A Little Cut Goes a Long Way (With Pics)

[LittleOrca]

For a long time [probably since before I found LHC] I have hated my ends. I do not hate fairytale ends in general, but I just hated mine. The damage from previous years of abuse made my hair, in my opinion, kinda gross.

For the last year I have fought with cutting it. I didn't want to lose length, any length. I tried to just snip off half an inch here or quarter of an inch there until I felt better. However, my ends were letting me know they were not going to play nice.

Since September, I have seriously thought about cutting off up to five inches. Given how my hair appears, it would not really be that much, but in my mind I saw myself going from Rapunzel (http://0.tqn.com/d/preschoolers/1/0/h/B/-/-/rapunzel.jpg)to Snow White (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/68/Snow_White_Disney.jpg/250px-Snow_White_Disney.jpg)... I just wasn't ready for it, so I tried to make my ends happy. I did all I thought I could for them. I conditioned, I pampered, I even put my hair up in the "Wear Your Hair Up" challenge for the last seven weeks to see if I could not just ignore my hair. It helped for a while, but somehow I knew it was not going to last.

This morning I took a picture for another forum to show off how my hair was and to maybe talk about the new shampoo bar I was using. [Godiva from LUSH, btw.] I looked at my ends in the image and knew something had to be done.

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/Little_Orca/MorningHair.jpg
My hair this morning.

I hated the idea of cutting back to BSL [for hair that is all one color] and I hate the idea of cutting back to waist to thicken up my hemline a little... Even hip made me nervous! I told myself, "What would really be the harm?" My hair has not really progressed, in terms of length gained, in over three years, and that cut might make me go "It grew!" even if I knew it was going to grow anyways. Before I was considering taking off five inches and now even a half an inch bothered me. Oh boy.

I photo-shopped some pictures from the picture I took this morning just to see how things would look if I did cut back. I kept in mind that the pictures would probably look better than my hair really would; given the waves, the damage, and how thin my ends are.

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/Little_Orca/Hip.jpg .... http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/Little_Orca/Waist.jpg
Photoshopped #1 .................................................. ....................... Photoshopped #2

I marched into the bathroom, combed my hair, got out my trimming scissors and took off half an inch. I looked in my mirrors and found myself asking if I had even cut any off. It looked exactly the same! I muttered, "That didn't do a damn thing, did it?" With a sigh I combed my hair again, gathered it up and calculated where I wanted the new ends to be. I put a little hair band there and when I had finished I stood there unable to cut my hair. I estimated it to be about 2.5 inches [really it was 3.5 by the time the cut happened including the .5 I had already cut off] and I began to feel sick to my stomach. I paced between the bathroom and the bedroom, asking Mr. Orca what he though so many times he became annoyed and wanted to just snip it for me so I would shush. I knew the snip would not be that dramatic, logically, but inside I felt as though I was going to buzz it all off.

Taking a deep breath, I walked back into my bathroom, picked up my scissors and cut off the tiny ponytail before I had the time to second guess myself. I held the little bit of hair in my hand, looked it over, then looked to the mirror and noticed my hair.

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/Little_Orca/HairCutOff.jpg
The tiny ponytail.

A calmness settled over me. The waves of anxiety that had been crashing and thrashing stopped. What had I done? I peered into the mirror closer, as though that would really allow me to see my ends better [silly mermaid] and smiled. I felt a lot better; I feel a lot better. It is as though a year of torment was gone and a little unicorn ran out and handed me rainbow cookies [which would be so awesome, btw.]

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff176/Little_Orca/March2012HairCut.jpg
My hair now. My pants are too big and thus not on straight so my hem looks off, but it's not.

[speshe]

I'm sorry you struggled but so glad you are happy with the results! It looks beautiful!

[Avital88]

it looks so much better, brave!
I'm struggling with the exact same thing and am also thinking to do a bigger trim so i admire your courage..im sure it will grow faster from now on and if you just keep on doing microtrims now and then it will look amazing.
Happy growing LittleOrca!

