Hair cutting and liberation

[Simms]

Can cutting your hair be freeing? I have slightly longer than BSL hair and I am getting the urge to snip and start over. Anyone have any experiences with this?

[Shadow Walker]

Well, to me growing my hair is more liberating than keeping it short.

[akurah]

I've regretted most chops I've ever made. I don't think cutting one's hair is any more liberating than cutting one's nails.

[Arianwen]

^ Agreed. Liberating is ditching your husband who's dragging you down, or getting rid of stuff you don't need.

Cutting your hair off = big mistake unless you seriously want short hair. It will take time to grow back. I've regretted my own hair chops.

[zift]

I doubt anyone will answer short hair is liberating,this is the long hair community...But I got some urges too eek ,just hold on there!Throw away the scissors and don't get close to hairdressers if you want your hair long.

[MadHatter]

I don't think cutting one's hair is any more liberating than cutting one's nails.
I agree :agree:

[jessie58]

I doubt anyone will answer short hair is liberating,this is the long hair community...But I got some urges too eek ,just hold on there!Throw away the scissors and don't get close to hairdressers if you want your hair long.

What she said!

[Calista]

Zift - oh no! Please don´t cut! :tmi:

[Neon Gloss]

I remember when my hair was BSL, I felt a horrible urge to cut it, and did.

It was far from liberating. It was heartbreaking.

[EdG]

Can cutting your hair be freeing?No.

Actually, it's the other way around: having long hair is liberation from haircuts. Especially bad ones. :happydance:

Please don't cut.
Ed

[Kallisti]

I think that taking control over one's own appearance is liberating. I knew a woman who had grown up being forced to have long hair and she hated it and envied short hair, cutting it did feel liberating to her. But the same could be said for someone who always felt pressured to have short hair, growing hair could then be very liberating. It's not that either act is actually liberating in itself, but that it's a good feeling to finally be able to express yourself.

Growing my hair is freeing for me. My family always had very short hair, as did I as a kid. This is the first time I have grown long hair and I couldn't imagine going back to having short hair ever again. That doesn't mean that I never have the urge to cut though! I'll tell ya, sometimes when I am walking to work and the wind is whipping my hair around, so I put it back and still end up being hit in the face by my stragglies, I get so irritated that I have a strong urge to cut. But I know I would regret it and I get out of the wind and have some coffee and the urge passes.

[prosperina]

It could be liberating for some people, but those are probably not the people on this community. Every time I really chopped off my hair it was because I was hurting, blaming myself for something that wasn't my fault, trying to escape a negative situation, or any combination of the three. Cutting my hair seemed to be a healthier (or at least more socially acceptable) way to 'damage' myself.

[heidihug]

I would say, invoke the 2-week rule. If, two weeks from now, you still would like to cut your hair - because you want your hair to be shorter - then do it. If the urge is not as strong, or doesn't exist any longer, then maybe it was related to other things, not your hair.

[Loviatar]

If your hair problems relate to completely fried ends, or an actual urge to have short hair, then yes, perhaps. I know that when I went to a pixie from over-processed BSL hair, I felt much freer and happier. However, I started growing out almost immediately afterwards. I suppose it's each to their own.

I would second Kallisti's comment that taking control of your own appearance can be liberating. But having your hair cut for the sake of having it cut probably isnt.

If you want short hair, or you want to start over growing because your hair really can't be fixed, then wait 2 weeks and see what you want to do.

But don't cut if you think you'll feel 'liberated' just because you've cut it. I would find that reason unlikely.

HTH
Lovi

[rubyann]

Cutting one's hair off was very liberating in the 1920's, when women had been expected to keep long hair for centuries.

I find it liberating to be growing my hair in my 40's, contrary to popular ideas about beauty and "older" women. I guess I just like being different. I tried to fit in in the past (that looks funny, doesn't it?), but I'm so over that. It's time to just be me now, and that is liberating.

[Calista]

I think cutting one´s hair could be a liberating act, just as growing one´s hair could be a liberating process. 8)

[OhioLisa]

I shaved my head years ago and for me, at that point in my life, it absolutely was liberating. Sure, I grew it back, but there were also parts of it that I loved. I kept it that way for a while actually. The point is, people here are going to say that having long hair is liberating, but it's really an individual thing. If you honestly think for a while about it (the 2 week rule is a good one) and still feel like you want to do it, I say go for it. Just be prepared for possible feelings of missing it, etc.

[jel]

Can cutting your hair be freeing?

From what? I don't find long hair oppressive. I like the look, enjoy the feel, and am completely comfortable and relaxed about it.

