Snip snip, hack hack. Time to cut these curlies back!

I’ve reached my breaking point with these long(-to-me) curly locks that I’ve grown out for the past few months. The heat index is climbing into the 100s, the humidity is picking up, and it’s pool season, which is fantastic for curly hair, let me tell you.

In other words, my hair has recently been nothing but a frizzed-up mess pulled up into a ponytail strictly for the sake of convenience.

My "style" as of late. Sexy, non?

It’s time to go. Why bother having it if you're not enjoying it.

But when it comes to haircuts, especially for curly mops of hair... how low (erm, short) can you go?

I’ve been hemming and hawing over it for weeks now. I’ve always wanted the freedom of super short hair, seconds to wash and fewer to style. I’ve been looking up photos, reading reviews, scoping NaturallyCurly.com for other women who feel the same: That long hair is nice and all, but it ain’t all it’s cracked up to be!

The problem is finding photos of incredibly short, curly hair and trying to imagine how you’d look with it. The best I have are photos from when I was really young and my parents kept my curls short for the sake of convenience; it was cute, but they didn’t have a curly-hair maintenance regimen like the one I’ve perfected over the years. So it ended up mostly a frizzy, if adorable, halo of unkempt curls.

But it's totally adorable when you're, like... three.

(My sister, on the right, has incredible waves now, and can go from straight to curly with the help of but one haircare instrument. Why couldn’t I have that!!)

Or worse, seeing you try to pull it off as a teenager, with the same lack of haircare knowledge:

Oh. Oh god.

Ain’t nobody gotta see that. Yikes. This is more "fluffy helmet" than "short and chic".

I’ve faced facts, though. As much as I love long, flowing tendrils of curly hair, I don’t have the body, time, or patience to deal with all of it. So rather than torture myself with this hair that I can’t control (see above note about the ponytail), I’ve decided I’m going to take a chance.

That, and I have in my arsenal a kickass hairstylist (who managed to give me my favorite haircut ever) and styling products that are strong enough to tame the beast while still smelling sweet. So in short (ha!), I feel better equipped this time around to get, style, and maintain a kickass short hairstyle.

I’ve got an appointment this weekend to take it all off. Hopefully, I’ll end up with something like this:

... instead of what I once had, an I’m-essentially-an-honorary-Jew-check-out-this-Jewfro.

(And yes, I realize they’re all ethnic. You know how hard it is to find a white chick with super short curly hair?! Impossible! And shit like this doesn't count. So work with me, here.)

I’ll have an update for y’all when I come back from the salon on Saturday. Hopefully it’ll look as awesome on my head as it seems in it. ;)