Hair yesterday, gone today.

I have been growing out my hair since about August of 2005 when I had moved to the land of Pittsburgh. I kept my hair very short in San Antonio, mainly because of the heat. Long hair in Texas is just asking for it but Pittsburgh has cool weather at least half the year.

The hair you see here isn’t as long as it was when I was in college and then in California. I let it get longer then, but didn’t measure it. I cut that when I switched from working at Tandem to TurboLinux. I felt it was time for change and a haircut can help me make the transition.

This time it was more of a getting bored having to care and clean for my hair. Ivory no longer seems to make the unscented shampoo I used to use in college and while the bar soap I’ve been using has been okay it’s still a pain. I also got some new glasses which demanded a new hair style as well. Plus, I have a friend who dyes her hair regularly and I kinda wanted to try that.

So I decided I’d cut my hair. I did agonize over the decision for several weeks. I researched if I could donate my hair, since it’s so long. I found Locks of Love, whom I remembered from stickers at my stylist in California. In Texas, they had some local donation thing going on there too. The hair went to some sort of burn unit some where in the San Antonio Medical Center.

On my way to the hair stylist I ran into Fade on her way back from EB Games. She’s the one with the unnaturally colorful hair. I explained my goal for the afternoon. She goggled for the appropriate amount and then had to confirm that I was going to donate the hair. I mean, it’s the obvious question to ask with that much hair.

My hair stylist for the day was Tim. He is Robin’s hair stylist, and I met him frequently on my way to work, since he’d get off the bus I’d get on. He did an excellent job. He made sure it was cut correctly for the donation and then went on to make sure I got a proper flat-top.

The hair cut took about an hour to get my hair washed, the pony tail cut, and then the flat top properly done. A flat top hair cut is one of those things that can easily be done badly. I’m happy that mine came out looking good.

After the haircut appointment, I took my poor ex-pony tail back home and let it dry. I finally got around this afternoon to going to the post office to mail it out. In theory, I’ll get a letter back saying what they did with it. I did have some gray streaks in my hair, but they hadn’t gotten to my pony tail yet. So hopefully, it’ll make a nice hair piece. If not, they’ll sell it for adult wigs and such.

Needless to say, my coworkers goggled at the new shorter haired me.

Now I need to decide what color I want to dye it. Maybe orange or green. I don’t think both would work for hair…

Ciao!