The decision has been made.

Today I am going to chop the rest of my hair off. Over the months and years my hair just grew and grew and grew, having only visited the salon twice a year (if that) for as long as I remember.

A few weeks ago my beautiful and talented stylist, a friend from the long ago days of high school, convinced me to go just above the shoulders, which shortened the length by about 8 inches. I like it, though I am realizing in order to avoid the "just rolled out of bed" look, I have to actually make an effort to style my hair rather than resorting to the "bun with bangs" route that had pretty much become my signature look.

But maybe, I was thinking, something even shorter might be nice. I tried on a teal blue wig my 11 year old owns that is in the style of a graduated bob. I like it, as long as I can ignore the cartoonish color, though my daughter remarked that if I were to cut my hair even shorter then I will no longer look like her mother.

Little does she know, I went through most of my life with short hair. I might have grown it out for my wedding, only to chop it all off shortly after she was born. Since that time I just let it grow, perhaps due to laziness and lack of time, but mostly because I felt the need to hide my post pregnancy (x3) body behind a huge mane of hair.

I can't say the latter really worked, but now that the baby making years are long behind me and I feel I am at an "ideal" weight, I think I might be ready for something with a bit more spunk and sass, even if it will require that I visit the salon more often than two times a year.

So is this something I am ready to commit to? In the back of my mind I know men prefer long lustrous locks on a woman so maybe this is my feminist subconscious telling me that it's the perfect way to keep all that testosterone away. Far far away.