General Chat

that is the question?

My hair is due it's annual trim .... yea I know it should be more than annual.
Now it needs 6" off that's fine. OH wants me to cut it back to my shoulders. (so it skims them).
I know it looks okay like that but it's a pain to pin up in the heat of summer. Plus the idea of having over 10" cut is daunting.
On the other hand it's very fine and I rarely wear it down these days because it's a pain.

oh decisions, decisions ...

cut...... I have mine cut down every few years I think it makes it grow healthier and I have no idea what your hair is like but there is nothing worse then a women over 40 yrs ( I have no idea of your age Uzzi) with long tatty unkep hair, I didnt tell anyone I what I had planned till I was sat in the chair and I text TW and she didnt belive me.... on the same day a sty had come up on my then poorly eye and it looked like a shiner, OH got in from work he didnt know what to look at first my eye or hair...lol

Fine hair can be a menace, It doesnt look enough when worn up, and ratstailed when long if not washed every other day. I am losing my hair due to psoriasis, and its fine. I keep mine just below ear length, If I have it shorter I am so white I look bald.

Ah yes, the perennial dilemma. ;)

Mine is very fine but also very thick. Straight as a - what is it, poker? - and shiny. Wore it long-long most of my life, with the odd bout of cutting and perming.

About five years ago, I decided to go for the chop, and cut it off to my shoulders. (The advantage of fine and straight is you can do it yourself -- with four strokes of the scissors, I manage to get mine virtually perfect every time, with No.1 trimming any pointy bits at the very back.)

I've kept it that way, just as you say, skimming the shoulders. It even manages to get a very slight wave under at the ends. It looks even thicker, it doesn't drag my face down, it's just better all round.

But yup, up doesn't work. I'm hugely sensitive to things touching my back and shoulders when I work (at the keyboard); can't have scratchy clothing, or hair, touching skin, or I'm in actual pain. And keeping straight fine shoulder-length hair up involves bunching it up and constantly rewinding the elastic to restrain ends and strays and keep 'em off my neck and shoulders. It's a nuisance. I never put it up when I'm visible to the public though, straight fine hair just doesn't lend itself to anything but a pony tail, and my face doesn't lend itself to a flattened head. ;)

Try it shoulder length and you may find you don't feel a need to put it up unless you're, like, scrubbing the walls, and then who cares what it looks like?

well ive always wanted long hair but wore it shoulder lengh for practicle reasons now im old and knackered its long and thickish should be bald the amout of bleach ive had on it xx so i dont know mine is long but gets me down on hot days xx

oooerrr
I'm over 40 but it isn't tatty and unkept (the hair that is) but it is fine.
Like you Jean I do have psoriasis, but thankfully not that bad anymore due to the sun. If I have mine too short I would look like a pig, I have seen photo's of my sis. mind she looked good when it was really short and shaped, but I couldn't cut that short, nor would it suit me.

Hayley I actually cut my own every 3months well trim the ends hence the reason I need an annual cut to straighten all the mistakes lol.

Puss but on hot days you can put it up, when it's mid length you can't. I used to have hair all the way down my back, thin but it was there. Over the last few centuries I have kept it to half way down my back and below shoulder level. Once I cut it to shoulder level and OH hasn't forgotten lol He's probably right mind.

Mine was halfway down my back and I got OH to cut it to a teeny bit below the shoulders. Feels so much better, much lighter.

Annie
xxxxxx

Thanks all ...Janey I have done the shoulder length and did like it at the time. I do need to put hair up for most of the day when it's hot as it's that time of life when I visit my own exotic lands.
Annie a teeny bit below the shoulders I can handle it's the teeny bit above the shoulders that I am worried about lol !

Thankyou everybody for your imput, still don't know if I will cut it off.

I had 24 inches of hair chopped off when I was 21 to just below chin length and a finge cut in. A few weeks later I had it cut short and spikey and have worn it short ever since.

My belief is that long hair is for the young and can be very ageing on women (and men) over a certain age.

Gwynne

Uzzi -- consider a cut that just hits the shoulders or above at the front and curves to a slightly longer length at the back. That way you get the face-framing and movement at the front, and it's still long enough at the nape to stay up!

Janey I like that idea thanks

Gwnne my OH did that a few years ago, mind he didn't have a fringe ! He cut his to shoulders and then to short back and sides, all in the space of 6 months. I think I was more mortified than he was ! and he still has more hair than I do !

Well I cut it ...or had it cut, all the way to just above the shoulders.
Thanks Janey I did go for the slightly longer at back idea, unfortunately it isn't that much longer and still falls down if I try to pin it up, that just means I have to re-think my pin up. (normally I just twist it in a ponytail upwards and stick a clip thro' it)

But anyway I love it (I think) as it feels thick and healthy, but is still not short.

It's amazing how paranoid all us longhairs are about chopping it -- and how every single one of us likes it better once we do!

Yup, it makes it look and feel thicker and healthier, and it works for rather than against us.

Now, there are limits ...

When I was six, I decided to cut my long hair off. My mum dropped me at a neighbourhood hairdresser while she went off to shop. I'd heard (this was the 50s) of a newfangled thing called a ducktail. Obviously, I assumed it would be a perky little pony tail sticking out from the nape of the neck. So I wanted one. The hairdresser demurred, and said maybe she should try cutting it shoulder length first to see how I liked it. This should have been my first clue ...

Suffice it to say I am lucky that I have very fast-growing hair!

lol Janey I won't actually say I like it better, I agree it looks better. but I am missing a tatty 8inch off the end.

You are right about long haired people tend to be paranoid about cutting it