My hair has been the same way for a while. I have been dyeing it the same color for several years, and I think the last big change I made to it was when I got bangs. I’ve been growing my hair out for a few years, and while I haven’t let it get crazy long, it’s been long for quite a while. Whenever I would get my hair done (which is not as often as I should), it was mainly just a trim to get the shape back in my hair. I would have maybe an inch or two cut off because of the growth since the last cut, but that’s it.
I used to love to change my hair up more often. But now, because every major change to my hair requires me to get new headshots and spend more money, I rarely do it. But before I had my hair cut earlier this week, I decided that it was time for a change. I loved my long hair, but it wasn’t looking as professional and styled as I would like. I have very thin hair and get bald spots from alopecia, so the long hair was starting to look a bit stringy. And I had recently lost a big chunk of my hair (fortunately it was at the back of my hairline so it’s not too noticeable) so I wanted to make sure I had a new hairstyle that would cover that hair loss.
There are so many styles I would love to have with my hair, but they don’t work with my face or how my face looks right now. I think if I was thinner, some looks would be better on me. I hate that my weight changes what I feel like I can do with my hair, but it’s just the truth. But I was looking at a few different things that I thought could look good and decided to show them to my friend Erin, who does my hair, to see what she thought would work and look good for me.
And the first thing I showed her was similar to a collarbone length bob (I guess it’s technically a lob but those seem to be a bit shorter than what I was looking at). Erin thought it would look great and help create the illusion that my hair is fuller than it really is. So I decided to go for it and make the first major change to my hair in years.
Since I also needed my hair to be dyed (not only do I not love my natural color, but I’ve been going gray since I was 20 so I need to cover those grays up), we started with the dyeing. But because there is no point in coloring hair that was just going to be chopped off, Erin first cut off about 6 inches that we knew would be gone. It was just a cut to get a bulk of what was going to be cut off gone, but it was still a big cut and I was excited to see how much was coming off!
You can even tell in that picture how stringy the bottom of my hair was getting. Long hair is awesome, but I just don’t have enough hair to make it look good (maybe I’ll do long hair when I can get extensions to add some thickness one day).
Dyeing my hair is a pretty standard thing for me now. I’ve been doing it forever. I did notice one random benefit to having gray hair, though. I get a single process, all-over color, but because of the gray hair, it does look like my hair gets highlighted. It’s not as perfect compared to when I actually get it highlighted, but it at least adds a bit of dimension to my hair color.
Since a lot of the cutting was done before it was dyed, after the dye was washed out it was just perfecting the cut. Erin has been doing my hair for 16 years now so she knows what works for me and my hair. And while there were a few ideas she had that could be nice, she went with what she knew would look the best on me and that I could style. And when it was done, I had much shorter hair even though it still is technically long!
I wish I had worn a lighter shirt when I took those photos because you can’t see my hair that well. But I took another after photo in a tank top so I could show off how short it is now.
It’s not short, but it’s a decent change from what it was before. I love my new look and it hasn’t been a huge adjustment. My biggest concern with shorter hair is being able to put it up for my workouts, but it’s still long enough to pull back into a bun. And it looks so much better than it did before. I guess it looks fuller now, but since I’m so aware of my hair I don’t see that. But it does look much healthier and polished, which is something I wanted.
Now that I have a new look, I do have to get new headshots, but that was already something I was working on. And since my hair is at least the same color, I’m not as stressed about getting my headshots done immediately. My plan is to do them this month, but in the past, I was worried about doing them the same week as a major haircut. I have other things taking up my time next week, but I know I’ll get it done soon.
I’m so glad I took a chance on changing up my look because I needed it! This was just the refresh I needed to feel better and I have a lot of confidence about my hair now!
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