The Long and Short Of It

Contrary to popular belief, I did not cut my hair because of some boy. Geez, give me some credit please, and stop calling me Bianca Manalo or Basha. In fact, ask him. I’ve been meaning to change my hair style for months- and kept on yapping about it - but was being a total wuss at the prospect of cutting my locks, which took more than three years to grow out.

It actually grew out from a really short pixie I had in early 2008. I guess I just got tired of going back and forth to my trusty parlorista (who has been cutting my hair since high school) so I just left it alone, so it grew and grew. In the last three years, my hair has been colored quite a few shades several times (Light to Medium Brown, Chestnut, Caramel and Coffee), layered, banged, ironed, plagued with split ends, the occasional flakes due to stress and switching hair products, threatened by hair lice when my daughter brought a head-full of it from school, and most recently curled, until I finally had it chopped off. 

A few samples to show the "evolution." Clockwise from top left: supershort pixie in March 2008 until half of 2009 when I stopped cutting it; growing it out in August 2010; bangs and lighter shade in March 2011; longer and fuller in December 2011, curly from May-Sept 2012; sleek and short October 2012.

I love my new shorter 'do:

Because it takes less time to dry and style. I don’t have to go to sleep with several meters of sopping wet hair, soaking up my pillow and risking insanity. Remember the old wives’ tale of going to sleep with wet hair? Actually, I don’t remember if it causes one to go crazy, blindness or white hair. In any case, I think I got some of all three: I'm kinda lukaret, my eyesight has worsened and I have several strands of uban. In  the morning, I stick my head out the window or under the office washroom’s hand dryer for two minutes and voila! Instant hairdo!

I save on shampoo, conditioner, gel and hair serum. Sometimes I can skip conditioner, as there are no long strands that get tangled up. My curls used to be high-maintenance as well, requiring several fistfuls of gel to stay in place and achieve that I-jumped-out-of-the-bed-looking-this-delightfully-rumpled-and-did-not-spend-ages-in-front-of-the-mirror-fixing-it look.

Shows my neck and cheekbones more, Yeah, as if my bony structure need more emphasis haha! Plus, some said I look just a bit plumper (my face anyway) with shorter hair.

I don’t get to feed my jeepney or bus seatmate with clumps of wet hair when I fall asleep and forget to tie back my hair while commuting in the morning.

Sometimes, I do miss my long hair:

When I want to look and feel like a girl, flipping my hair when I’m happy or kilig (to that expression, "Ang haba ng hair mo teh!") I look even more boyish (some would say, baklaish) with my short hair. Plus, I lost more than eight pounds after cutting it. It’s either I really did lose weight (horrors!), or my hair actually weigh that much. I vote for the latter.

Long hair has more options in styling. I can go from chaka-bun-look to pa-mysterious-effect heroine with loose waves.

My profile pics look better with more hair! *vanity shots lang!*

Anyway, it’s gonna grow out soon. In the meantime, I have more pressing problems to face. Like, how to gain those eight pounds back, and more.