“With short hair you begin to crave pearl necklaces, long earrings, and a variety of sunglasses. And you brush your teeth more often. Short hair removes obvious femininity and replaces it with style. When it starts growing out a little and losing its style, you have to wear sunglasses until you can get it to the hairdresser. That’s why you need a variety. Short hair makes you aware of subtraction as style. You can no longer wear puffed sleeves or ruffles; the neat is suddenly preferable to the fussy. You eye the tweezers instead of the blusher. What else can you take away? You can’t hide behind short hair… You may look a little androgynous, a little unfinished, a little bare… but your face is no longer a flat screen surrounded by a curtain: the world sees you in three dimensions.”
– Joan Juliet Buck for American Vogue, c.1988
I’ve been meaning to cut my hair short for a long time. But first I was afraid (I was petrified! Lalala :P), then I thought ‘perhaps my face is too long’… or ‘maybe I’m too fat for that’. After I read the above quote, though, on The Glamourai, I felt even more driven. However, somehow, no one ever encourages you to go short. I don’t understand it, but, since besides being a tad impulsive I am also terribly stubborn, I decided to go for it against all the ‘oh no, please don’t do it!‘ – cut away! Even the lady at the hair saloon asked me ‘Are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather cut it just a bit shorter?‘. No, cut – what is wrong with this people?! It’s just hair! It grows back! – and she did.
This is by far the most radical change of looks I’ve ever made. It’s not even a different chapter, it’s a different book! But I needed it. I needed a big change, and my hair needed a square one opportunity to grow stronger – I took the hint and decided to also start an anti hair loss treatment (I’ll let you know how that works out). It’s Spring after all… don’t people like to take this time of the year to do some Spring cleaning? Let’s call this that (first is the hair, next is the bedroom and then it’s a full detox!).
Ok, so, do I like it? Yes! I actually like it a lot more than I expected: it made me realize that I am actually prettier than I thought (of course this is my opinion, you’re free to find me a total short haired beast – without long locks there isn’t indeed nothing left to hide behind, no distractions, there’s no frame to your face… just plain you). Does it feel weird? Well, I get chills on my neck all the time – I wouldn’t dare to leave the house without a scarf! – and sometimes I forget and reach for a lock to play with when they aren’t there anymore… Aside from that, all cool. Of course I’ll be struggling for a while with the styling, but that isn’t really an issue. As for self image and style, I have to be really honest and tell you that I am not sure if I look like a lesbian or not (Attention! No homofobia here, ok? This is just a way of saying that I feel I am now one step closer to grow my hymen back…). There are a bunch of things that I can no longer wear, because they don’t look or feel right. I’m now much more compeled to anything clean, neat, well cut, well made, accessorizing maybe less but wiser. I know I’ll have to learn how to balance both worlds (masculine and feminine), but it feels like I am now creating the ‘Less is More’ version of myself – therefore I’ll be extending the Spring clean to my closet ferociously! – I feel edgier, more elegant, less ordinary. I now know that I can’t be lazy anymore and neglect either my nails, my brows, my skin – you should never be, but when your hair in long you can always complain about how demanding it is and how you ended up running out of time to take care of the rest – tomorrow!… Maybe this all sounds silly, but it is true. It’s a new challenge, not to fall in agony because I am no longer a girly girl. I’ll have to manage looking feminine yet not too obvious or ridiculous (this is my perspective, what goes with my personality – of course you can still be a super girly girl and have short hair! That just doesn’t feel like me…) And sexy! That’s the bigger issue!… Ahahahah. So much research awaits me!
Now, what do you think? Do you like it? Honesty, please! And if by any chance you happen to have some styling suggestions please share. 🙂 Thank you!!
POPCORNSTONE 