I have long hair, and I am proud of it. It has been a long-ish journey – just over four years, and now I am here. My hair is at the point where it lightly sweeps my waist when straightened, and just on my shoulders after a Wash and Go. I am beginning to think that I have issues because honestly, I am not happy.
But really what I am is bored. Bored as H-E- double hockey sticks. I have now figured out that getting to a length goal isn’t enough; long hair isn’t everything it is cut out to be. I have now figured that I don’t just want long hair, I want hair with attitude.
Now, don’t get me wrong, when you set a goal and you finally achieve it, it does feel great, and it’s important to check things off so that you can say, ‘I did it’. The point is, after the light comes on and the party is over, you might feel that itch to do something a little bit different, and you might realize that length might not be all that it’s cut out to be.
With that said, I compiled a list on my iPhone note app, which is my best friend when it comes to lists, and randomness. My list consists of eight reasons why I think long hair sucks:
1. It tangles
Obviously, if you get regular trims this will reduce tangling, but to be honest, as your hair gets longer, you will notice that you will need to trim more often to keep the oldest parts of your hair from tangling.
Don’t let the stories of tangle free bliss fool you; it can get really annoying to untangle when you just detangled, or trim when you just trimmed 4 weeks ago.
2. It’s boring
The truth is, it doesn’t have to be boring when you are natural. You might find yourself seeking out ways to get some shape. By shape, we really mean attitude and sass.
You want your hair to not just be one length growing down to your butt, you also want it to have a bit of flare and drama that enhances your face, and the rest of you. Just having plain long hair without shape can be really blah; by experimenting with cute hair cuts, you can often solve that problem.
3. You are always on a mission to protect
What’s the point of having long hair, if you cannot enjoy it? The longer your hair gets, you will find yourself in a frenzy to protect it; you worry about your ends that are very old; you become slave to a bun or some braids, and enjoy a great sew in more than you do your even hair. What kind of hair life is that?
I want hair freedom; hair that blows in the wind, and without protective styles. What I find is that there is a specific length which allows that kind of freedom, and it isn’t that long. It’s the length right after medium length, just before long. It’s what I call my ‘freedom length”. Anything past that is, yup, you guessed it! For the BIRDS.
I want to find out for myself.Let me have the long hair
Yesterday, grow your hair. Today, long hair sucks. Inconsistent much. Humph
The Real Person!
Not really, posts are the personal opinion of the writer. I love long hair personally but it appears that Emily is sick of hers! 🙂
I just think I’m not meant to have naturally long hair. It’s healthy strong and thick but my length stays the same to me. Haven’t straightened it in years. Maybe I should get a blowout to see the changes.
I have long dreads down to my but, and I find alot of the statements are true. I have thinning from the weight and no cool styles cause my hair is TOO long.
I had a hairstylist tell me my hair was so long it kept getting caught in the blow dryer when i was getting a blowout.
I wear my hair in its natural curl all the time except for this 1time.
The less i do to my hair the better. I believe in the natural state.
Do what is right for you not what you read in an article
I don’t think the aim of the article is to dissuade you from the goal of ‘long’ hair. It’s just making the point that it isn’t always as glamorous as it is made out the be. I had long, healthy-all be it relaxed- hair. It was a chore to maintain. It stopped being fun. And I began to realize that I was keeping my long hair for everyone else’s sake…even though it was making me miserable. My desire to cut it all off was met with complete negativity. But when I did it, I never felt freer and more myself.
If your goal is Rapunzel like hair, go for it. But if after that you discover you desire something else, go for it. Don’t let this universal desire for length make you feel obligated to keep yours. At least, that’s my take on it. Just do you…
I had long hair and felt the exact same way. I cut mine off in April.
I agree…just do you. I cut my shoulder length hair because I was not happy with it. I wanted more shape, more pizzaz, and I love it now. Most like it (thank you), some don’t (so sorry for you). Another thing I’ve noticed is that not everyone even looks good with long hair…almost like the hair is wearing the person 🙂 It may not even be their best style. The hair in itself is not the total picture that a person presents. It is only a part of the picture. I think healthy hair, styled right for you would be a better goal over length.
Solution: cut it and donate it to me. .. win win
Don’t always feed into what the writer is saying. It is based on opinion and not always fact. If you love it then rock it if you don’t then chop chop lol. Do what works for you and not for anyone else. In the end it’s about making yourself happy. Take that with you everywhere in every situation that you face.
My goal iz alwayz big healthy strong hair. I’m shur I don’t want long ass hair. It seemz like it would be alot to handle. Shoulder length iz gr8.
I’ll be growing my hair long
1 and 3 YES
I’ve notice women who have had long hair most of their lives tend to want to cut it when they get older and it’s ok because it’s their hair. I’ve seen black women who have long hair cut it into an Halle Berry cut and other black women would go off on them some to the point of not speaking to them and it’s sad.. There’s a former schoolmate of mine who always had long gorgeous hair when she was little now a grown woman who want to cut her hair but she have friends even family members of hers telling her she better not cut it..When do it get to the point of people controlling our own hair on our heads?
That’s the crazy thing I heard today!!!!!!
So true I get the urge to cut my hair all the time… I cut a bang instead or layers
I totally agree with everything in this post. This is a basic principle that can be applied to many areas in life. You have a goal to be a millionaire, once you get there, you realize it really doesn’t satisfy you. You have a goal to find the perfect man. Once you find him you discover life isn’t perfect, it’s a struggle. Many people become a little disillusioned when they reach goals that they’ve spent so much time and energy on and it’s so easy to do that with hair too. I really think most people in the natural community have merely turned their obsession from wanting to have silky straight hair to wanting length (myself included at one time). Being natural is about a lot more than length! Thanks for sharing this reality.
I’ve had my hair to my waist, I’ve had it so short i styled it with my washcloth after my shower…meh, it’s just hair. I wear ti long for a while, I cut it in a style, I cut it in a shorter style…I cut it all off…it’ll grow back. I rarely use heat, and because it is very fine and curly I don’t wear it out a lot unless it is too short to put up.
Very true. Im struggling trying to find a new shape. And yesss tangles r the worst!!
I had long hair and I really didn’t like it. I got compliments on it and all, but I just didn’t like that I spent more time keeping up my hair than anything! Soooo, I chopped it all off into a cute pixie style. I love it, my boyfriend is obsessed with it, and I feel more free. I have experienced both ends of the spectrum and now I just focus on the health of my hair instead of the length.
When I was a young woman,I prayed for long hair. I rubbed oils into my scalp,used hair “serums”,took vitamins,cut the ends, etc. My hair never got long and I felt like a failure. Now, as I look back, my goal then, should just have been to have healthy hair. I would have discovered its fine texture and nice color.
This article really speaks volumes. My hair is a little above APL and one of my goals now is to reach waist length when straightened. But I also noted after a few years of waist length get a Diva cut or even BC just for something different. I really liked when Emily said “The journey is what makes the process cool; it’s not the destination.” Which is so true!
I think that black woman may view you cutting off your long hair, as disgraceful and see you as unappreciative. With you having long hair, (that’s real!!), you achieved something many black women can’t. Cutting your hair Must’ve been empowering.
I don’t like how this article assumes my gender. I am a man, not a woman. Men can have long hair too! Maybe try a psychedelic experience or a few years of meditation, then come back and write articles. 🙂