When you get the urge to chop...

[battles]

It seems to be a habit now! I get close to shoulder length and then I feel that strong urge to cut back to a pixie. I'm determined to get past it this time.

When you get that urge to chop off a large amount of hair, what thought prevents you from doing it?

[Xandergrammy]

Just come on here and look at some pictures and you'll lose the urge to chop!

[battles]

That's always a good idea. I should bookmark the length collection thread. :D

[TheMechaGinger]

Or watch a movie with really pretty long haired ladies in it. That always gets my motivation up

[owlathena]

I used to get those urges but I haven't in awhile. I'd cut bangs or switch up my part to keep things interesting while saving my length.

[spidermom]

I never grew my hair out until I lost the urge to chop.

[Bast]

The two week rule. (or month, or two months...I'm up to one year now.)

Basically, you get the urge to cut it all off, make a note that in X weeks, if you still feel the same, you will. If you don't, then you don't. For most people those two weeks are enough to change their minds.

Something else you can do is, each time you get that urge, set the money you would have spent on the haircut aside and save up for a nice new hair toy that you can't use at a shorter length.

A third option is to go for a dusting, and get less than half an inch taken off. You still get all the fun parts of going your hair cut, but you don't lose a lot of length.

[virgo75]

If I want to chop I do something else with my hair instead- usually a long, drawn out deep treatment. This makes my hair look and feel better -and- it gives me something else to do with my hair so I feel like I'm doing "something", just not cutting. ;)

I've also learned to put my scissors in an inconvenient place - a high shelf in the closet, a high shelf in my kids' closet, etc. That way they're not in/by the bathroom where I would normally go to cut my hair.

[Dars]

LHC and plenty of it! I surrounded myself in pictures, articles and the general forum. Worked for me! :)

[vanillabones]

I'm having strong urges myself to chop back to pixie. My ends are screaming to be cut, they're so damaged and it's really catching up to me. I'm going to try to have them hang in there until the end of summer for a trim but I'm so paranoid of the ends splitting all the way up to the roots :(
I'm so desperate to reach shoulder too! I can't wait to get there to maintain awhile.

[christine1989]

I went so long without having an urge to chop but for some reason I really want a shoulder length bob recently or at least to cut back to BSL. I just trimmed about .5 inch and feel a lot better about my hair length now even though you can't tell any difference in length.

[Mesmerise]

For me it really helps to keep the end goal in mind! Whenever I'm feeling discouraged, or get an urge to chop...I picture myself with gorgeous, healthy hip length hair! I fantasize about how I'll look and feel with that hair, and then I force myself to remember the arduous growing out process, and how I have always ALWAYS got sick of short hair very, very fast... I've never been able to keep my hair short more than a few months (and that was a max for me). By that I mean... well my hair is short for longer than a few months, but I've only willingly KEPT it short for a few months, THEN I've started growing again.

Heck, just about EVERY time I've chopped my hair in the past, the first thing I've done is left it to grow again. I haven't even maintained. There was just one brief period in my life where I sort of kept it short...and yeah...less than a year... So dwelling over all those times I've cut only to start regrowing immediately, really helps me keep on track for my goal, that plus imagining how I'll look and feel with my goal hair keeps me going!!

I also plan ahead when I will give my hair a trim, and I set goals for myself to achieve. If I've always got a goal I'm working on, I'm less likely to backtrack.

[Audrey Horne]

I still have this urge to cut. At the moment it's because my hair isn't the same length and it bothers me! But if I cut everything to my chin then I will never have a long hair.
What helps me a little: to wear my hair up and I don't even look at it; admiring other people's long hair; doing some deep treatment that makes my hair shiny and nice; watching some "long hair movie". So I convince myself that cutting isn't an option. And here I am... Haven't cut since Feb 2010 and went to APL (I think it's the longest since my childhood).

[seekingshiny]

Test post test post edit later to add content

[seekingshiny]

Yikes sorry about that. I just typed up a thoughtful answer twice and it didn't post. I didn't expect the test post to go through either but I wanted to check before I queried admin.

