She cut off 5' 9" of hair and still had below-shoulder hair! I'm 5'9" tall!!

[StephanieB]

Mind boggling. I'm 5'9" tall, and I just saw this tiny little woman cut that much length off of her hair... and she still had long hair just below her shoulders!!

I just watched the last few minutes of the Rachael Ray show this morning. I rarely watch T.V. any more, but I'm waiting for a phone call to go pick hubby up... so I didn't want to get invloved with anything that shouldn't get interrupted.

Normally, I really hate it when they have a makeover on which involves cutting very long hair very short, and will just flip the channel... but before I could, the elder dog had a bit of a problem (he couldn't get up) so I had to help him get up, and by that point, I'd already seen what was going on. :-/

The woman was about 4O, and she was 5"4' tall, with floor-sweeping-length hair. Her hair was very, very thick, and extremely curly, and it appeared to be very frizzy. I normally would have just flipped the channel... but I guess it was kinda like watching a train wreck - you can't stop watching, even though it is (or because it is) so horrible.

The woman came out after her makeover (which took the length of the show, which I'd missed). I was expected to shake my head and think, "Oh, you poor fool... WHY did you let them do that to you?"

But when they showed footage of her before and you looked at her after... her hair looked to be in bad condition. I don't know if they made it look like that, or if that's just how it really did look all the time. The woman - quite heavy-set - did, as she put it into her own words, "look a lot like Cousin It" [from the Addams Family]. They'd cut 5'9" of hair off of her, and she still had just-below-the-shoulder length hair that was very nicely layered in many layers to thin her hair to manageable. Her hair also looked to be in better condition... although it was stick-straight with a bit of curve towards her face - so they must have blow-dryed it, at the very least. They didn't say if they'd straightened it or not, just that she "could style it for herself easily at home now". The woman herself was thrilled with her new look.

Now, they hadn't cut it short; they'd left her still with what most people would call 'long hair'. I was glad to see that...

But I was wondering WHY she felt the need to wear it down and hanging frizzy all the time? She had plenty of length to put it up. With that amount of hair, wouldn't it be easy to put it up? Maybe I just do't get it, because I have extremely thin and very baby-fine, slippery hair that's only APL (21 to 21 1/2 inches). I have trouble putting my hair up becuase it's so soft and slips out of anything but the most pinching of clips. Her hair should have been was to put up... no?

[smilinjenn71]

I would think with that much thick, long hair, headaches could be a problem. Just a possibility of why she didn't wear it up all the time. Someone needs to find her and suggest LHC if she wants it that long again.:p

[StephanieB]

Oh, I hadn't thought about headaches, Jenn. I personally will never have that much hair... even if I could grow it to longer than I am tall. Too thin and fine.

She had really thick hair - still - even after they'd cut 'dozens of layers' into it.. that's what the hairdresser said. He said "dozens of layers". So her hair had to be unbelievably thick to end up with very thick-looking hair after it had been styled with so many layers.

This woman was prpbably the only one I've ever seen who really looked better fter so massive, so extreme, a haircut. She did look darn good, though...

I guess if her hair is that thick and was so darn long - she can grow it longer again, if she ever chooses to do so.

I don't know how she ever sat down in the hairdresser's chair, though... I'd've been far to scared to let him cut all that much off at once.
I had enough trouble trusting my neihbor and friend of about 13 or 14 years to just trim two inches or less... and no more. Mary did just as I'd requested, though, and trimmed a good inch and a half off, and no more - even though she would have liked to cut layers into it for more body. She offered to do just that whenever I was ready to go shorter, or grew it longer.

Of course, if the woman on the show was at her wit's end and didn't know what to do about it, maybe it was a relief to just sit and let it be someone else's problem. I suppse it was a safe bet that she wasn't gonna end up BAD-looking... not on a show like that... even if she turned out not to like it that short... at least it would have been a good cut for her face, etc.

[Thinthondiel]

How can a woman who's 5'4" tall have hair that's long enough to cut 5'9" off (and still have below shoulder length hair), yet short enough to wear down? ??? It would be longer than floor length.

ETA: Never mind, I just remembered you said her hair was curly... so I guessing the 5'9" she cut off was the stretched length?

