The Big Cut

#16: Do something drastically different with my hair.
#54: Donate my hair.

I've wanted to donate my hair to Locks of Love for as long as I can remember, but there's always been one thing standing in my way:

My hair.

It takes forever to grow, and quite frankly, I've never had the patience to let it get to the 10-inch minimum that's required for LoL.

The last time I had a major haircut was right after my wedding, when I got eight inches chopped off. Well, that was nearly four years ago, and the time is finally here. A couple months ago, I asked Tom to measure my hair, and it was just barely long enough. Yes, it really took that long. In my defense, I've been getting it trimmed every couple of months just to prevent split ends, but anyway...

Another reason I'd been putting the haircut off is that I couldn't decide on a style. The last few times I've gotten my hair cut short, I've gone with a pretty standard cut, and I wanted to mix it up this time, by both going shorter and trying a new style. I'd also never chosen a style based on whether or not I could wear it curly. For most of my life, I blow-dried my hair straight, but in the last few years I've come to embrace my natural curl. (Actually, I just discovered that it takes a lot less time to put in some product, scrunch, and go, plus it does less damage than styling with heat...but the embracing thing sounds better.) So that made the selection process take a little longer too. I started gathering pictures on a Pinterest board and ultimately got it narrowed down to a few that I liked and thought would look good on me.

But then I couldn't decide between those few! So I turned to Facebook and asked my FB friends to weigh in, thinking that maybe it would be helpful to have some fresh pairs of eyes looking at them. (By the way, thank you to everyone who commented!)

Ultimately I decided to just go in and let Kate, the lady who cuts my hair, tell me what looks good. I figured she knows way more about this stuff than I do. What we ended up with was an angled bob. Not crazy short, but different enough. Actually, for years people have been telling me to get my hair cut this way, and I've always been like, "Nooooo, that's not for me." But I love it. It's so sassy!

Anyway, I know what you're all waiting for, so I'll shaddap now. Here are the pictures:

Before...

After!

Side view (this was the "preview" pic I sent Tom before I got home):

And just in case you were wondering...the ponytail that Kate cut off was pitiful because my hair is so fine, but it was exactly 10 inches, so I am sending it off to Locks of Love today!