(And no, I have no good reason why it’s been so long, but I do have some bad reasons.* Deal with it.)
Here’s my Pressing Issue:
ONCE upon a time, I had long hair that I didn’t know what to do with. I didn’t know how to use product in my curly hair, I didn’t know not to to brush it, etc. etc. Mom, naturally, based her treatment of my hair on what she knew about her own hair, so I had a blow-dried roll of bangs that frizzed at the slightest sign of moisture (which, given my area of origin, was daily) and a giant puff of hair behind it, which usually wound up being strapped into a low, unfortunate ponytail. I may have blogged about this in the past.
And then! I had it all chopped off, age 16. I learned the ways of product. I shared the ways of product (you are welcome, Davis). I was a product pro. I still am a product pro! With the exception of a few months during my sophomore year of college and the past year, I have spent the last nine years with my hair floating freely between my ears and my shoulders. I could wash it in a second. Some days it looked crazy, some days it didn’t. It is a decidedly unsexy look for me, but Jesus H. Arrojo is it easy.
And THEN! I started letting it grow. This was… sometime over a year ago. And now, totally uninterested parties, it is LAWNG. Real, real LAWNG. Lawnger than it has ever been–down to here, down to there, down to where it stops by itself, as it were. And because it is still curly (duh), I still don’t brush it and just throw some product in after a shower and let it hang out for like three or four days. The problem with this is the shower part–it takes me FOREVER to shower because I spend all the time that you normal-haired people spend brushing/styling your hair in a three-day period… in the shower, brushing (with my fingers) out 3-4 days worth of knots, loose hairs, and city detritus.
What of it? you ask? Well, I am not, how you say, so good at getting out of bed in the mornings. And I am not, so to speak, really that interested in, standing in the shower WORKING on my hair (because it is work, it is like more than a foot of work in some places), especially when I have just gotten out of bed. So I get mornings like this morning, when I woke up and lint-rolled my dining chairs instead of washing my hair. OR I can shower at night and have great-looking hair for like, an hour before I sleep on it and wake up looking like a homeless person. One day of crazy hair… and then three days in a ponytail.
I am at a breaking point. Should I grow up and learn how to shower on a regular basis and take the time to take care of my hair? Or should I just fuck it and chop it all off? I’m not what you would call a petite person, or what you would call a person with notable facial bone structure. Accordingly, chopping off The Great Balancer would probably make my face look flat and mushy and the rest of me look… eh, larger. But I demand to not be tortured by my hair and suffer the fate of the women who came before me! And no, I will not grow dreadlocks.
I need help, people. What do you think?
* bad reasons include: television; boyfriend; more television; board games. These are not bad things, just bad reasons for not blogging–plenty of people who watch too much TV, play too many board games and have excellent significant others blog extensively and well.
I think you should grow up and learn how to shower regularly and maintain your hair, but I also think you should get a grownup hairdo. Since you’re paying a crapton for people who know curly hair, why not use their expertise and go out on a limb and see how you do? I think you would come out looking awesomer than even now. It does indeed get a little Weird Al at times, and while you do hair pulled back way better than I do, I bet you’d probably like to leave it down sometimes the way I’d like to go full-on ponytail without looking like 7th-grade-tophatters-Kathleen. Another potential advantage of a chop/change is that it will be so wash-&-wearable that you won’t have to change your sleeping patterns, plus you won’t be tearing through so many knots with fewer inches of windblown hair to contend with.
Fin.
I hate to say it, Abby, but this one seems pretty straightforward to me. You have 2 options:
1) With great hair comes great responsibility. I’m sure there is some tenable fusion of your Product-Fu and an actual haircare regimen, but it will be time-consuming. Acknowledge that, commit to it, and step on up to the responsibility of taking care of your damn hair.
2) Get it cut short again. Hopefully in some fun way, rather than just the Big Chop. Go to a stylist you trust and own up to your unwillingness to spend a lot of time on your hair and see what they suggest. The Big Chop does allow you to donate your hair to a charitable cause, which can be good for assuaging all manner of guilt.
I like your long hair. But then again, I’m part of the problem, so perhaps my vote should not count. :-)
I have to agree on the showering point, it is kind of time to bite the bullet on that one.
That said, here is my newest deep thought about hair. We are people who would spend an inappropriate amount of money on a pair of shoes, or a top, or bag, or all those things at once. So our hair, which we wear every day, not just on special occasions, should get the same treatment? Splurge on a good haircut! You don’t have to cut it all off, but an alternative to the ponytail might be in order.
You are lucky enough to live in New York City. While that doesn’t guarantee you SJP’s fantastic Season 4 hair, it does mean you have access to some fantastic salons, many of whom specialize in curly locks.
I have even done some of the legwork for you:
http://www.ouidad.com/salon_locator/idx_salon.asp?sc=601
http://www.devachansalon.com/
http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/35716877/new_york_ny/christo_fifth_avenue.html
http://www.beautyriot.com/category.php?id=67
There was also some beauty site that just rated the best products for curly hair. I will send you that link when I get home.
and i promise I will let you wear it however you want for the wedding.
Chop! Chop chop chop! I’m pretty sure both you and I are short-haired people who sometimes get off track. Yes, my hair is long at the moment, but I’m always glad when I chop it! Just think of how nice and light and healthy it feels when you get it cut. Damn, now I’m convincing myself too.