Howdy

First off, I haven't firmly decided on what I'm gonna do, but I do know that IF I am gonna trim, it would not be shorter than knee length. Doesn't mean I would trim as short as knee length, but MAXIMUM would be knee length.

I very much appreciate the responses you all have given here; it's very enlightening to read what you all have to say & how you feel about hair.

The question that started this thread has been on my mind for a while, but I refrained from asking until recently, I'll explain...

Last weekend we were out with my parents having dinner & I actually wore my hair down. Wearing it down is a rare occurrence for me nowadays. I do love my hair, it's length, it's shine, it's softness, but wearing it down in public & trying not to appear awkward is difficult. Anyway, as my mom & I were walking I could feel myself stepping on the ends of my hair with my heels. My hair wasn't on the ground and I was stepping on it, mind you. It was between the heels of feet and the shoes (mules) I was wearing. With every step, I felt myself stepping/pulling my own hair! My mom saw this too. I picked it up & carried it from there because I didn't have my hair sticks with me to put it up with. So after feeling myself stepping on my hair, I seriously began considering a trim, which is what brought me here to ask you all what you felt about length.

Having really long hair & trying to have a normal daily life is work, fellows. Examples...

-Going upstairs with your hair down is dangerous, you can pull your own hair out by stepping on it if you don't carry your hair.

-Bending over naked with your hair down... this sounds funny, but your hair gets caught between the cheeks of your own ass.

-Having to use the restroom... always gotta be careful there. I won't elaborate.

-Driving (hair down)... seatbelts; I hate seatbelts. If your hair is down, you can't very well sit back on it in your car, so you have to drape along the front of you and rest it in your lap without it getting messed up in the seat belt.

-Working out is hard with long hair. You need heavy artillery (which is seldom EVER comfortable) to keep your hair up when doing any fast cardio exercise, lying down ab exercises, I won't even bring up swimming because I don't do that but I couldn't imagine the size of swim cap needed, cycling & riding a motorcycle are extremely dangerous if your hair isn't properly & heavily secured; you could scalp yourself on a bike were your hair to fall.

-Vacuuming.. 'nuff said on this. Sweeping also has to be done with hair up.

-Sleeping: you can't very well just hop into bed like other folks. You have to protect the hair so you're not rolling all over it & pulling/tangling it when you're asleep.

-Shampooing/wet hair: A lot of strain is put on the neck with wet hair. Taking a bath with your hair down is hardly worth it; tangles like you wouldn't believe from all the flowing back & forth in the water. So showers are the norm and tilting your head back to rinse strains the neck. Not to mention, at this length, you have to be careful not to step on it too while you're shampooing/rinsing.

Really any sort of head tilting or bending gets to be hard on the neck, even with your hair up. The weight of a bun takes its toll as well.

-Walking through a doorway (hair down). This might sound funny too, but I cannot tell you how many times I've gotten strands caught here & there entering & leaving a room. Because long hair flows when you walk; it doesn't lay flat on your back when you're moving, I've gotten caught & had to stop dead in my tracks to get my hair out of stuck situations. The part of the door I have trouble walking by is where the latch part is. You know, when you close a door, the little latch goes into its little groove in the frame? I can't think of the name of this thing atm. But it's that damn part.

-Strangers... I don't like people I don't know touching my hair, but there have been people in the past just come up & grab my hair without my permission, men and women alike. I HATE that. It pisses me off like you won't believe. I don't walk up & touch strangers, any part of them, so they shouldn't take the liberty of touching me. That kinda shit can get you shot.

I'm sure there are many other examples, but those came to mind first.

More & more often, I get headaches now that are hair related. The neck strain doesn't help at all. Lying down with my hair tucked gently behind the pillows gives me the greatest relief, but you can't lie down all day, can you? I have an active life; I cannot be a dormant slug & feel alive. So I endure because I love my hair. I take a lot of Aleve™ too.

As much as I LOVE having long hair, I admit I do miss have not so long hair too. I have A LOT of body to my hair, I have never needed a perm or body wave, etc. If I don't (gently) blow my hair, I have what would look like a long spiral perm. Yes, even at this length it still has all that body. But I don't wear it like that because of tangles. Straight is easier. I don't recall if this pic was taken in 1999 or 2000, but here's an old pic of me with it layers, all wild & let loose, Mind you, the quality isn't the greatest because back then, 1 megapixel was a big deal when digital cameras came out:

I miss being able to wear it all full & wild, and I miss having (long) bangs too. With your hair up, long bangs frame the face so nicely, I miss that.

BUT, I totally don't agree with whomever DM is about going shorter & shorter. I'm not some brain dead moron who loves to play with scissors. And I don't agree with his/her statement that 'ankle length' hair is my trademark. That would be true if I had ankle length hair back in 1999 when my site came online & kept it ankle length since. But as you can see in the pic above, my hair was waistlength back then. LONG HAIR is a trademark of mine, but not ankle length.

****************And specifically to DM********************

The mere mention of L@lana makes me ill & pity so many who looked at her child photos and dared discuss her here. I don't care who it pisses off here, the fact that her images were posted & discussed here when that girl was a child is disgusting. Men are to look at women in a sexual context, NOT little girls. So if her 'popularity' suffered after she shortened her hair, I don't give a damn because she should have never been included here! Dear God, is 18 not young enough, DM??? Long hair & the way it is discussed here falls under the category of sexual fetishism. If sexual desire or arousal is caused by seeing long hair, then keep it to 18 and older.

The examples DM gave here won't work: Arnold, Cindy, etc. These folks have all got older and moved on. None of them rely on their looks anymore; Arnold's in politics, Cindy sells furniture, Claudia married some director or producer, they've all moved on and don't rely on the attributes you mentioned. And I can see how Chris and many others should be upset by the way DM described long hair enthusiasts. And you're absolutely right about me not giving my address or phone number if I saw you in person. Who the hell WOULD give a stranger that??? What woman would be so stupid??? Sure I'd give you the time of day if I were wearing a watch, but if my hair were down, I probably wouldn't be wearing a watch because my hair would get caught in it!!

And if I didn't care what folks thought, I would not have asked. There have been plenty of things I've done in the past without asking for opinions. Even recently, I've shortened my nails. Did I ask how anyone felt about it? No. I did it for me. I did it because the more and more I go shooting (handguns), the harder it is for me to work the slide with long nails. Once I get my get CHL class done, I'll probably let them get long again, but enough for me to enjoy doing what I want to do.

I appreciate anyone who made it this far in reading. I just wanted to bring a little light to this subject & express my personal feelings. Thank you.

xoxo,

Anya