever works for you) to re-moisturize your length and encourage some more curls.

Good luck!

[robin000]

I would second your S.O.'s advice. You could be surprised and find that a relatively small cut feels like a huge change (and alleviate some of those problems that are annoying you at your current length).

I'd been annoyed at how heavy and tangly my blunt-cut, tailbone length-hair was until I trimmed a few inches off the total length, added in some gentle layers, and shaped it into a slight U a couple of days ago. When I cut my hair, I always try to think of each snip foremost in terms of time. I know my hair grows about 8 or 9 inches a year, so I only trimmed about 4 months off the total length and cut in about another 8 months for the layers. I try never to cut more in one day than I can undo in under a year. I'll probably actually trim it a couple more times in the near future until I hit a sweet spot.

Either that, or dive into another creative project to distract yourself. Good luck!

[Deekers]

it sounds like a good time to experiment with a faux bob, involving pinning your hair up to look like a bob, you can find examples of how to do this on youtube, and have a fun new hairdo. If you want to do a trim that should be fine, but i urge you to wait on a big cut until you are 100% sure, cutting off all that length takes seconds, but growing it back takes years.

[Elithia]

Hey everyone, thanks for your encouragements :) I've had my hair about a zillion different lengths -- the reason for the Great Pact of 2010 was that I was caught in a grow to waist/hip, then cut super-short cycle. It's the same feeling I always used to get around the 2-year mark, and I've made it three and a half without cutting, but I think it's because at shorter points I always just honed in on how it would feel when it was "really long". It's "really long" now, I guess. Not for LHC standards maybe, but it's long enough that I sit on it by accident (or other people do) when it's down, and I expected that to feel exciting but it's just meh.

I think I might do a 1/4" trim and then maybe do a tiny bit of layering/shaping and see how I feel about that. :) Start slow indeed.

[goldenlady]

I get the same bug.. I leave them at home when I go to Uni so I'm not tempted! Maybe leave them in a safe place? If you're like me you will refuse to cut with anything but hairdressing scissors so won't be tempted by ordinary ones x

[CrazyDaysHair]

I'm on the same boat with everyone here! I have that scissor bug pretty bad recently for all the white dots I had in my hair a week ago. Since I chopped 98% of them out, I keep my eye on my ends to see if I need to chop off more! :rolleyes: it's bad, I know.

I would suggest hiding your scissors! (or have someone hide them so you don't know where they are!) That would help imo :)

[Elithia]

Advice was good advice. This is what I get for taking a sick day! (A bad cold combined with cramps = slept 11 hours and couldn't get out of bed in the morning, but feeling fine this afternoon without going back to work, heh)

I am so impetuous! I just gave myself long layers. I switch my part around a lot, so my hair always looks a little layered, but it was shoulder-length the last time layers were cut into it so hair by hair it all was pretty much the same length. Part of the reason I've been losing my curls? I thought I'd try.

It looked instantly better when I started cutting. Because I'm curly I basically just cut ringlet by ringlet with abandon. So the longest hairs are the same length but there's a LOT more taper (before I had almost none) and quite short layers around my face. It feels much much shorter with no super long bits in the front. I guess there's some truth when they say that people with iii hair should think about layers. It feels much lighter. Will I miss my super-thick braid? Definitely. Has it saved my length? I think so. This itch has been going on the last week.

The trash can in the bathroom looks like an entire head of hair ended up in it (curl=volume)...

Edit: I should probably tell SO to hide the scissors for me so that I don't become addicted. This is the first time I've let them near my hair apart from dusting in a loooooooong time, and I forgot how good it feels. ;)

[jacqueline101]

Your hair is pretty please don't cut it.

[lapushka]

Maybe do a slight trim. That might help you feel better about your ends, and the tangling (clarified recently?). My experience with hair starting to become awkward is it's best to trim a bit now than to take a whole chunk off from lingering frustration.

ETA: oh I see you've cut yourself some layers! Just what I had done about 3 weeks ago (short layers, ponytail on the forehead method). Love it and I didn't have to sacrifice any length for it!

[nakima]

your hair is very pretty so maybe try telling yourself that this urge shall pass, just get thru this winter and in the spring you can decide and btw 3.5 years from chin to almost classic is awsome growth! good luck and be happy with what ever you decide to do.

[ositarosita]

I get the scissor bug about every 6 months or so, I'm just a very scissor happy person (on my own hair.. I hate cutting off length on others) so instead of hiding the scissors on myself I get my SO to hide the scissors on me.. because lets face it, if you know where they are sooner or later you'll go get them. He now has the scissors hidden until I reach APL. Good luck with 1/4" trim and shaping, I hope that's as far as it goes.