My Life in Hair

UPDATE: if you're still reading... I chickened out, everyone was telling me to! On the upside, I got a trim and it's looking a lot healthier, partly due to the miracle that is Aveda Damage Remedy. So I have deleted the photos, out of some sort of weird anti-face-on-internet thing I have going on. It's almost as weird as the hair thing.

I have a somewhat unusual phobia, although phobia may be too strong a wrong to describe my aversion to hairdressers.

Throughout my life, my feature most commented on has been my hair. More times than I could count, people have said that they wish they had my hair, how beautiful it is etc etc. Probably just as many times, they have also laughed at it and made jokes. Of course, I've always held onto the fact that they're 'just jealous'. Is it just me whose parents used that phrase on a practically daily basis when I came back from school every day distraught for one reason or another?

Anyway, despite the attention that my hair receives on its good days, it truly does have a life of its own and as a result of this I have had more than my fair share of bad hair days. In fact, I have more hair-related neuroses than is probably healthy and therefore I am pretty terrified of getting anything more than a trim (I have had approximately the same cut for a very long time). But right now, I really need to get it properly cut. It actually looks alright today, but I simply have too much hair, it overwhelms my face. Yet still, I do not know where to go, because I can't go back to my old hairdresser (he's scared of giving me more than a trim after past reactions) and I need to have that right level of trust.

So right now my hair is stick in limbo although I am grateful for the colour I do love and have been blessed with (although - why does no-one tell you that gingers get white hair early?). In a fit of OMG-I-WANT-TO-CUT-ALL-MY-HAIR-OFF I have decided to share with you My Life in Hair. The ups, the downs, the current 5ish year rut... some of these photos will truly quash my 'pretty face' persona, but it's all for a good cause. I need your advice!

Here I am, Baby Pretty Face, sporting the ever so stylish quiffy crop.

Then came the years of glory, pre-Raphaelite curls. These are the snaps which make me long to cut off all my hair. I think I'm kidding myself that I'll become this cute again.

But as I got older, the hair got heavier and lost some of its bounce. Cue a visit to the hairdresser which I will never forget, and probably stemmed my whole issue with hair. She proclaimed that my hair needed some 'volume' and proceeded to give me the worst haircut I have ever experienced. Putting these picture up is taking me some guts... I think they'll be going down soon.

Bad cuts don't last forever, even if the emotional scars do. Soon my hair was long enough and I got it cut... into the style I've consistently had for the past few years, the whole of my teenage life. When it's just cut, I like it, but my hair grows so damn quick and I'm getting a little bit bored.

Okay, so as I said... what to do? I love the texture and colour of my hair but never very much the cut. Is it just a case of accepting that I'll have the same long, life of its own hair for the rest of my life and brave the chop, hoping that one godawfut cut is enough for one lifetime? And yes, my hair is very tasty.