the kindest cut of all...

So, I cut my hair yesterday. It's been a long time coming. I've been mulling it over for about a year now, and over the past couple months decided to really start looking at longer hairstyles that I liked and thought might suit me. I also felt like if I was going to cut my hair, I should cut enough to donate because really... it's just hair. It's an easy thing to do, and my hair grows like a weed. (Though it always irritated me when people tried to make me feel like I was under some kind of moral obligation to donate my hair just because I wore it long and I was a horrible person for keeping my long hair... this happened oftener than one might think... from both people I knew and from complete strangers.) In thinking about how much I wanted to cut, I wasn't 100% sure about cutting enough to donate but William encouraged me to go ahead and do it. I knew that Pantene had a wigs for cancer patient program... and several years ago I donated to Locks of Love. However, on doing a little research, it appears that Locks of Love is a multi-million dollar racket that charges for their wigs. So donating hair = giving them an insane profit because they sell most of the hair "to offset production costs" and then make money off the wigs they do make for sick kids. Gag me. Pantene is actually honest and they give every single wig they make away for free to women with cancer. So, I went with Pantene. In doing research on them, the only mild negative I came away with was their ad slogan, "The kindest cut of all." The only reason for that is because that is also the slogan used to try to get pet owners to spay/neuter their pets. One would think that with all the money and resources that go into slogan campaigns, someone would have realized it was already in use... or maybe they did it on purpose, which is slightly worse. So yesterday, I did something I haven't done in all my years. I went to a professional hair salon for a cut that cost more than $10. Armed with pictures, a plastic bag for my hair, and a tape measure, and bolstered with support from Benita and Careth, and even a surprise visit from Joy, I took the plunge.
If you don't know me well, you might wonder why it's such a big deal that I cut my hair. Well, as one of my students put it yesterday upon hearing my plans for the afternoon, "But Mrs Eggleston! Isn't long hair, like.... your thing??" And it has been for years a part of my identity. I've always been happy with my hair. It grows fast, it's thick, and I like its natural color. But it was time for a change. I've had several people tell me that pregnant women always cut their hair. For me at least, that stereotype is true. It was the final thing to push me into actually deciding to just go ahead and do it. It just made sense to me that you know, I'm going to be a mom, and I should get a real hair cut. It was like a rite of passage. My pregnant friend and I occasionally wonder to each other if being moms is going to mean we have to stop shopping at Forever21 and Urban Outfitters. I don't think we do, but in some ways I am feeling like a grown-up for the first time in my adult life (I'm almost 30.) So, yes my hair is part of my identity, but now it's part of my identity as an adult. It's still long by most people's standards, just not ridiculously long as was my "thing" since college. Those days are gone, and I am welcoming the future with open arms and a fabtastic hair-do.