Locks of Love (aka, feeling light-headed!)

[Carol]

Sandy:
>  
> Wow, Carol, that's great! How long did it take you to decide  to cut
your Hair, and why? 

Carol:
Oh, I've been meaning to get it cut for a long time. It's too hot in
tucson during the summer for long hair and it used to strangle me at
night, but I kept putting it off, thinking that I'd wait until I could
afford to get it highlighted (in this tight economy, not for awhile!).
then my sister told me about Locks of Love and how she was trying to
grow hers long enough but couldn't get it past shoulder length, so,
since I had enough hair for both of us, I decided to do it--after I'd
gone to San Diego and after I finished the editing project I was
working on. Once I'd decided on the date for the haircut, I just did it.

Sandy:
> I have been angsting over mine for a while now.  It isn't Dumbledore
length, but it's long, and I had been thinking about getting it cut
for a couple of months now. I finally decided to do it and was going
to do it tomorrow on my day off. I'm so happy that you posted  this.
Since I am going to get 
> it cut anyway I would be thrilled to  donate it rather that see it
go in the 
> garbage. However, by my  measurement, it is just a tad too short,
the ponytail being 9 1/2 inches  long. I did find it hard to measure,
though, because I have curly hair and  had a couple of cats trying to
get the measuring tape. I will have my  daughter measure it tomorrow.
If it is too short (how odd to refer to long  hair as too short) I
will just wait a couple of months until it is long  enough. I want it
gone but the good cause will make the wait worth it, even though I
cringe at having to wash and condition it for another couple  of  months.

Carol:
They'll pull curly hair out straight to get it to measure ten inches,
so you're probably okay. If not, as you say, they'll just ask you to
come back in a couple of months when it's long enough.

I forgot to add washing and conditioning my hair to the list of
reasons why I wanted it cut. Also, having to brush it in front of my
shoulders and then throw it back over my shoulders where it promptly
got messed up again. There was a whole large section of my hair that I
couldn't reach when it was behind my back. (Maybe *that's* why wealthy
women had lady's maids in earlier times! Maybe they still do, for all
I know, but not for that reason.)

Sandy:  
> This makes me think of Jo March in "Little Women". I recently 
bought a beautiful copy of that book. I think I'll read it after I
finish the book I am  reading now.

Carol:

I thought of Jo, too ("Oh, Jo, your one beauty!" as little Beth says,
tactlessly expressing her anguish for her favorite sister), but, of
course, Jo sells hers rather than giving it away. I used to have
"Little Women," "Little Men," "Jo's Boys, " and "Under the Lilacs" (my
favoirite Alcott book, which no one else has ever heard of), but my
mother gave them all away when I went off to college. I also remember
reading "Eight Cousins" and its sequel, "A Rose in Bloom" ("Alas for
Charlie. His tomorrow never came"--Carol wipes away a tear), but I
don't think I actually owned those two books. I should reread the
Alcott books. Kids these days don't know what they're missing.
  
> Sandy, who *has* to wear a hat at work because her hair *is*  long,
and was looking forward to not having to wear it anymore. Long curly 
hair gives a whole new meaning to the term hat hair. It's an adventure
 just trying to get them (the hat and hair) disentangled from one 
another.

LOL. Mine was long and straight (slightly wavy if I slept with it wet,
covering my pillowcase with a towel), but I still had similar
adventures disentangling hairbands and hairbrushes.

Carol, still not used to her new look, but the few people I've
encountered since the haircut still recognized me, so maybe I'm the
only one who thinks I don't look like myself