To chop or not to chop?

[Cloelia]

Hello everyone,
I've got a quandary:
At my last haircut with a stylist before deciding to go whole-hog into growing my hair long, I paid too much attention to the conversation and not enough to the cut. As a result, I left with overly-layered shoulder-length hair (not the stylist's fault, I said "Surprise me").
So now I've grown it out to APL and for the first time in my life, I think I'm in good shape to try for a healthy BSL. The problem is, my layers are very chunky (lots of hair involved) and the shortest ones are 1 inch past chin length, making them about 10 inches shorter than my length. With my fine hair, these layers make my hair look thin and odd when I wear it down. For the past few months, I've been microtrimming 1/4 inch every month just to keep the length healthy as it grows.

So the quandary is this: should I keep at the frequent microtrims until the layers catch up, or cut back to shoulder length so the gap isn't as wide and noticeable?

The layers bother me to no end, and I worry about trying to grow them out without trimming them, but this is the longest my hair has ever been, so I'm really hesitant to lose that. I've loved everything I've read since joining LHC, so I'm hoping that you all have some words of wisdom for me.

Thanks! :)

Cloelia

[spidermom]

You can self-trim layers by making a ponytail on the top of your head with two pony-ties. Bend forward so the hair falls toward the floor. Slide the second tie toward the ends, tightening the tie an extra loop as needed. Make sure the hair is nice and smooth in the ties, not lop-sided or bulged on any side at all. Now you can pull the ends to the front of your face and very carefully dust the very ends, maybe a little more if you see any damaged ends.

Definitely keep up with the micro-trimming at the bottom, too. Whenever you feel the shortest layer is long enough, then finish evening it up.

When I grew out a short, layered cut, I had a stylist trim my hair every 6-8 weeks. She took a little more off the bottom than she did the layers, and my hair all caught up at BSL.

[Cloelia]

I hadn't thought of self-trimming the shorter layers, I'll have to give that a try.

I think I'll also try to hold out and even thing out at BSL. Thanks!

[MeganE]

I'm in the same boat, and I self trim a couple of inches every time I get the desire to chop it all to the shortest layer. A couple inches can feel like a lot, but maintain most of your length, and might help deal with growing it out.

The last time I was itching for a chop was about two months ago, and I did two inches then, two inches another month after that, and then another inch a week later. If I remember correctly, I went from a little over 30 to about 26. My layers and damage are still a good ten inches above my hemline, and I dream often about a perfect blunt hemline, but I've been trying to get long hair for too long to give it up when it's only moderately annoying.

This post is kind of rambling, but I think the point I'm trying to make is that you can always take it slow, chopping in increments instead of all at once. I think there can be a balance between cutting it all to the shortest layer, and maintaining until it all grows down. For a while I thought maybe I would take off two inches for every inch of growth, and move backwards up to the layers slowly. At least that way I wouldn't feel so much loss all at once, I could get used to the shorter lengths, and the layers would grow out. Maybe that's weird, I don't know.

[silverjen]

MeganE makes a very good point about balance. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing. That being said, my personal choice would be to micro trim and maintain at APL until your layers start to even up. I think that would be less frustrating in the long run. If you cut to shoulder, there's the risk that your layers will still be too short (they sound pretty short), plus you'd have to make the trudge from shoulder to APL all over again.

[Cloelia]

Ugh, and what a trudge it is, Silverjen!
My shortest layers are still quite short, and my neck is long, so the slog from above shoulder to APL will be loooong indeed. The only reason I was considering it is the fact that after taking a lot of LHC advice to heart, my hair actually grows and grows in healthy. But I like the idea of catching it up. That seems much more bearable than hacking it off yet again.

And MeganE, I completely agree with you. Moderate annoyance when I look in the mirror isn't worth sacrificing all this hard work. It'll pass. Good to know that other people are dealing with that 10 inch gap!

[racrane]

I'm dealing with that 10 inch gap too. It's more frustrating because some hairstyles don't look as nice or don't work at all. But I'm using this temporary period to practice styles that I can't go out with. Trying to be positive. We will all get to our goals. Just be patient, or try to be. :D