I can understand people who prefer short hair on themselves. But why would you cut your length if you then want to start over again?

[Stephanie]

Well, I'm going to be in the minority here, but my most recent two cuts were incredibly liberating. Last year, after doing some soul searching and learning a lot about who I am and who I'd like to become, I decided to go back to my natural color. My bleached hair was in really bad shape and after dyeing back to brown, I cut from waist length to bra strap and then again to just past my shoulders. It was the only time I've had a cut that I didn't regret terribly and it felt, actually, like I was returning to my real self. I felt like I was starting a new chapter and releasing the negative memories of the past few years (bad breakup, custody trial, massive depression, etc.).

[Calista]

Yay! Good for you, Stephanie. That´s how it should be. http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/liebe/d030.gif

[MemSahib]

I agree that it can go either way. Making the change that YOU want to make is where the liberation comes in.

[embee]

BSL is a difficult length. For many years I thought that was Terminal for my hair, because it seemed to stall there and then I'd cut and grow it out to BSL again and stall once more.... I was frustrated with my hair: what I wanted, what I had, what I seemed unable to have.

So yes, a chop could liberate you from the frustration of that length, that stall. But it's not how you get long hair.

Personally, being free to do my own hair, as I wish, when I wish, without having to make appointments or pay anybody or arrange my schedule for it - *that* is liberating! :)

[sapphire-o]

It can be liberating. I remember after each chop my head felt so light and cool. I still fantasize about short hair sometimes. But there really isn't much you can do with short hair. It's either styled or messy. Long hair is so much more fun.

[Lamb]

I agree that it can go either way. Making the change that YOU want to make is where the liberation comes in.

Agreed, 100%!! Only make sure you really want that change. I have to remind myself of this more often.

[swan]

depending. if my hair is taking much more time to manage than i think it should, if shedding puts more stress on me and takes more mental energy than in my view is reasonable to spend on it, and if it detracts from my enjoying every day of my life as i think i should, then cutting it is liberating indeed. i'm fighting off very bad shedding at the moment with no medical explanation whatsoever and if i feel it's taking a lot of mentla energy, i'll just cut and move on with life. i've been recently thinking that i'm my hair's master not the other way around :)

[longhairedfairy]

I find it much more freeing not to conform, instead of having my hair cut as some people pressure us to do. However, if you really think it would look better on you and you think you would feel better about your appearance, then go for it.

[Nynaeve]

^ Agreed. Liberating is ditching your husband who's dragging you down, or getting rid of stuff you don't need.

Cutting your hair off = big mistake unless you seriously want short hair. It will take time to grow back. I've regretted my own hair chops.

I'm not sure this was supposed to make me giggle, but it did.
Completely agreed though.
I've never NOT regretted a chop. I've regretted all the times I even thought about chopping my hair.
I wouldn't think it would be possible for a hair chop to be liberating unless you really, really, really want short hair.
Otherwise, you will just depress yourself with missed opportunity, in my opinion.
I think it feels so freeing to have my hair as long as it has gotten, and I can't imagine it feeling anything but more liberating as it grows more.

[Stephanie]

Yay! Good for you, Stephanie. That´s how it should be. http://www.cheesebuerger.de/images/smilie/liebe/d030.gif
Thanks, Calista! :flowers:

[Sapphire'sWings]

Cutting and growing can be liberating depending on a person and his or her situation.

I've chopped thinking that I would feel liberated. Big mistake. I just ended up upset because I lost all those years of growth. I would have waist length hair.

I just think its liberating for me to grow my wild natural wavy hair, like an out of control plant growing wherever it wants. It is very symbolic for me. I've always felt controlled. Now I can grow my crazy long hair out. It is one of the few parts of me that is fully under my control, not anyone else's.

[DecafJane]

As others have stated, the whole answer depends on why your hair is long, how you feel about it and why you want to cut it.

The last time I cut my hair short (pixie length), I loved it for the first month. Then I got a trim and it ended up even shorter, and I HATED it, and missed all of my old hair!
The thing is, it was liberating at the time because at just below shoulder length, I was straightening it constantly and it saved me from 40 minutes of hair styling in the mornings. Then when it was short, I remembered how it used to be when I had it REALLY long, and put it up with claws/clips/sticks, and I missed the look and feel my hair at that length.

If you have never had short hair, and want to try it and think you would like the look, have researched what works with your hair-type and the amount of daily effort required, and are prepared for the time it will take to grow back if you hate it (we're talking years here - mine is only just at the point where I can pull it up and it has been 5 long months, and my hair grows FAST), then by all means, give it a go. A change can be fun.

