Contemplating...

Going short again...

(sorry for the horrible picture quality)

It's funny to me that some people have known me only with "longer" hair. (Note I did not say LONG hair...I seem to be one of those people whose hair gets just beyond the shoulder and stops growing.) In my memory, I spent a LONG time with very short hair...and in reality, it was cut very short for the first time around fall 1991, but then I grew it out for my wedding in the summer of 1992, and wore it chin/mid neck length for a few years (see below)

before lopping it off entirely again at least 13-14 years ago. BUT I also decided to grow it out a few years back, and have NOT had short hair for about 5 or so years.
But even though I have worn my hair as long as it seems to want to grow for a few years now, I never have gotten desensitized to having hair on my face. I have very thin hair, and if even one of them lands on my face, it is hugely distracting and itchy. It makes me crazy. Add to that the fact that having my hair on my neck seems to really up my body's perception of heat, and you get someone who just isn't comfortable with long hair. Nor is long hair attractive on me. It's stringy, and has a mind of its own. And it starts to curl about 2 inches from the root, so the top is perfectly straight, like the top picture, and then it starts curling, so I look like I am always growing out a perm.
I'm not really vain, so the appearance side of my hair really doesn't faze me, nor would it be the deciding factor for cutting it. In fact, I like longer hair because I feel more like, well, a woman. Short hair is just more boy-like. And my husband likes it better longer too. But there is not an hour that goes by that the sensation of hair on my face does not make me crazy.
The downside of short hair is it needs very regular upkeep (read "frequent haircuts"). And I haven't needed a haircut in years. I've had them, complements of RM's mom when she went through cosmetology school, but I didn't NEED one...not like you NEED it to keep short hair looking good. But my husband is behind me whatever I do, and I'm hoping RM's mom would agree to regularly cut it if I drive over there, and that way the girls will get play time too.

So, what do you think? To cut or not to cut...that is the quandary.

P.S. For anyone wondering about the color...it's funny that Marie blogged about hair coloring just today. I started going gray when I was 22. At some point, I decided the person I saw in the mirror with gray darker hair wasn't the person I saw myself as (I was a blond until I was about 12 when my hair started darkening naturally and GRADUALLY, so gradual that it wasn't until my mid 20's that it was really dark). So I started coloring it BLOND. Seriously. That color at the top is what happens when I color my hair blond. I have a LOT of red in my hair, and you don't notice it until I lighten it up. I don't think I'll do that again...the chemicals really started getting to my scalp, but I'd never say never. Right now though, the length is the issue.

So, what do you think?