The Chop...

Poor poor men. When it comes to commenting on a girl's hair, you can do no right. You are guilty until proven innocent and I've come to realize how unfair it is. Nick, my wonderful, sensitive, super observant husband once told me the best advice he ever got from his Dad was to just try and say as little as possible when a girl asks what you think of her hair. After last week I can see why!! About a year before Nick and I started dating, (nearly 7 years ago!) I cut my hair to about shoulder length (following a break up with an ex boyfriend of course because that's what girls do!) and from that point on I've pretty much been growing it out in various styles. Every girl I know wants long hair for her wedding so once that was officially on the horizon it was nothing but baby trims for my every-7-weeks salon appointments. About 6 months before the wedding I grew tired of the maintenance of my long, thick hair and started talking about how I couldn't wait to cut it after the the wedding. Well the big day came and went and I was thrilled to have the long hair I'd always dreamt of but I was still set on the big chop in the near future. With two August weddings on bridesmaid detail I kept my long hair so that it would be easier to pull back into formal hairdo's. By Fall I had no good excuse except fear of what it would look like so I went to three more appointments and again kept it long.

Well something about trying to survive the monotony of Michigan winters inspired me recently, so with a Rachel Ray magazine in hand I went to my trusted hair goddess, Alex, and asked her to perform the grueling hair surgery last week. I tried not to notice as years of growing my hair out fell in short, fast snippets to the ground. It was scary and liberating at the same time. Now I know it's only hair, really I do...but there's a lot of security wrapped up in a girl's hair and once you're used to a style it can be scary to change it so drastically. I went home with mixed feelings about my new, slightly-longer-then-chin-length style and right away Nick said how much he adored it. For no good reason I got defensive and said he "had to say that" and that while it was cute, I didn't feel as pretty or sexy without my long hair. He then tried to tell me how wrong I was and how it wasn't my hair that makes me sexy but I just continued to argue with him. In retrospect his Dad was so right! Here he was trying to shower me with compliments and I was disagreeing with him!! Thinking back I recalled a few times when I'd gotten something subtle done to my hair and he hadn't noticed right away and I was upset by his lack of observation and yet here he was trying to be super sweet about it when he did notice and I told him to stop talking about it! How freaking neurotic is that!?! I wish I could give you guys some advice but I just don't think girls, (or at least me!), are capable of being rational about this topic. What I can do is tell you not to take it personally and abide by Nick's rule of trying to say as little as possible while still pointing out that you've noticed a change. Best of luck and we'd love to hear your stories of hair comments gone horribly wrong!