But if you are doing it because you think it will change you or change part of your life that you don't like, it won't change anything. You need to make these changes yourself.

Hair, after all (and luckily for us) does grow back. :)

[momma smurf]

I think that taking control over one's own appearance is liberating.

Absolutely. :agree:

[Onebeauty]

I think that taking control over one's own appearance is liberating. I knew a woman who had grown up being forced to have long hair and she hated it and envied short hair, cutting it did feel liberating to her. But the same could be said for someone who always felt pressured to have short hair, growing hair could then be very liberating. It's not that either act is actually liberating in itself, but that it's a good feeling to finally be able to express yourself.

Well said!! My grandmother told me my whole life that I looked terrible with long hair ... that short hair was much more becomming for me. Short hair looks fine on me but long hair IS me. Long hair has HUGELY increased my self esteem ... I feel sexy, feminine, even cute and perky when I do ponytails or two braids. I don't wish to speak for anyone else but for me, long hair is empowering and liberating.

[naomimcc]

BTDT. Cutting it off I thought would be liberating at the time...however...I ended up crying for days...it was awful...

[Arashi]

I'll have to stray from the majority here and say that it can possibly be VERY freeing in a sense.

I adore long hair, I've always wanted it and it's all I still want- but I cut my hair recently and it felt like a HUGE burden was lifted off my shoulders. You see, that hip length hair that I was holding on to had been dyed, bleached, straightened, blow fried, and just generally abused to it's limit. The whole bottom half was in terrible, terrible, awful horrible condition. It was fried beyond no return and just running my fingers through it caused many pieces of it to break off.

Exploring myself, I found that the only reason I was really hanging on to this fried mess was that it was out of my comfort zone to chop it off. Long hair seemed like the only hair for me, and I wouldn't feel like 'myself' if it was gone. I felt rather trapped by it. However, one day, on an impulse, I finally decided "that's it". I tied it up into a ponytail, brought my mother a pair of scissors, and told her to just do it. I do not regret it one bit, in fact I only regret that I had not done it sooner- if that were the case, I would be further down the road to growing it long again now.

My hair is at my shoulder blades now, and I'm growing it out again. Even though the hair I'm left with is dyed and has seen it's share of the damage(save for the 1/4 inch of virgin growth-wow, I forgot how light my natural hair is), it looks and feels TONS better than that bottom half that I chopped off, which was in ruins. To hair coloring: never again.

I'm enjoying the experience of growing out, and definitely looking forward to someday being a longhair again. :)

[Sarahmoon]

Growing it is liberating for me! I can do whatever I want with my hair and no-one will ever talk me into cutting it again.

[spidermom]

It really depends on the person and the life-style. I think that if I lived near the sea and could go snorkeling and swimming whenever I wanted, cutting my hair would be very liberating.

[Lilla My]

If I knew how to cut my own hair short in a style that I liked I would feel liberated having short hair - but having long hair that I can trim myself means freedom from ever having to go to the hairdresser and I find that incredibly liberating. :)

[Carolyn]

I'd love to hear more from the OP but it looks like he/she hasn't been on LHC since this was posted yesterday. :shrug:

[Naluin]

I have found that the time I felt most liberated was the first time I took a pair of scissors to my own hair because it was literally the first time I had direct control over the style of my hair.

After that first time, any time I tried to make a major and instant change to my hair, it was because I was really bored, really unhappy, or just wanted to be in control of something and my appearance was the only thing I could control at the time.

[lovingmyhair]

For me, I think cutting off damaged ends would be liberating.

[aprilmay]

Trims can be good, but are different than cuts. Be sure whoever holds the scissors agrees with your idea of how much to cut off. You can always cut more off, but cannot add back hair that has been hacked off.

[Carina]

I have the urge to cut from bsl to shoulder.I have some damage, nothing major, but to resist the urge of cutting, is a daily struggle.I wish I never had put highlights in my hair a year ago.:(.Must resist the urge of cutting.:rant::slap:.

[Unofficial_Rose]

No.

Actually, it's the other way around: having long hair is liberation from haircuts. Especially bad ones. :happydance:

Please don't cut.
Ed


Innit :D Not going to the hairdresser is something I have found very liberating!

[harpgal]

I'd love to hear more from the OP but it looks like he/she hasn't been on LHC since this was posted yesterday. :shrug:
Exactly! Simms...oh Simms, where art thou?

[AquaViolet1973]

I love my long hair too much to ever cut it short again. Cutting it would not be freeing at all to me.