For quite some time now I've been thinking about getting a new hair style.  My hair is probably the longest it's ever been and it's getting to the point where I can barely dry it or brush it comfortably.  It gets tangly all the time.  It takes forever to dry.  Despite the fact that I could do lots of things with long hair, I definitely don't.  It's a good day if I can blow it mostly dry.  And there's something about having long hair that makes me really hesitant to do something new - I think it's all the time that's been invested in getting it to this point.  It might only take an hour to get a completely new hairdo, but it would take me about two years to get it back to this point.

This is nothing new for me.  This is a cycle that I keep right on repeating.  About every three to five years I go through this same pattern - grow it out long, then go for a drastic short cut, spend next few years growing hair back out.  For example, here's me in 2003:

It was pretty long at this point because I spent 2001 and the first part of 2002 growing out my hair so I could have fancy bride hair.  Then, once I was pregnant it seemed foolish to cut it since it was growing so quickly.  On a whim after Martin was born I decided to get a perm (who knows why, and what a dumb decision THAT was).  That perm quickly turned into a fat knot that could only really go away with a haircut.  So, in 2004 I cut way back:

About a month after this haircut I was pregnant again and my hair began to grow like wildfire.  After an extensive period of awkward-middle-length hair, it's finally long again.  But now I'm ready for something else.  The problem - I don't know what I want.  Here are a few things to consider:
1.  It has to be easy to style, taking less than 15 minutes to dry and style for a normal day and 16-17 minutes if we're doing something special.
2.  Cuts that have lots of layers or include razor cutting look cute on me for the first 10 minutes then immediately look like I didn't go to a salon but instead opted to let a donkey chew on my hair.
3.  I cannot bear any piece of hair that is perpetually poking me in the eye.  It makes me want to cut my own hair which has never been proven to be a good idea.
4.  I'm starting to get a lot of gray, wiry hair and I don't know what do to about this.  Should I start coloring my hair now or wait until it gets worse?  All-over color or something else?  The side note to this is that my home hair-dying days are over.  I just don't want to do it anymore.  So that means my option is to go to a salon which is serious business for two reasons - a new item to regularly budget for FOREVER, and I actually have to go on a regular basis.
5.  I'm thinking that instead of going for a drastic cut right now, maybe I should get something less drastic now and keep getting shorter from there.  But not necessarily.

I've been living in Hutchinson for four years now and have not yet found someone who can just be the boss of my hair.  I used to go to a guy in Minneapolis who wouldn't even ask what I wanted, he would just tell me what I could have.  For me, this was the perfect arrangement.  I didn't have to think about it, the cuts were always flattering, and if I were still seeing him now I'm sure he'd say "Good LORD Jennie, this gray has GOT to go" and within minutes I'd be slathered in color.  That's really what I want now.  Except I don't want to drive an hour and a half to go there. 

Please send suggestions.  And make it snappy.  Once I decide it's time for a change IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE.  I'm going to make the first possible appointment.