Now that I have short hair again, every morning is a bad hair morning, so I wash, put in stuff for pre-blow drying. and the blow dry and style at the same time with a brush, apply stuff to manipulate and hold the style.

Anyway, my point being: any decision like this is about what you value. I value looking put-together, and I value not having to worry about my hair. I value not having a lot of crap in my bathroom, and I value not doing my hair one way only to walk out into the humidity and have it become completely different hair.

I value being attractive to the opposite sex (men), and yet I really don’t value being with someone whose attraction to me might vary depending on how my hair is cut. I don’t care if men are wired to like women with long hair, I want one for whom my appeal doesn’t depend on hair length. Will that be harder to find? I suspect so. I don’t care. I’d rather be alone than have to worry about this.

See now – to a lot of people that would be nuts. Alone! What’s that! But I just can’t believe that my relationship happiness depends on my hairstyle. So it’s scary to have short hair, but feels like that good scary. Like skydiving. Which wouldn’t tangle my nice short hair…

That said, it’s true that women CAN cut their hair short and still look good. It’s just that most of those that cut their hair short seem to end the process there and give up on still keeping up the appearance. It’s the same as a guy who gets a crew cut but then instead of brushing it up evenly and keeping it trim, just uses it as an excuse to have an unkempt mat of fur atop his dome. If you’ve ever walked through a Costco on a Saturday morning and seen some of the soccer moms ambling about there, you know what I mean. I don’t expect them to dress up like a night at the opera — it’s just that, wow, they really do come off dumpy with those flat, close-cut noggins on top of everything else.

In my wife’s case, she has an extra disadvantage: if she cuts her hair short, she looks almost exactly like her brother. And even her friends have told her this. I kept it light, joking that “as much as I like the guy, I don’t think my being married to him would work out.” The compromise we reached is that if she keeps her hair a little longer the way I like it, I return the favor by keeping MY hair the way SHE likes it — short and sharply trimmed. Turnabout is fair play, after all.

For me, the growing-back-in period, from when the hair is long enough to be in my face (which I can’t stand) to when it’s finally long enough to pull back into a ponytail to keep it out of my face, is awful. After a childhood plagued by a hairstyle that drove me nuts (but Mom thought it looked cute!), I grew my hair in at age 18 and have never regretted it once.

For myself, the ultimate “uncluttering” is that I don’t think about my hair beyond the simple business of washing it & combing it into a ponytail. The length is just about to the bottom of my shoulder-blades. I trim the ponytail at home every few months… that takes about 1 minute to do. If I have to go somewhere dressy, I twist the ponytail up and put in some sparkly clips, and that’s it!

PS: @Diana: I also only shampoo my hair once a week. My scalp is not oily, so if I wash my hair more often, I’m essentially wasting both time & shampoo.

We live full-time in our RV and are rarely any place long enough to visit the same hair salon twice, so I have eliminated the hassle of finding a new stylist over and over.

My hair looks exactly the same, morning, noon and night: short and chic. No combing, no brushing. No clips, bands, barrettes to buy or store. No gels, sprays, mousses.

In addition to our RV, we have two 150cc scooters. I always ride wearing a helmet, and my hair is completely unfazed by the brain bucket. No “hairdo by Honda” for me! Even more conventional short hair gets flattened in a helmet, but the crew cut does not.

Best of all, I get compliments everywhere I go from complete strangers. Literally hundreds of women have told me they wish they were “brave” enough to cut their hair this short. It’s too bad that people are afraid to even try a radical, yet completely reversible change like really short hair. What have you got to lose?

Ok, maybe that was a bit extreme, but short and simple works best for my hair type and my lifestyle. A little gel, a little scrunch, and I’m good to go.

Appearance (and how to maintain it) is a very personal (and obviously highly emotionally charged) issue. There is no right or wrong here; it is purely a case of “whatever floats your boat.”

My hair is long and straight, all one length, no bangs, no layers. I get it trimmed maybe once or twice a year at a cheapie salon for $12.00. If I don’t like the colour, I dump a couple of boxes of home colour on it, total cost about $20.00. I no longer need to pay for cuts every 4 – 6 weeks, perms, highlights, bang trims, etc. I can wear my hair up in a lovely clip (found at the dollar store or can go expensive with handmade clips), wear a headband (I have tons of them, from casual to lace covered), or in a scrunchie, or pinned back at the sides or loose and flowing. The best thing I ever did was grow out the layers and the bangs.

Of course most hair stylists want you in short hair with layers, that way you are back in their chair every six weeks and hair cuts cost way too much, plus a tip, plus my time and energy – it’s just not a frugal option for me.

I used to go the hairdressers and pay £5+ to to have a 3 & 2, that is #3 on top, #2 on the sides. But after having the trainees bash my head about and charge me £12 for a bad cut (how can you cut hair badly when all you are doing is running a trimmer through it??!!), I decided to go DIY. I bought an electric cordless trimmer, only £15 from Boots, and now I sit on the edge of the bath, leaning in, and just buzz cut a #2 all over with one hand and feel the result with the other. It takes about 10 or 15 minutes, I do it in the evening and catch any missed hairs in the morning in different light. It took a little practice, but now it’s easy and very quick.

I also use the trimmer for my chin hair, which is very easy and safe, and so I haven’t clean shaved for a couple of years now (more time saved!).

In fact, I’ve saved much more than just money. I do not have to make a special trip to get my cut, I don’t have to hang around waiting my turn, I don’t have a shirt full of itchy bits of cut hair to clean out, and best of all, my hair stays neatly cut all the time. Whenever I realise it is taking a little too long to dry, I know I need another cut. So I cut every 3 or 4 weeks now instead of every 6 or 8 weeks when I could find the time to make a trip out to the hairdresser.

Do yourself a favour and buy a set of trimmers, and whip it off, ALL OFF!!

I envy you ladies who can get it cut once a year and wear long hair with endless style. (long hair pulled up nicely NEVER goes out of style by the way)

Happy blowdrying!