Stories from the salon - The Cut

I've been thinking about cutting my hair off for quite a while now. A number of factors have resulted in my having long hair for many years. For one, I like the simplicity of long hair - it's perfect for lab work because it's easily restrained, and then it's easy to style it for formal occasions. I'm also extremely lazy and its just easy ti tie back. Also, due to a combination of poverty and time constraints, I don't get my hair cut often - probably around once every six months. But recently it's occurred to me whenever I left the salon that I'd been walking out with what I walked in - long layered hair. And I started thinking: *Time for a change!* and so an appointment was duly booked in 6 weeks in advance

As some of you may remember, I experimented using the InStyle programme. But while the bob seemed to look okay on me, I was unsure about it - especially the bangs/fringe. My female friends were all *yeah!*, while the male friends were *no!*
Or in the case of Spuey, "All girls look better with long hair! Name me one who looks good with short hair!"
My reply, "Audrey Hepburn?"
"Better with long hair."
As time to appointment steadily grew closer, I kept insisting that I was going to cut my hair off, while wondering if I should. Eventually, something made me think of Natalie Portman's character in Closer and the range of hairstyles she sported - pixie, Louise Brooks-esque bob, longer bob, blonde wig, and then long curls.

Wow, she looks good with that hair...just like Pooey, I wish hairstyles came with face transplants

And so I took half a day off work, gave this pic to my hairstylist. Cue this conversation:
"So! Last time you were here, we said we were going to cut your hair off!"
"I still want to but....do you think this would suit me?"
"YES!!!...but I'm going to cut it longer so that it hits your shoulders."
"That's good cos I think she has a longer neck than me."
So I sat back and didn't look up from the magazine as I could feel my hair getting shorter and shorter. And then all of a sudden, we were done! The real shock came when I went to move my hair from beneath my scarf and there was nothing to move!

I went back to work and was met with a number of screams, declarations that I looked younger/sophisticated/peppy/Asian (duh)/good.

Nothing like posing in front of a whiteboard listing experiments to be done

So I guess it's a successful cut and a significant enough change to alter the way I look. Well, except for one person who said, "Something's different' about you."
"I cut a good 15-20cm off my hair."
"No, that's not it."
"Yes, I had long hair this morning and now it's short."
"No, I think it's because you're not wearing glasses."