chronic cutter?

[juliaxena]

I have a friend who has this thing for cutting her hair and growing it out over and over again. When she grows, she's very into having it long. When she's at her goal, she cuts it very short. I can't quite understand it. Well it IS her hair of course! But she can't explain it heself and I'm curious. So does anyone know what could be the reason for it?

[allnaturalboy]

Wow, when I first saw this, I thought it was going to be a thread on a person who cuts themselves chronically...I have some experience with friends who do that.

I have no idea about your friend though. It seems to me that your friend likes having a goal, and once she reaches that goal, she is not happy. Therefore, she cuts her hair off and begins the process anew. It does sound like a mental thing.

[Dani]

Everyone is different, but I personally love to cut my hair because it's just so much fun and I can do anything I want. :D

[JenniferNoel]

I may understand the situation. I'm sure I've been there. I was in that crazy grow-cut-grow cycle for about two years. I just liked the sudden shocking change, and then the exciting journey of growing it out. I found it fun, but a little frustrating. Usually though, by the time I was tired of short hair, it was already touching APL.

[spidermom]

I guess she enjoys the journey more than the destination.

[*thecatsmeow*]

Ha ha I am, I just keep giving myself trims just a little here and there to cut off my damaged hair when it gets really bad, but of course I never see it grow:rolleyes: Well at least the damaged bleached parts are growing out.( I trim it every couple weeks, just the end)

[trillcat]

Growing out your hair can be a fun thing!
Think of it not like a compulsion to cut, but an enjoyment of the journey to long hair, all the fun different things you can do with hair at different lengths, and change in general, and then going back to short and doing it all over again!
What will I do this time? Have a purple pixie? a severe blunt bob? Go black or blonde, with the short hair, then, the grow out to long where it becomes a constant of patience?
Hair is so personal to each of us, what we want of it, our crowning glory! So if that glory is going for the chop after the long, and she is happy with that, more power to her!
I will never cut my hair again to short, but I secretly wish I looked good with a spikey short do. :)

[turtlelover]

I've had long hair the vast majority of my life, but once in awhile I'll do a very big chop. I just like an occasional change -- it feels liberating somehow, especially in the summer. There is no deep meaning behind any of it for me....it is just boredom related. It grows back, every time! I love really long, flowing hair, and I like the ease and spunkiness of really short hair. The in between stages....not so much!!!:rolleyes:

[spidermom]

Come to think of it, I used to be a serial cutter. I never got beyond APL when I'd be tired of growing and spontaneously go in for the season's cute new cut. I wish I'd developed the patience to grow out my hair before my mid-40s, but at least it's not too late. It's my time to grow. I don't feel the least temptation to go short again.

[turtlelover]

I don't blame you for not wanting to cut, Spidermom. You have some of the prettiest hair I've seen on this site. BEAUTIFUL!!!:)

[HintOfMint]

I used to go from long to short all the time as well. Honestly, I didn't really appreciate my hair long as much as I did when I didn't have it. It was more of a "grass is greener" thing.

[Arctic_Mama]

I knew a girl like that in college - constantly bleaching, dyeing, and cuttin her hair into various punky, fashionable cuts. She actually laid off the bleaching for awhile, last I recall, because her hair was thin and dissolving, it was like babyfine straw.

I don't know why exactly she did it, but best I can tell it was self expression. She was a very artistic, creative girl in everything she did - from physical medias to her appearance and music. So for her hair was just another palette to display her latest feelings, favorite current trend, etc.

I am far too lazy to bother with that! I like the utter simplicity of long hair, and look terrible with short. I am also too cheap to cut regularly :lol:

[ilovelonghair]

I'm an extreme chronic cutter: every two weeks or so... that is because I want to keep my fairy tale ends in control when growing out the thin part of my hair

[PadmeAmidala]

I guess she enjoys the journey more than the destination.
That would have been my guess, too.

[juliaxena]

Interesting points you guys made. But she doesn't bleach or anything. Her hair is healthy and gorgeous. She doesn't seem to enjoy the journey, she is stressed when growing it out, really wanting to grow it out soon... But then she gets to a nice APL-ish lenght and cuts it to half inch.

[Dimitri'sMom]

I am a recovering chronic cutter, and the only two reasons I could come up with for this were boredom (impatience) and the false promises of hair product ads and magazines that show short hair cuts on beautiful women. The haircuts never made me look that good and I had zero motivation to buy all the stuff to recreate the look so it was a vicious cycle.

However, I NEVER reached my goal, so your friend must have really fast-growing hair that she likes to change a lot.

[sunshine-locks]

maybe she likes the two extremes? loves only very long and very short and doesnt like 'inbetween' lengths?

[gi2121]

I'm also a recovering chronic cutter.

I think when you don't mind losing length, there is definitely something very exciting about changing your haircut... after all, it's a very effective and quick way to change your looks and get a boost of confidence.

[fil]

I have been doing that for the past few years, letting my hair grow and then cutting it when I get bored with my hair or when I feel like I need change. It's always a regrettable decision when I cut my hair, though, because all I've ever wanted was for my hair to get really long.

[lucys]

I do this. Although not cutting to a couple of inches.

For me it is a multi-faceted thing. I like having long hair, but do find it inconvenient. (I enjoy swimming, and get annoyed by swim caps, for example, and I find that once my hair gets to APL, it starts to dictate when I swim or run because I don't want to do it when it is freshly washed and then have to wash it again the next day.)

I like having short hair (well, chin length), too, but find it irritating after a while to be styling it all the time. I don't like it at in-between lengths so much, so always complain through the growing stages.

It drives wendyg nuts. :-)

[XcaliburGirl]

I've done that a number of times. I'd grow it out to TBL or Classic and then cut it to BSL or APL. Basically, I don't like getting trims, so I let it grow, then when it got annoying (usually when I started sitting on it) I'd chop it and then repeat the cycle. Just for fun. Last time I went to chin, though and I think that was a bit too much.

[Forever_Sophie]

That was me, throughout most of my school years! I like long hair, but I'm also trendy, sooo...I wasn't that attached to my long hair in the past (it was generally around bra strap length, cut to chin/shoulder...and usually in Dec.! Not sure why I felt the need to cut it in that weather LOL).

Even now, I was at waist (kinda pains me to say "was", it was the goal), I was maintaining but the ends were looking too thin. As of yesterday, it's a few inches below bra strap. Here we go again...