NEW YORK, NY: Chop Chop (12/20/09)

When going through a major transition in life, it is common practice among many (especially women) to change our hairstyles. It is a visible way to punctuate a period of flux, an attempt to reconcile the inner feelings with outer appearance. I am guilty of this practice. When I found my first gray hair and suffered the recognition of my own mortality, I went blonde. When my friends went to Europe, I donated ten inches of hair. I even dyed my hair red(ish) following a breakup. Each change has done more to help me start anew than any other coping mechanism. It is for this reason that I have always found a good hairstylist far less expendable than a shrink.

I have had very long hair for a very long time. A lot of people didn't understand why I would want to have hair down to my waist, but I loved it. Having long hair is a virtual beacon in a crowded bar, guiding new friends to shore. It's irrelevant that many ended up shipwrecked to bits after my occasionally sharp tongue was finished with those who were less than yare.

However, I am now at a stage many call the "quarter-life-crisis." Reconciling jobs with dreams, living arrangements with my actual budget, the single life with the fact that I just adopted a pup... It was time for a change. So I called my amazing hairstylist Nikki, and forty-five minutes later my hair was twelve inches shorter. I kept the red (which I have since grown to love) and chopped the rest for Pantene's Greath Lengths Campaign.

Pantene's Great Lengths Campaign provides wigs for women who have lost their hair to cancer treatments. To my benefit, they actually accept hair that has been dyed semi-permanently (though not permanently), so my donation was eligible for the organization.

I love my new haircut. It's short enough to be a big change, but long enough to still fit in a ponytail. And since I'm benefiting from the mental effects of a haircut, it's only appropriate that someone else benefit, too. My luscious locks served a greater purpose than my social life after all. I wish the woman who ends up with my mane good luck.

For more information on Pantene's Great Lengths Campaign, please visit: http://www.pantene.com/html/Donation_Guide.pdf

For information on where you can get the best hair-do in the city courtesy of Nikki, please visit: http://www.lesaloneast.com/