Just because it was pretty did not mean it was pleasant. Her dark hair was thick and heavy on the back of her neck. Whenever she washed it, if she did not brush it her hair would curl in elegant waves. Every time her hair was noticed she would receive compliments for how beautiful her hair looked. The fact that she lived in a hot and humid climate did not add to the pleasantness of having long, Disney princess-styled hair. Putting her hair up in ponytails, buns, or any sort of updo always led to a headache until she took her hair down. Thick hair was not pleasant.
She knew that many people envied her hair. She knew that anyone with thin hair would give anything they had to have thick hair like her. Those she knew with thin hair had told her as much. She was told by many people, mostly her mother and grandmothers, that it would be a shame to cut her hair short the way she had always told them she wanted. They were the ones paying for any haircut she had, so inevitably she was forced to keep the long princess hair while living under her parents’ roof.
The only time she had been allowed to cut her hair short was when she had donated her hair to Locks of Love. She had mailed the long braid, which had once made her hair reach her tailbone, to the donation place and they had sent back a thank you letter. Her hair had been cut just above her shoulders and the lifted weight off the back of her neck felt wonderous. Ever since then, she had been waiting for the next opportunity to cut her hair short once more.
Here she was, eighteen years old, about to begin her freshman year of college in a different city to her hometown. She was living on campus in a dorm the same size as her room back home with only a suitemate to share a bathroom with but otherwise living on her own in her own space. She sat in the haircut shop chair and grinned at herself in the mirror. The lady about to cut her hair asked her what she wanted, and she replied by showing a picture she had pulled up on her phone.
The hairstylist set to work, sprayed her hair with water, and began to cut. Amanda felt the weight on her head and the back of her neck gradually lift and the feeling was heavenly. She closed her eyes and reveled in it. Then she heard buzzing and felt a light tickle on the back of her neck as the electric clippers buzzed the back of her head and neck. When the hairstylist told her she was all done, Amanda opened her eyes and marveled at how different her hair looked.
The princess hair was gone and in its place was an angled bob. The hairstylist pulled out a handheld mirror to show her the back and she could see the back of her head and neck had been lightly buzzed. She reached up to feel the buzzed area with her fingers and sighed in satisfaction at how cool it felt in comparison to the heat she had felt there before.
“Bye, bye, princess hair,” she said quietly to herself.