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Monday 30 September 2013

My Experience: Going From Long Hair to Short

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Hello people out there

It's Monday again. Here's a new post that will brighten your day (hopefully). :)

Recently, I went for a trim and just thought that I should write about my experience on cutting my hair short. I'm not sure if it's just me, but quite a few people whom I know has also chopped off their hair in favour of a bob like me. I used to have long hair that reached halfway down my back until May 2013... and I cut off more than 25 cm of my hair at one go. Without crying. It was the most liberating feeling ever: my head felt lighter. I could feel bits of my hair being cut off as the hairdresser sawed off my ponytail with her scissors. You guys should try going from really long hair to really short at one go at least once in your life. Not just because it'll be a cool experience, but you'll instantly look different.  There are many benefits of going short, mainly:

  1. You use less shampoo and conditioner
  2. It's a low maintenance hairstyle. Just need to go for a trim more often to keep the shape.
  3. It's great for hot weather
  4. Your hair takes less time to dry
  5. It frames the face to make it look better
  6. It's great for short/petite girls because it'll make you look younger. Long hair will make you look even shorter.
  7. and the list goes on...

Anyway, why did I cut my hair short? Well, up till the time when I was 16, I sported a short do for probably 14 years of my life at least. I've done pixie hair, pageboy style, bob etc-- all kinds of short hairstyles that appealed to me. I loved getting a haircut every 2-3 months. However, I got tired of looking almost the same all the time, so I decided to keep my hair long for a change. I was also curious to know how it would be like to cut off more than half of my hair at one go. I wanted to see if I would cry when the time came to cut off my long locks ( I was influenced by all the tears and drama from the models during makeovers for America's Next Top Model then). So I grew my hair long and kept it that way for 5 years.

It was a fun but tiring period. I took really good care of my hair(e.g. condition, treatment)and got attached to it during the time. I experimented on myself (and others) updos and braids and other fancy schmancy hairstyles just by watching hair tutorials on YouTube. (I'm Christine's unofficial hairstylist. Maybe a hairstyle tutorial someday?) All was well and happy until I felt my old itch coming back; I was itching to go to the salon to chop off all my hair. Despite that, it took me almost a year of thinking before I went for short, due to my fear of looking weird with short hair. 

In the end, I decided to get my hair cut at somewhere good to make it a nice memory, as my usual hairdresser went MIA. After all, if you're going to do something drastic to your hair, you should go to the hairdresser you trust. So there I go with my research. looking for salon reviews and whatnot online and found this site called beautyundercover. It was really useful as it had a bunch of reviews written by normal people about their hair salon experience in Singapore. After reading a ton of reviews, I decided to go to I*CON Shunji Matuso by Lily Xu @ Far East Plaza. Spent almost $50 on a haircut for the first time ever and it was one of the best haircut experiences I've had. Usually, I visit the same hair salon at Roxy Square but did try other salons like Jean Yip, Jantzen, Storm, Twister, some random neighbourhood salon over the years. My experience at I*CON was probably the best that I've had besides my times at my usual hair salon. Maybe it was because I picked a master stylist to do my hair, hence the better service and skills since it cost more than a senior stylist. I got what I paid for basically.

 Anyway, I called up and booked an appointment, with no specific stylist in mind. I was assigned Fann, who seems to know the skills of her trade well. At first, she looked at me and asked me "Are you sure you want to cut it off?". I think she was surprised by that, which I thought was amusing. I said "Yep", she was began asking me for the style I wanted. She showed me a couple of pictures in hair magazines and explained how she was going to cut my hair (without any prompting) which I appreciated(I was feeling anxious by then). My usual experience with hairstylists is that they'll ask me what I wanted and just proceed to cut... and sometimes that didn't turn out that great. The shampoo and massage by the guy helped calm me down. I was given a pretty good head massage while I admired the fake lawn and birds decorating the shampoo area. I was then shown back to my seat and Fann immediately took her scissors and commenced the execution of my locks. She held my hair into a ponytail and began sawing away with her scissors and I was like "Omg, I'm really doing this!". I actually held my breath until she was done! I could tell because I literally felt parts of my hair being snipped off. My head suddenly became free from her hold when the whole ponytail was cut ( a truly surreal experience).

Well, the rest of the trimming and styling took quite a while and then I got to see the final result! I was really happy with how I looked. My hair turned out exactly as I had hoped for and looked even better than I expected. Best of all, I've proven to myself that going from long to short hair is not so drastic that I would cry from shock. In fact, I've not cried over my hair even after a terrible haircut at a neighbourhood salon (that was the worst haircut ever, according to my mum)


4 months later:

 My hair grew out nicely and still kept the bob shape, which is good, because that means I don't need to go back for a trim so quickly. Things I've realised about bobs:

  • A bob is pretty low maintenance if your hair is straight. 
My hair is currently in between wavy and straight because the straightening effect from my rebonding done in Jan is wearing off. Hence, I have to blowdry my hair, or else it will look funky.
  •  But it's easy to blowdry and style it. Being lazy, I usually just flip my head upside down and blowdry my hair in a top to bottom motion. That makes my hair decently straight throughout the day.
  • I spend less time in the shower as I don't have tangles to work through when I'm shampooing my hair
  • It's a versatile hairstyle.
  • I look younger (slightly)

I don't pretend that I don't miss having long hair sometimes though. I don't get to practise elaborate or braided updos on myself when I see something that I want to try. Also, I find short hair much harder to curl. And I don't get to feel my ponytail swish around when I walk/ shake my head. :( BUT I like having short hair better because it's just so much more convenient in many ways. Plus I like that kawaii vibe it gives me.


Left: The original length of my hair at around January this year. Right: After my haircut in May.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my experience. I just wanted to share with everyone that getting a hair makeover isn't that terrifying if you do the research. I'm probably going to stick with this length for a year or so at least before I try growing it out. For those of you who are thinking of going short too, I'd advise that you research on the kinds of hairstyles that you'd like to try and take a couple of pictures and show it to the hairstylist to get his/her opinion. Doing so will help brace yourself for what to expect and have a more rewarding experience. Most importantly, one should remember that this is just hair. Even if you don't like how it turned out after a salon visit, it'll grow back eventually. 

Till next time. 

Love, 
El      xoxo

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