Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

OK. Warning. A lot of unflattering pictures of me are to follow.

As many of you know, if there is one cause I really love, it's Locks of Love. Check it out at http://www.locksoflove.org/. I first learned about the organization in high school when my friend Adrian (who looked a bit like Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers) told me that when he finally cut his long, long hair, he was going to donate it to Locks of Love. At the time, I'd never had my hair much longer than shoulder length. But when I went away to the Brigham Young University, I decided that I'd grow it out (mostly because all the other girls I knew were cutting their hair short in an act of independence-- I pierced my ears again and started tanning instead). So after a couple years, I chopped off my 10" of hair and felt pretty good about it.

Well, fast-forward a few semesters, and I became great friends with a girl who had alopecia. She was bald, and she was beautiful. Her wig was super, and you'd never know she wore one unless she chose to share the info. And even though she'd been able to purchase her own wigs throughout the years, after knowing her, I was determined to donate again. So after a few other haircuts, graduation, and a couple semesters abroad, I figured it was time to try long hair again. And the other day, I was ready for another change, so there went 14" of hair!

Actually, it worked out great, because my little sister is in beauty school at the Urban Academy, and she's been wanting to take some scissors to my head for a bit now.

Anyway, the haircut was inspired by our good friend on the Food Network, Rachael Ray. This is how it looks when it's styled properly:

Except the other day, it turned out looking more like the guy from the Berries and Cream Starburst Commercial (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkvhnRAd4V0.

OK. So I promise I'm not that abnormal. This is what I look like most days (and by most, I mean since Saturday):

And there you have it. My own hair story. Let's just hope my prince charming wasn't planning on using my hair as a ladder (or preferred me with long hair).