The Hair Cut Details

I posted last week about cutting my hair, but I didn't have a chance to break down the details. As most of you know, back in October of 2011, I started a project & blog called Bye Bye Beehive. It was a 365-day journey to "stop doing" my hair. I stopped teasing, highlighting, hairspraying, using any heat tools, and any products other than shampoo and conditioner. Basically, I only shampooed, conditioned and air dried my hair every day for a year. It was in an effort to help grow the long hair I'd always wanted and had never had. I've been a blonde almost my whole life, and due to all the over-processing over the years, my hair never seemed to get longer than just past my shoulders. At the end of the year-long project, my hair ended up growing 6.5 inches and was so thick and healthy, I couldn't even believe it! (If you're looking to grow your hair, give my Bye Bye Beehive Challenge a try!)

In addition, after a year of "not doing" my hair and learning to love air-dried, natural hair, it was hard for me to want to go back to blow-drying and processing. So I didn't. I did make the jump and dyed my hair brunette back in March (and had it touched up in April), but since then, I hadn't touched it. It had been almost a year since Bye Bye Beehive ended and I was starting to crave a new style. My hair started seeming a little stringier (I'm sure a trim would have fixed that), and I know Daniel loves my hair when it's short, so I finally made the decision to change it up, and I knew if I was going to do it—I had to go big or go home. I took this photo the night before I cut my hair, showing the growth I had achieved over the almost two-year period (the left photo was Month 1 of Bye Bye Beehive, the middle was the end of Bye Bye Beehive, and the right photo was almost a year later after still not using heat tools).

Despite how much I had grown to love my long hair, it was so much longer than I was used to, and to be honest—if your husband gives you the googly eyes and says how cute you'd be with short hair... why not give it a shot? It's just hair, right? So I chopped off 14 inches, and donated 12 to Children With Hair Loss. I picked their charity because they take hair that has been highlighted & color processed, which many organizations do not accept.

And now here I am with this new shorty-short hair cut, and I'm having so much fun with it. I haven't worn it the same way yet, opting each day for waves, beach curls, a front braid, a ponytail, air-dried waves, pinned half back... seriously, the options are endless and since it's so much shorter, it just takes a minute or two to style. It's also just the right length to fit in a ponytail when I'm running so I don't have to worry about hair in my face or on my neck. And hey, if I decide I want to go long again, now I know how fast my hair grows, right? I could be back to longer locks in no time!

Have you ever donated your hair? Made a drastic change? Cut your hair because your husband thought it would be cute (and no, I didn't just cut it because he wanted me to—I love short hair, too!). I would love to hear your thoughts!