Beauty Talk: Is Long Hair a Security Blanket or Fashion Statement? by Terri Kendrick
Throughout my life, while other women had their hair in French braids and banana clips, blown out, layered and flat-ironed, I was always “the girl with the short hair.” To me, long hair wasn’t so much a style as a security blanket. In a sea of carbon-copy manes, I held my cropped head high.
Although I felt superior to this homogenous group, I also felt set apart. By not having hair that I could toss or twirl, I began to feel short an “X” chromosome. So, when I turned 40, I decided to see what I had been missing.
For about two years, I endured bangs that hung like a curtain over my eyes, broken ends, uneven layers and an uncontrollable urge to chop it all off! By 42, I was finally able to gather my hair into the stubbiest of Olive Oyl ponytails. I was proud.
My final trim, when I finally had “long” hair, felt like some weird rite of passage. But as I entered my 50s, my long hair began to feel like a desperate attempt to hang onto my youth. Slowly, I’ve cut my hair shorter and shorter again.
In a meeting yesterday, I was surrounded by a table full of long-haired women. I realized that I didn’t feel different, I felt distinctive. And suddenly like myself again!
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I hate the rules of when to go short, long is sexy, short is not, etc. I think we all need to be who we want and wear our hair the way we feel sexy and beautiful. Society needs to change the stereotypes and by being true to ourselves we each help that happen.