Med. chop? Reevaluating hair goals

[Doreen]

For some background info, currently I am an inch or so beyond knee. Longest I have ever been is 3" past knee.

Recently in the past couple of weeks I have seriously been considering chopping back to Classic or even TBL for a couple of reasons. I have noticed a big increase in damage near the ends of my hair and I think this is because I like to tie the ends of my braids into knots to make them a bit shorter and more manageable, not getting caught in things etc. (I am a full time student and wear a backpack for most of the day.) The ends are thinner and full of white dots. I also really miss being able to wear my hair down. I have gained a lot of weight recently due to some medical issues and feel that wearing it up all the time is not as flattering in light of that.

At the same time, the thought of cutting that much off (10"!!!) makes me so sad because in spite of the damage, I have taken so much care to get my hair this long and it is still healthy overall. There is about 4" of damage which I could just trim off, but I think I would still feel the urge to tie the ends up just to keep them out of the way, therefore inflicting more damage, etc. My goal used to be terminal, then changed to floor/ankle, and now I am not so sure. Knee is manageable but I don't enjoy managing it the way I used to back when I was trying to get from TBL to classic (when I first joined). Maybe chopping would give me some excitement back? Another thing is that I am not so much into trimming and maintaining because I am so busy with classes, so if I chopped I might still end up back at knee in a couple of years from sheer laziness...

I don't know. The main thing that prevents me from chopping is that I am just not sure about what my "goal" is. For a while I didn't mind growing aimlessly but I feel like if I chop it then decide my goal is floor then that's a big setback. I am just uncertain and would love to hear your experience or advice.

[Nique1202]

I think in your case I would split the difference and chop about 5-6 inches. That's only one year's setback if you think you made a mistake, but it would get rid of most of your current damaged ends and still leave you lots to play with until you decide either way.

How do you feel about a little fringe or a thin face-framing layer at about shoulder length? Especially with darker hair, I find that having a section come down around the face on either side tends to be very camouflaging if you're insecure about carrying weight in your face, as it hides the wider parts of the cheeks from the front, even if it's a very small section (I'm talking maybe two or three square centimeters at your usual parting).

Or, build your hair upward with braids instead of leaving them loose. Your hair should be plenty long enough to make a small braid starting near the nape and wrap it around like a hairband, pin it at the sides as you wrap and then back at the nape and then gather it into your updo. Even if the braid is pretty thin, it'll add some visual interest to the front and it won't look so boring and unflattering, you know? You might even try wearing a coronet braid, either sewn with ribbon like hair taping for days at a time or pinned in place with spin pins, since that will add height to your head so that any width in your face will be less obvious.

[spidermom]

I hope you figure out what is right for you. I am finding that every single day brings up conflicting desires with my hair. No matter what I do, it isn't quite right.

[truepeacenik]

At classic, I got ends in everything anyway.

What about a braid that loops up? Like tucking ends into the top of the braid?

See
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=89087&page=19&p=2276845&viewfull=1#post2276845