[PixxieStix]

I think we forget that the entire reason we have long hair sometimes is so that we can be happy with it, and not so that we can just simply have long hair! I'm glad the trim worked for you, the ends look pretty darn happy now. :)

[MissHair]

Your hemline looks so much healthier and I can't even tell that you cut off any inches!

[Vanilla]

Your ends look much happier. :).

[Amber_Maiden]

Looks beautiful and very healthy!!!

[Honestwitness]

Mrs. Orca, I did the same thing about 2 months ago and within 2 days had 2 people comment how long my hair was getting. I hadn't had any comments for a long time and was wearing it down most of the time. Something about a more dense length gives the appearance of longer hair, I guess.

[Allychan]

Wow. Looks fantastic and your storytelling skills are exceptional, it had rainbows, unicorns, orcas and fairytale princesses :applause. I was on the edge of my seat anticipating what your final decision was going to be. I think you made the right choice. I am sure your hair is thanking you for it.
I need to trim mine but just don't have the length to justify it just yet.

[princessp]

I know how you feel and I'm glad you took the plunge little mermaid, it looks great! :)

[SunlightShines]

Your hair looks lovely!! :)

[going gray]

Your hair looks lovely....good move.

[Alvrodul]

It is hard for me to see much difference in length - but I must say that your hair looks happier on the "after" pic.
Sometimes you just have to make those hard decisions. I did something similar last summer, when I got rid of the last of the dye damage - my hair was much happier after! :)

[jacqueline101]

It looks very healthy and happy.

[jeanniet]

It seems like the longer it gets the harder it is to lose even just a little bit of length, but sometimes it has to be done and ends up better in the long run anyway. I think you'll find that you recover the amount you cut pretty quickly, and it does look so nice now, doesn't it?

[Quetiepi]

I admire your courage. I have an appointment for this Friday to get another trim. I am so tempted to cut off the blond hair dye and have 100% virgin hair, but I would be at shoulder length and I don't want to lose any length, either.
I think your hair looks much better and it really doesn't look that much shorter. Good Job!

[xoxophelia]

I enjoyed reading your story :)..

It is an improvement methinks.

[MeowScat]

Amazing....I can't tell that you cut any length but your hemline looks so much thicker! You nailed it!

I'm so glad you didn't do a major chop to that gorgeous mane. I understand the intense desire to start fresh. My ends are fairytailish also, but it doesn't look good on me like it does with other hairtypes. I can't wait to be rid of them, it's gonna take me forever. Meh.

Thanks for posting pics! :)

[theodora]

Well done on you for being brave, I think you were really right to go for it as your hair looks even lovelier now. You have such beautiful wavey mermaid hair, I greatly envy it :).

[Chetanlaiho]

Could you give me some of your courage? I've been struggling with my ends for close to a year now :o

[LittleOrca]

Thanks everyone. :) I hope those who need to trim can do so with courage or have more patience with your hair. :)

[kidari]

I really enjoyed reading about your trim! I love threads like this. You were so brave and your hair looks amazing. Plus it doesn't even look that much shorter.

[lindaton]

I agree, the longer my hair gets the harder it is to trim off more. But yours looks so pretty and shiny as always.

[Quahatundightu]

Wow what a difference! You wouldn't even realise how much hair you cut off either. Gorgeous!

[Maelyssa]

Oh I've been exactly where you were once myself. I finally did the trim too and was thrilled afterward. Your hair is stunning and looks great with the new trim. Good for you!

[Flame3345]

Your hair's so pretty :D

[BlueMuse]

It looks good!

And in hopes that I can help give the courage that Little Orca has offered to others. I cut off 4 inches or so back in August of last year. My hair does not grow quickly. It has taken me 13 years to grow from a pixie to beyond classic length. However, my hair is back at past classic and a little longer than it had been before I had the trim. Fresh ends seem to have made it much less of a struggle for my hair to bounce back.

[Dars]

What a difference, not in length but shape/condition. It looks really great, good on you for conquering your nerves!

[melusine963]

I think it's a big improvement. I'm glad it worked out so well.

