I cut my hair.

[pebblerocker]

I had hair past my waist and I had it cut off and I'm quite happy about it. It's cooler in this hot weather and it's easy to wash; most people said they like the way it looks now although a couple said things like "You've got guts, I couldn't have done that" and "What did you do with the hair??" (implied: you shouldn't have cut it but since you did, you'd better be making some poor cancer patient happy with it).

The haircut went: tied at back of neck, cut off just below elastic, trimmed for evenness a bit. My sister did it for me which is because of my extreme stinginess. Result: a chin-length bob just long enough that most of it can be tied up under a bike helmet. I was so pleased with the way it looked that I wore it untied for the first couple of days and put up with it falling in my face as part of the adventure.

I may possibly want some other type of haircut later; looking through hairstyle books and websites is no help at all because they're in another language using words like "mousse" and "rollers" and "blow-dry over round brush" as if any person owns any of those things, but if we go at it with scissors and enthusiasm I'm sure something will come of it. Originally I was going to have it cut a lot shorter so no part of it could get in my eyes ever, but the bob at the halfway stage looked so good that we stopped there, so I am full of confidence in the making it up as you go school of hairdressing.

Comments

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

That sounds great! Any chance of a photo? :-)

I had a chin-length bob and I loved the look, but I got fed up with the hair swinging into my face when I leaned forward. Obviously this doesn't bother others with bobs, but it does me. I had mine layered a lot more so it's not as heavy and it modtly stays off my face.

[pebblerocker]

I try to keep real-life things separate from LJ, but I'm sure there's a way of showing you a picture without showing the whole world...

Yep, the hair in the face is what I'm trying to avoid -- have been keeping it tied up in a silly little shaving-brush ponytail most of the time because of that, though it can be trained to stay behind my ears if I'm not doing anything physical. I found your hair photo from May and what I want is probably close to what you have (it looks great on you!) but it probably needs skilful cutting to achieve that look :-P

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You could PM me with a link to a photo. Or email me on my LJ ID at gmail. :-)

The Shearing Shed and similar are pretty cheap but still have good cutters.

[lolabobs.livejournal.com]

goodness - I would probably comment on your bravery too, but only because I am scared of haircuts going wrong! It sounds as if it worked out perfectly for you though.

As for the "what did you do with the hair" question, it would never have crossed my mind that you could give it to anyone! When I had my long har cut as a child I kept it curled up in a bag as a memento. It's probably still in the loft somewhere!

[pebblerocker]

My hair has not yet found its way to charity wigmakers; it's curled up in a bag waiting for me to get around to it, along with the hair from an earlier extreme haircut a decade ago which is even longer. I don't do things by halves! Either super-long or short short, but not in between!

[entropy-house.livejournal.com]

I go for the self-cutting hairdo myself. :^) I went from halfway down my shin to shoulder-length & I'm pretty much keeping it there as that's easiest for tying back when doing yardwork, without being so short it makes my already round face into a ball.

I had sent off the cut hair to a wigs for cancer patients charity, but they annoyed me by following up with several 'oh, hey, why don't you give us money,too' letters. I've heard you can stuff pincushions with hair.

For my shoulder-length cut I've found a really fast technique- I pull freshly washed & combed hair straight up over my head with one hand & use my other hand to add any that falls out until I'm holding it all. Then snip snip snip straight across just below my hand. Side-parted, the hair automatically layers a bit, then I do a quick tidy up of ragged edges & it's done. I don't say it's great, but I don't get stares in public.

[pebblerocker]

Wow, that's long! I had hair down to just a few centimetres above my knees when I was 18, nowhere near as long as yours was (and I'm quite short). I've since decided that it's impractical to have hair longer than my arms -- otherwise combing it is a two-stage process.

I have seen DIY haircutting directions (in a very sensible book for practical people) which has a similar technique. You put the hair into a very high tail, at the top of the head or near the forehead, smooth out the tail and put another elastic around it at the length you want, then snip off the end of the tail. (Your way is perhaps less exacting but sounds very simple and effective.) My mother used this method for a while with success and I've had the same cut once or twice. The layers it makes really do work well!