I’m taking a stand and I need to declare this publicly so that it sticks for once an for all, so here it goes:

In the interest of having the long, luscious locks that I so envy in other girls – like my partner in Pretty Amy – but could never seem to grow myself, I will stop dying my hair completely. I’ve literally been trying to grow long hair since kindergarten when I observed my teacher fawning over my classmate who she selected to play the role of the “pretty doll” in the school Christmas pageant. “Oh look how long and beautiful her hair is!!!”

But then came the mother-induced perms. And then came high school and an obsession with Tori Amos and along with that an obsession with dyeing my hair as red as possible. And I took to red so completely that I continued on my routine of every few months visiting the drug store for a new box color. (I had it done in a salon a couple of times, but hated the color they selected, hated being trapped in a chair for what seemed like forever, and especially hated the bill. Mostly hated the bill…)

So then it began that as soon as my hair reached below my collar bone, it was brittle, gross, and completely worthless. Those girls, the ones with the long beautiful hair I would sometimes quite creepily ask to touch because I so rarely felt such soft, strong, healthy hair, would always say the same thing to me: “No, I’ve never dyed it.”

I was still in denial, I loved having bright red hair. But then I just grew up and let it go. It was much more important to me to have healthy hair.

And this decision was underscored during my last visit to the salon. I believe the conversation with the lovely, talented and super nice Cassandra at the Melrose Floyd’s went like this:
“Umm…it looks like shit, but I’m trying to grow it out..so can you get rid of the ends?”
“Sure, so perhaps maybe just an inch or so? I mean, are you attached to the length?”
“Cut as much off as you think needs to go. I’d like to grow it out, but if it’s long, but looks like hell, then there’s really no point in keeping it.”
“I like your attitude!”

And then it went. Cassandra had her way with it and the splitty, washed out, dry ends went and tadaa! Luscious locks. It was short, but I could run my fingers through it and it felt amazing. As one of my Twitter girl-crushes @Lauriebstyle wrote to me post-chop: “It’s like therapy right? All your worries and troubles are washed a way with the snipping and styling of dead ends!” So true! Even the color looked better now that all those washed out ends, bleached out from all the color jobs, were gone. And yes, it was true that after this last big chop, I was ready to finally embrace my brown. My medium-boring brown that perhaps isn’t the most exciting color, but its bright shine, its healthy texture and its soft touch makes it a brown I love.

FYI:
Here’s Cassandra’s schedule if you’re looking for a quality and affordable cut. I heart you Cassandra!
And read Laurie Brucker’s fashion columns for the LA Examiner and follow her @Lauriebstyle.

Nicole

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