[owlathena]

Yay! I did the same thing three weeks ago. I cut off an inch and a half. It was horrifying!I stood in the bathroom with the scissors and ponytail for an hour before I just DID IT. But my ends look sooooo much better! And my braid tassel is thicker, which is what had really bothered me.

[Safira]

If you weren´t Mermaid, I would definetely think you´re Storyteller.
:applause
You´re hair looks good, little cutting sometimes makes hair happier.

[bunzfan]

I know its scary but you did the right thing. Your hair was always lovely but the ends were wispy and now your hair looks fabulous i bet it will really grow to, your hair looks gorgeous now and it almost looks one colour .

[hellucy]

Your hair always looks lovely, healthy & shiny ... & its true it hardly looks like you took anything off it. I'm glad you are happy with your hair now. I think it's much better to be happy with your hair than to keep it longer purely because "it's longer":applause

[Envari]

Happy endings all over the place - I love it! Congrats on actually going through with the courageous act :cheese:

[GettingThere]

I think your hair looks beautiful! I am almost in the same place myself. I cut layers in my hair quite some time ago and now they are getting to the place where they are making my ends look thin (to me) but I just do not want to lose any length. So for now I am ignoring them. At some point I am going to just trim 1/2 inch every 6 weeks or so until they are all grown out but I know that will seriously delay any growth so I am putting it off.

Seeing how nicely your trim turned out is making me not dread mine so much:)

[Sisgoldenhair65]

Wow, amazing results!!! I can't wait till the day when I can trim my hair myself. Great job!!

[Syrena]

Your hair looks great after the trim. Also it is not noticeable that you took of so much.
I went through the same dilemma last month. I trimmed from almosty classic back to tailbone just because i could not stand my thin ends anymore! I feel much happier now and my hair too!

[spidermom]

Looking better! Honestly, the bottom was so wispy that I can barely tell you cut anything off. I guess my eyes weren't registering those longest bits.

[Kelikea]

Before I got to the end of your post, I was thinking photoshop#2 looked pretty good. And then saw your results, very similar to #2, but even better! It looks great.

[einna]

Brave thing you did! It looks very good :)

ETA: I also love the photoshop idea. Never seen it done that way before.

[summergreen]

Your hair looks great - in fact I think it actually looks longer now!

[lapushka]

It looks great. I'm sorry you struggled with this so much, but you did the right thing!

[heidi w.]

IF the problem is at the ends, handle the ends. IF it's at the top of the head, handle the top of the head. The change is not overly dramatic in terms of impression of length, but it looks a ton better.

I did the same thing. I had "weeds" going down to my ankles. My hair kind of stops growing well approximately mid-calf length, so after a while of giving the hair a chance to grow, and seeing no progress, I just did it. I cut it back to below my knees (by a number of inches, not merely barely) to where I believe my hair still looks good. Right at that dividing line (akin to the continental divide.! LOL) And there it sits, looking great every day. In my head AND in real life.

heidi w.

[racrane]

I really like the results. It's true that a little goes a long way. Very pretty!

[DancingQueen]

Wow, your hair looks amazing now! Way better than before :)

[LittleOrca]

Thanks everyone. :) The best part of this was that no one in my home even noticed. Well, Mr. Orca did since he was there when I did it, but my mother had no idea. She is even on my facebook where I posted the updated picture as well and it still did not register. I took the cut ends to show her this morning and she thought something terrible had happened and I just laughed a little.

I am keeping the ends and will turn them into some kind of art project... I'm weird, I know, but they are so pretty (in color).

[PrincessBob]

I support your decision. I know you love your hair, you are great to it and you are my mermaid idol, for real. I think it can help to lose just a couple inches. My hair was starting to look tattered, because of winter terribleness. I really hadn't had hair this bad in over two years, but this winter ravaged my hair, lint and build-up and tangles- Oh MY!
Snuggles and I just gave each other cuts. My hair lost three inches and his lost close to four, but we were both happy with the way it came out. I don't know my actual measurement right now, but I'm betting you and I are pretty close.
It looks nice!