New Clothes, New Me

I thrifted most of this outfit last week at the Sherwood Park VV; it cost less than $12. The top is Postmark, an Anthro brand, and the jeans are William Rast — and just about the softest things ever. I added a mustard yellow J. Crew cardigan and my navy TB Revas (both secondhand, via eBay and consignment respectively), and my now almost ubiquitous Mulberry Jody bag (also via eBay) for a head-to-toe pre-loved but pretty fab outfit. Maybe a little too whimsical for my age and job, but why does casual Friday exist if not to allow the rules to be stretched a little. Or a lot, hah.

You may have noticed something else new. Yep, I broke down and cut my hair. It was a totally spur-of-the-moment decision, but it all started with this picture:

This photo hangs in the window of a hair salon that I pass by every morning on my way to work. A couple of weeks ago, I actually noticed it (I’m not at my most observant first thing in the morning before my first Coke Zero of the day), and felt an immediate longing for a blunt bob. However, pragmatism won the day. First of all, I know blunt bangs are not in the cards, because I’m terrible about getting regular trims, and I hate the feeling of having hair in my eyes (which is precisely what would happen). Second, I think bobs like that look extra sharp on brunettes or platinum blondes, but I think it’s kinda meh on my faded ginger hair. So I consoled myself by deciding to give the heroine of my current Work-in-Progress that haircut instead.

But the idea of going in for a chop had taken hold. I’ve been trying to grow my hair long (past my shoulder blades long) for ages, but my length has stagnated in the past year — without even one intervening trim involved. I think that, as a result of the 3 perms I did in the past, the bottom half of my hair got really weak and brittle; I’ve been consistently getting a ton of breakage, and the hair felt super dry still (even though it hasn’t been processed in over a year, and I use very little heat on it). So, basically, I started wondering if cutting it might not be the way to go in terms of getting a fresh start. Still, I wasn’t quite ready to pull the trigger — I’m still traumatized from my last grow-out period. And then, last Thursday, I came to the office in the morning (admiring blunt bob girl along the way), and popped down the hall to say hello to a colleague … and, bam, decision made. She had just cut her hair in a “lob” (long bob), and looked fantastic. I took it as a sign — and called my hair salon as soon as it opened. Luckily, they had an open spot that day at lunch — more signs of fate — and chop-chop I went.

Long story short, here’s what my hair situation looks like now:

I know I will inevitably start missing long hair before six months are out, but for now, I’m loving the new look. A new hairstyle has the tendency to make one’s existing clothes look different, so I’m excited (and nervous) to see how that plays out.