In that time, I’ve had it trimmed only a handful of times, coloured far too many times to remember, and straightened almost everyday. And I wonder why it snaps off  and refuses to grow past my shoulders?!! Truthfully? I already struggle spending  £100 a time bleaching my hair to a cinder, and then to part with another £50 for a cut?… I can make do without.

And then someone  said to me  ” Sometimes  the key to style, is statement hair’‘.  Was this the push i needed?

Apparently so.

After putting the idea to my best friend that I was thinking of cutting off all my hair,  but how I wasn’t sure how to afford it, she promptly offered to cut it herself! My darling friend, with no hairdressing  or previous hair cutting experience, offered to chop off my golden locks. That’s 20″ of 8 years of growth.

And I immediately agreed, because the trust I had in her outweighed any underlying apprehensions any other person could have had.

So one Friday evening, with my best friends and a glass of wine for support, I took a deep breathe and smiled for the camera…

Result?: BEST HAIRCUT OF MY LIFE

God I’m so happy with it, and I felt the change immediately. In myself, I felt stylish, more individual and I guess, more confident. Physically, my hair feels a trillion times healthier, lighter, easier to manage and takes about 5 seconds style in a morning! PERFECT!!

And the last words should go to the hairdresser herself, whose advice and tips , I hope, will prove  invaluable to those long hair beauties longing for something new.

• ‘Make sure you’re both agreed on exactly the style that you are going for. Collect as many pictures as possible of people whose hair fits the brief, including pictures of the sides and back, which are harder to find. Try Getty Images for lots of celeb photos.’

• ‘Cut the hair whilst it is dry and straight. I would have no idea where to start cutting wet hair as there is no way to predict how it will sit once dry. As the sorry owner of curly hair, I have learnt this the hard way! It is much easier to work with the natural hair texture if you can see how it moves as you cut.’

• ‘Don’t be afraid of taking a break. Even when I thought Clare’s hair cut was finished a 10 minute break with a glass of wine, watching how the hair cut moved in ‘real life’, allowed me to spot where strands needed thinning, trimming or tidying.’

• ‘The most obvious tip: use hairdressing scissors. You will never get a good finish with kitchen scissors and they are much less damaging got the hair! Buy a cheap pair from Boots and take care of them and they will last for years.’

Thank you Cindy, I love you xx

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