surprise!

I've wanted to donate my hair for a really long time but could never tolerate "long" (for me) hair enough to grow it out for donation. During pregnancy, I found that I could handle the long hair better and decided that I would let it grow until it was long enough. Fortunately, Pantene Beautiful Lengths accepts as little as 8 inches, so it got chopped today - I couldn't stand it anymore. ;) It's short now, and I love it! I have the feeling I'll be clipping it back to keep it out of my face, but at least it's not all frizzy and gross around my shoulders and neck. We'll see if I ever decide to donate again - I wouldn't be surprised if this is the one and only time.

a poll

I've had short hair envy for a while now, especially now that my hair is relatively long again. (I've never had it more than a couple inches longer than it is now.) I keep seeing these really cute short haircuts and wanting to chop it off again. I know I'd probably be annoyed with styling it and want to grow it out again, but it's pretty tempting. Brian says I can do it even though I know he prefers my long hair.

So, what do you think?

vs.

the hair experiment

So I've been trying out my hair dryer and straightener the last few weeks. The results are in...I love it! I'm finally able to consistently look good, and I have so much more confidence when I feel good (Brian has even noticed). If I use both of them, it adds about 15 minutes to my getting-ready time, but it's absolutely worth it to me.

I am worried about damaging my hair because I've never done this before. I'm pretty sure I've never had split ends in my life, but I suppose I'll deal with it if it happens. Any suggestions on keeping my hair healthy would be appreciated. :)

Also, I still haven't figured out how to do curly or wavy styles with the tools I have (and I really don't want a curling iron...I'm way too uncoordinated for that). Brian seems to like it better straight, but a little variety is always nice.

Maybe I'll post some pictures soon. :)

you're so vain

No, you're not so vain. I am.

I finally got a haircut. It's the first one since...ummm...May? I've been growing my hair out, so I didn't want to even trim it until it was a nicer length. In the last few weeks, it's finally gotten to the point that I can put it up in a half ponytail and it (mostly) stays there.

But I had a girl mullet.

Since I had bangs with my short hair, I'm going through the lovely process of growing them out. (Again! Why did I decide this was a good idea?) So I've got this nice shorter layer on the top of my hair and then a long layer underneath that likes to flip out and look really nappy. (Side note: I just looked up "nappy" to make sure it was spelled right - and it turns out that it doesn't mean what I thought it meant. Too bad. I'm using it anyway.) It was definitely time to do something about that.

I haven't had to check out salons since we moved here, and I wasn't really looking forward to it. I asked the sisters in our ward if they knew of anyone who would do it for about $10 (so I'm cheap) besides some place like Great Clips. No one really volunteered, and Brian made some good points about getting a more expensive haircut. I ended up going to a salon just down the street from us. Not cheap, but I like what she did. I came home and told Brian to take some pictures of me because my hair wasn't going to look that good again until I got another haircut.

It never ceases to amaze me what some people can do with a round brush and a hair dryer.

That got me thinking though. I've always been opposed to hair dryers and curling irons. One of my companions taught me how to use a straightener once, and I wasn't too bad at it. But I'm so uncoordinated otherwise. However, as much as I hate taking more time than necessary to get ready, I decided it might be worth it if I can add 15 minutes or less to my routine and actually look that good every day. (What an idea!) So with a little convincing from Brian (yes, HE had to convince ME), I ended up with a hair dryer and a straightener. It may be just an experiment. But this could be the beginning of something beautiful (haha) - I even had the motivation to dry my hair and put on make-up this morning.

I guess we'll see how this goes.