Worst Haircut Ever

The worst haircut of my life came after six months of doing to my hair what some stylists might equate with war crimes. I used to have long, beautiful, dark auburn hair. It hung to almost the middle of my back and had these great waves that I loved to curl.

I do pin up modeling on the side and I love it. It became armor for me to hide in after having knee surgery in 2010. I looked in the mirror one day and realized I wouldn't be working for months, wouldn't be going to school for months and wouldn't have any societal obligations beyond recovering. I did what most hairdressers would recommend never doing.

I bleached all the color from my hair and then I spent the next seven months coloring, bleaching, coloring and bleaching. By October my hair had reached a state of such horror my mother could barely look at me without wanting to cry over what I had done.

Every sales associate, hairstylist or cosmetologist will tell you to never do what I had spent the better part of the year doing. But I was bored and I was lonely and I was feeling adventurous and stupid. Come October, when I was finally done, we went out and brought my hair back as close as possible to my natural color and then we cut it all off.

Women hear horror stories growing up about the awful things that happen to your hair if you over process it. My hair went limp, it went soggy when I washed it and it took on this strange almost sponge-like consistency that was horrifying and embarrassing.

I couldn't comb my hair without enormous clumps coming out. Pieces of my beautiful hair, raining down on my bathroom tile like wounded soldiers. It was and still is the single worst experience I have ever had in my life.

My hair wasn't falling out at the roots like the movies said it would. I thought if I went bald I could cover it up with hats until it grew back. My hair broke off just where the new, healthy growth was coming in, so I wound up with great sections of inch-long hair stuck up like I had a demented cowlick eking up from my scalp.

We cut my hair. We cut my hair the shortest it has been since I was in middle school over ten years ago and the blow I have taken to my self-esteem has been colossal. So much of a person's confidence is built into their appearance. So much of a woman's confidence, her identity even, is built into her appearance that having my hair shorn so short felt like I was a stranger. Even worse, I looked like a stranger with Cosmo Kramer hair and Alphalpha cowlicks

My hair is only just starting to return to its former vitality and every time I curl my hair in the mirror, or apply makeup, or pass my reflection, I am reminded of the reasons why so many people warned me against over processing my hair.

The best advice I could ever possibly give to girls intent on coloring their hair, or using any form of color stripper or bleach, is to consult with a professional first! Call the local beauty parlor or even set up a free consultation at the local cosmetology school before even attempting the horrors I did.