Sometimes I Just Want To Give Up

Growing long hair is a really long-term commitment.  Sometimes I feel stuck and it feels like there's no progress at all.  Sometimes I look at the flaws in my hair and want to cut it all out, so that my hair looks perfect.  Right now I still have some residual damage and the perfectionist in me doesn't like it.

Even though my hair grows more quickly than some, it can be a discouraging process.  Even thinking about when I will achieve my next goal seems so far off and unreal.

So how do I keep going?  Well, there are a few things I do to help when I feel discouraged.

One thing I do is take monthly progress photos.  While I don't often see any progress from one month to the next, if I look at a photo taken three months earlier, then I do see that there's been growth.  This is a great tool for me, and often keeps me going when I get the urge to chop.

Another thing I do to distract myself from the impatience of growing hair is to try new styles that I can do at each new length.  I enjoy practising different braids and updos, and it's always a revelation when I learn something new or when I discover that I can do a style that just a month ago I couldn't do just because my hair was that tiny bit shorter.

Sometimes it's necessary just to put my hair up in any old updo and forget about it.

The biggest thing I have to get over is my need for perfection.  Yes, I have some breakage from my last big lightening that remains and there's a slight colour demarcation line from where my hair was dyed lighter.  In the past, I would have just cut my hair off either the level of the breakage, or the level of the slight colour change.  I'm learning to live with the imperfections of my hair.

That's a hard thing for me to do.  It really is.

So I have a plan to rid my hair of damage, and that is to trim about 1/2 inch off every three months.  That way my hair still grows, but I'm gradually getting rid of damage.  Also, it helps keep my ends looking neater and fresher.

Anyway, as humans, none of us is perfect.  Why must I expect my hair to be?  I'll be mulling that one over the next time I get frustrated.

So there are no big chops looming in my future.  I've been there and done that and I know it's not what will make me happy.  I think I'll just put my hair up now and forget about it.

Tomorrow I'll be posting a quick and easy hairstyle.

I hope everyone is having  a wonderful weekend.