7 Cons of Having Long Hair ...

No joke! Unless you’re Serena van der Woodsen, a socialite who always has somewhere to go, someone to see, a party to attend or any other reason to be primped 24/7, you will discover that long hair can be quite uninteresting and even annoying. I wash it, let it dry, tie it up and don’t really get to enjoy the wow until I go out. It’s actually the most depressing of all cons of having long hair, because you go through all the trouble and don’t even get to enjoy it more than anyone else. Like a favorite pair of shoes – super cute, hard to part with until the next night out but not something you’d wear around the house. Now imagine dusting, scrubbing the toilet or even worse, making vegetable patties with all that length unleashed, following your every movement, getting in your eyes and stuff. So not cool!

The longer your hair is, the thinner and flatter it looks! Seriously, satisfying root volume and long mane don’t really belong in the same sentence. You can fix this by getting some layers cut, in which case you’re sacrificing the volume at bottom to gain more volume on top. Just like that – choose! You get clip in extensions too, although that’s not the most budget-friendly option. Alternatively, you can develop a serious addiction to root-boosting products, spend a great deal of time styling then some more trying to get all that gunk off your head. Picnic!

My short cut had been a wash and go kind of thing, medium cuts were a bit harder to manage but still quite user-friendly while long hair… well, I’ll just say this – I’m often tempted to blow dry it straight or do my favorite flicked out look, then I think about the time and effort and just decide to let it dry naturally. Air drying is not as quick as it used to be either, which means I need to wash my hair at least four hours before I leave the house.

A tube of commercial dye holds enough of the product to cover the entire head only if your hair is of medium length. Anything longer than that and you’d better start seeing double because you’ll have to get at least two boxes to get the coverage you need. Shampoos, conditioners, all of those hair-care products that don’t necessarily come cheap are gone before you know it, not to mention a higher rate stylists charge when dealing with long hair. Those are some serious long hair cons right there and I urge you to consider them before you go through all that trouble only to realize the maintenance of your new length costs way more than you’ve predicted.

Want to hear about another con of having long hair? Well, letting the length loose in summer is like walking around with a blanket thrown over your shoulders. You have to pull it up or braid it and then it doesn’t really look that long, special or anyhow different than all those easier to maintain medium length cuts. Furthermore, I’d even go so far to say that, unless styled really nicely, long hair in summer can’t even hope to compete with a stylish short cut. I usually wear mine loose only in the evening and even that’s a maybe and depends on whether we’ll be going downtown or opt for a breezier and significantly fresher beach front outing.

The longer hair is, the heavier it gets, which doesn’t only affect base volume but curl patterns and hair's ability to hold a style. Long straight hair will keep a curl much shorter than straight hair of medium length, while long curly hair (especially if we’re talking about soft loose curls) needs to be layered to look good and prevent the curls from unwinding.

My experience so far: Having long hair is like having a tail – if you sit, lean back or lay down without making adjustments for your hairy addition, more than one “Ow” will escape your mouth. My husband keeps forgetting this all the time, causing me to go “Ow” every time he throws an arm around my shoulder, forgetting that the arm in question needs to go under the hair, not over it. There’s also the sleeping part… you fall asleep with your hair neatly arranged on the pillow and wake up realizing it’s trying to choke you. When you shed, you shed and then some; when it’s hot, it’s hot and then some; when it's windy, you look like a homeless woman… But that’s just another normal day in a long-haired woman’s life.

Ha, bet you didn’t believe there were so many long hair cons to cry about – did you? Long hair does look pretty cool and leaves a lot of room for experimenting but is hardly all flowers and butterflies. Remember that the next time you feel like envying someone for a long mane. But what do you say, ladies? Is there a con of having long hair I’ve forgotten to mention?