One snip and it's gone...Round II

Way back in the day, I blogged about my mentee, Jeanette, chopping off her exceedingly long tresses and donating them to Locks Of Love. My own hair has been getting really long recently. Not as long as Jeanette's was prior to getting the chop, but the consistent comments from people to the effect of "wow, your hair is getting really long" were becoming more and more frequent. So, I went online to check out my options for where to possibly donate my hair. I found that Pantene Beautiful Lengths works with the American Cancer Society to make wigs for cancer victims, then there's Locks Of Love who assist kids with alopecia in getting wigs, and also Wigs For Kids (although they needed 12" of hair minimum, which was just a little too much for me). I actually really wanted to donate to the Beautiful Lengths program, but they cannot take hair that's had permanent dye in it - and although I've only dyed my hair the once, in a somewhat successful attempt to dye the grey, it was a permanent dye and hence put me out of the running for that one.

Anyway, research - check. Time to measure my hair. I had my handy husband take the tape measure to it and assure me that there was indeed 10" of hair to spare, although that would take it to my chin which is a place my hair hasn't been since I was about 5 years old. Originally, the decision was to wait another month or so and let it grow an inch, then lop it off. The problem is that once the decision was in my head to do it, there wasn't any waiting! I'm a pretty patient person, but sometimes you just gotta run with it...and off I ran to the salon, ponytail appropriately marking the spot and ready to go.
After she evened out my rather lop-sided "post-ponytail-chopping" do, it was probably an inch or so shorter than I was expecting and I was sitting there, staring at the length of hair sitting at her station but no longer attached to my head. It's now been 2 weeks and I'm still not 100% used to the lack of hair covering the back of my neck, the fact I don't need to tie it back to get into the shower, or the fact I need to put a little product in it to get it to behave (rather than the quick brushing that it used to get). I've had some people tell me that I look older and more sophisticated, while others have informed me that I look even younger - as if I didn't already get carded for everything. Either way, I'm enjoying playing with my new hair and even if I decide I want it long again, it will grow back! That's an opportunity not granted to the kids with alopecia that need these wigs.