Hair

In April 2010, a couple of months before my job ended, when I still had a slightly-more-substantial monthly income, I drove from Stockton to Antioch to see my favorite hairdresser for a trim and color. (This was when I abandoned blonde highlights and went back to my more-or-less natural brunette hair color.) Since then, I have not set foot in a salon.

For years, I was happy wearing my hair at shoulder-length or just below, but as I put off visiting a hairdresser in the hopes that with my next check I'd have the money to splurge (no SuperCuts for me, thankyouverymuch), my hair kept getting longer. And longer.

And longer.

Before I quite knew what to think about it, My hair was more than halfway down my back. It turns out that regular workouts and a healthy diet make for happy, healthy, fast-growing hair.

Mom would laugh in amazement and say, "Look how long your hair is getting!" I decided to see how long I could get it to grow before I get sick and tired of caring for it and chop it all back to shoulder-length. And as yet, I haven't gotten sick of it. It's a few inches above my waist now, the longest it's been since I was eight or nine, at least. It's in decent health, and I've trimmed the ends myself a time or two to keep them in check. I use store-bought shampoo (Herbal Essences and, on occasion, Head and Shoulders when my scalp gets dry) and a slightly fancier conditioner (Umberto) and a fantastic leave-in spray conditioner called It's A 10 that gets every tangle out like magic. I do occasional hair treatments with an olive oil hair concoction I've had on hand for years. Sometimes I skip washing it to let my natural oils work their magic. And coloring it from time to time with L'Oreal has helped keep it shiny and soft, too.

The result:

Yes, that's my face under there. That's the shortest part of my hair, and it is
almost to my clavicle.

Shiny.

Even my ponytail is outrageously long.

I get a lot of comments from people telling me, "Do NOT cut it!!" but I figure at some point I might get tired of taking care of it and go a little bit shorter. I'm not a fan of shorter hair with my face and head shape, so at the most, I'd probably go for shoulder length.

But for now, I like it as it is, and I am curious to see if I can get it to reach waist-length at some point. I won't go beyond that, though. Really it seems to be at a great length right now. Even if it does get caught in my bra straps when I get dressed.