[StephanieB]

How can a woman who's 5'4" tall have hair that's long enough to cut 5'9" off (and still have below shoulder length hair), yet short enough to wear down? ??? It would be longer than floor length.

ETA: Never mind, I just remembered you said her hair was curly... so I guessing the 5'9" she cut off was the stretched length?

It was longer than floor length. I said - and meant - "floor-sweeping" length.

No, I think that Rachael Ray held up a tape measue to the hanging ponytail that the hairdresser first cut off, before he trimmed and layered. The curly 'tail', bound at one end, was 5'9" long. It think Rachael said they were gonna donate it to Locks of Love. Rachael was sitting when she held it out ar her arm's length, and the tail just kinda... puddled... onto the floor. Ray didn't stretch the hair out.

Now having hair that brushed the floor, puddled on it... that's dirty, to me. *shudder*
Even if you wash it daily. Floors and the ground are dirty, and if your hair sweeps the dirty ground/floor...

Wearing it up is one thing; letting it drag on the ground is another.

[tralalalara]

Too bad that they're donating it to LoL, they'll just throw it away since it's been dragging the ground and is probably super damaged because it's so old.

I found the article and a promo video, but they probably wont have a vid of the whole thing up for a week or so. =/
it's layered so strange before it's cut!


<mod note: links to sensationalist haircutting videos are not allowed>

[*Aoife*]

Was it just me or did it look a teeney bit fake? Her layers were just odd. I'm sorry, I know I sound so bitchy.

[catysue]

Here is a direct link to the video:

<mod note: links to sensationalist haircutting videos are not allowed>

I think she looked MUCH better after the cut!!

[HeatherAshley3]

If I was her I would not have wanted them to take off THAT much...I think BSL would have been enough of a change to her!
And it still would have looked great. Why do people on TV always seem to cut off long hair?!

[sweet*things]

Hmm. In the before picture she did have some awkward looking bangs growing out, but aside from having her hair brushed out all around her Cousin It-style (which no one does in real life), she didn't look that bad. If they'd trimmed/thinned the bangs a bit to get rid of the chunkiness and given her the more figure flattering outfit she would have looked fine with long hair too.

She looked good afterwards, but its just another show where they take someone really unusual and make them look forgettable. I'm not sure that's an improvement, ultimately.

[charley27]

Well, I just had to say that I had no idea that Rachael Ray had let her hair grow again! I don't watch her show anymore, and I actually tried to copy her short hair cut about a year and a half ago. I do like her better with longer hair! Yay! :)

[smilinjenn71]

My personal opinion (and we all have one;)) is that they took off the perfect amount of hair. Otherwise she would have still had that weird jump from the front to the back. I'm excited for her that she has a style that shouldn't be too difficult to manage AND one that if she decides to grow out again will be fairly easy.

I hope not to offend anyone....but hair is hair - she obviously could grow it long before and it will grow again, if she so chooses.

I love make-over shows!!!!:cheese:

[Speckla]

I think the cut was super cute and she seemed very happy. I'm glad they didn't give her a flatironed bobbed 'do.

[Cinnamon Hair]

I find it hard to believe that she just let her hair drag around on the floor all the time. In her own house is one thing, but outside and in public places? Certainly that is not true. Those hair cutting shows are just looking for drama.

I didn't see the show, just read your summary of it.

[Fractalsofhair]

It said it took her 2.5 hours to wash dry and style her hair daily. That's what a lot of girls with shorter hair spend! I'm going to guess she might not have known a lot of simple updos, or styled it in a fancy style. She seemed happier with the shorter hair, and her long hair, although it looked pretty in the ponytail, looked damaged on her. I think if the ends were thicker, it might have looked better, and that weird chunk at the front was odd as well.

[SimplyViki]

Weird, I don't think I'm seeing the same episode, because the one I'm watching shows a woman with mostly straight, blonde hair, which supposedly was 5'8" before cutting. It didn't appear to touch the floor, either when Rachel Ray held it up to show it, or when the woman was standing up with her hair down for a "before" shot.

But the video says it was aired today, and that it was floor length... :shrug:

[Finoriel]

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