You could sit down and calculate the money/time spent on your hair and weigh that with the impulse. You could take a bubble bath to deal with the stress that is making you want to chop (this is what makes me want to usually, that or breakups). You could buy a fancy schmancy great smelling hair mask, air dry and call it a night.

[NaiadOreiad]

http://o****yeahlonghair.tumblr.com/

THIS TUMBLR keeps me from chopping.

[owlathena]

http://o****yeahlonghair.tumblr.com/

THIS TUMBLR keeps me from chopping.


OOOH nice! *bookmarked*

[KittyLost]

It's good to have inspiration pictures of long hair to look at when you feel the urge to cut, but try not to make them have a much longer length than your current one. If you're at shoulder and are looking at an inspiration picture of tailbone you may feel like you'll never achieve that goal as it's so far away so you might as well chop. I think it helps to look at pictures of your next milestone to keep you motivated because you can just think, it's only a few months away.

You may just be bored and think a cut will solve this, instead try a new hair treatment or play with some bangs, learn a new style/updo or maybe change the colour a little. These are all changes you can do to stop you cutting that wouldn't have a negative effect on growth (except maybe dying).

[mrs_coffee]

I just remind myself that if I cut it I'm going to have to go through this awkward stage all over again and cutting is only prolonging things. I was feeling the urge to chop a few days ago (PMS related I think) but then I hennaed and oiled and I can feel it brushing the top of my back now, which made me really happy and the urge to chop dissipated. Hang in there!

[Ligeia_13]

I never actually get the urge to chop. And kittylost that is excellent advice. I've felt that way so many times.

[celebriangel]

To be honest...I never feel the urge to cut off my hair. I'm heading past BSL these days, and I see no reason why I would want my hair shorter than it currently is. If I were to get to a longer length then decide it was too much effort, I definitely wouldn't go shorter than it is now.

I think it might just be you're going through the awkward phase of hair growth. I remember it well from growing out my pixie; fortunately I was broke at the time and didn't really care about my hair (which is to say I didn't care if it looked messy/unkempt a lot of the time because of the uneven cut) and couldn't be bothered getting it cut.

Fortunately my wurls/curls hide all manner of sins. I kinda had that messy/curly thing going on a lot at shoulder length, and I just kinda left it and put smoothing serum in it. I was (and still am) at uni, though, so a lot of people around me also had the bed head look.

I think I also knew that cutting if off would be totally counterproductive, because then I'd just be back in the same place a year later, really frustrated, thinking, why won't my hair grow past shoulder???? Well, because I cut it off, obviously.

I'm glad I didn't find LHC until my hair was already long enough to put up and forget about. I have long hair by society's standards, and having had all lengths of hair from shortest pixie to waist, I can definitely say that APL+ hair is just so much easier.

[beccababesx]

I always look at my hair inspiration folder - pictures of people with beautiful hair that I could have. Or I make another growth chart. Or I oil it, put it up in a bun, and do something else so I forget about it, and by the time I take it down, I've lost the urge :D

[Sookie]

I get those urges too :o But when i come to LHC and watch all these beautiful long hairs i change my mind. :p I used to cut my hair every one or two months..but thanks to LHC i haven't cut it for a month,not using heat and always braids or buns...and i intend to go like this all the summer! :D I can't wait to see my hair actually growing! :)

May these video change your mind hihi :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kmz8rK1K3Jg&feature=related

[Lilli]

Bob to shoulder is really hideous, esp. if you have any layering, so it is normal to want to chop, and I did that cycle several times. I looked at old pictures of me with long hair, and played around with photo makeover sites, and got several pointless trims. Then I realized that if I just hung in there, it would only be like 6 months before it touched my shoulder. Now I am almost APL and never have the urge anymore.

[jojo]

I try an visulise my hair in a years time, put it up, do a deep conditioning treatment and come on here. I no longer get the urge to cut no more. shoulder was a horrible length for me but it gets better, stick with it! oh and hide the scissors!