Cutting Off 10 Inches of Hair: Before and After

So I went to the salon yesterday, where my grandmother, a stylist of 40 years was planning on just giving me some shades to darken my hair and trim 1/4" off the bottom. You see, we had a routine we did every time I came in to visit. She would trim my long hair, just cutting off the super dead ends, trim up my straight bangs and dye it. But yesterday while my hair was in the process of dying (which takes like 35 minutes) we got to talking about how I've always wanted to try cutting my hair.

As you can see, my hair is long and has been in the same exact style since I was 6 years old.

My grandmother had mentioned that Taylor Swift cut her hair recently into a bob and it was just so cute! Side note, I do like Taylor Swift, but more than her songs, I like her style a lot. She's always really trendy and cute. So that kind of got to me. My grandmother spent the next 10 minutes searching through the hundreds of magazines they had in the shop to see if she could find a picture of Ms. Swift, and next thing I know I was also partaking in the search on my phone. Another side note, it was really hard to find more than like 2 pictures of her with her short hair! So that's weird. 

But back to the point, I finally found some photos of her with her short hair, and to be honest, I thought it looked like REALLY frikkin' cute. I always thought if I was going to cut my precious hair all off, there's only one way I'd want it to look. And that's like a fluffy bob with a ton of volume, similar to the girls in L'Arme magazine (if you don't know about L'Arme, check it out, their magazine prints are SO ADORABLE.) 

Left, Taylor Swift, Google Images. Right, L'Arme, Volume 7.

Even still, I never thought I'd have the sheer guts to go through with it, no matter how cute I always thought short hair looked. But with 5 minutes left before my hair dye was washed out, ready to commit to the normal trim, trim, dye routine, I surprised myself. I said I would do it. I'd cut it off.

Of course, I had to call my mom first for moral support. My grandmother was always supportive, but I needed to know my mom thought it was the right choice. She told me to go for it, and after my dye was all washed out, my grandmother lopped off a good 8-10" of my hair.

Now this was a big deal to me. I've never cut more than maybe 2" inches off my head in my entire life. My hair was my identity, it made me feel beautiful. But I suddenly wanted more than anything to shed this identity of my long hair, and feel beautiful regardless of my hairstyle. I wanted to feel like I wasn't weighed down by my head of hair, that it didn't define me. And so, as she cut it, I felt this rush of exhilaration. I felt so free!

Left, Picture taken a month prior. Right, Most recent photo to date.

That night, I did finally feel some doubt (a little too late, haha). I realized I wouldn't be able to style it like I used to. No more long braids, high ponytails, big up-do's. But before I could freak myself out anymore, I ran a search through Google: "Just cut my long hair short." I found a few articles (steering clear of the facebook page "I regret cutting my hair") that reaffirmed my decision. There were all these women who looked so happy after their new cut, the same way I felt at first too. I wasn't going to let my fear of change stop me from loving my new look, accepting myself long hair or not. So I said screw it, and fell asleep telling myself this was the best decision I've made in a long, long time. 

Ultimately, I feel like I proved to myself that beauty isn't about my hair, my looks, my clothes. If I feel beautiful, I am, simple as that. And if it takes me chopping my hair again and again for the rest of my life to prove that to myself, so be it. It does help that I love the style, though. ;)  

Have any of you made any major decisions about you hair? Cut it all off, dyed it a new color? I'd love to hear about! Comment below. :)