The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - The Telegraph Magazine
Beauty brains/the manual
The kindest cut and balmy behaviour
I’ve gone short, and I love it
My hair has never been my crowning glory. Style-wise, life would have been easier if it was. Instead, my fine wisps have required extra trimmings. On the plus side, the wisps obliged me to keep on top of salon visits and abreast of products. I got to know my bone structure and found a hairdresser to give me optimal cuts. A chin-length bob became my calling card.
Very occasionally – usually following some kind of trauma – I’d get it all lopped off, but the pixie crops never lasted. They were too exposing and inflexible.
A few months ago however, exasperated by the condition of my hair (it’s highlighted and tinted, and the ends constantly break in protest no matter how many masks I apply or eggs I consume), I was staring at a stark choice: either the colour or the bob had to go. I wasn’t ready for grey, but I hated the sensation of hair on my neck when it got longer during lockdown. I was ready for a rebrand.
Four weeks in, it just about reaches the tips of my lower lobe. It’s truly short, graduated at the back, but the fringe is long and can be worn swept back or tucked behind my ears. Far from being limiting, it’s encouraging me to try hairbands, clips and different styling tools.
I’m lucky that my brilliant hairdresser, Joel at John Frieda, has known me 20 years. We’ve had our conscious uncouplings – a good thing, it gave us both perspective. But he understands my life and style and knows my blow-drying limitations. I trust his skill and taste. He doesn’t just listen, he understands. Upshot: my hair looks thicker and I have a cut that I can maintain at home. Instead of wanting it to grow out, I find myself excited by all the other short cuts I’m noticing, especially Tessa Thompson’s in Sylvie’s Love, the charming jazz-centric film set in the late ’50s. In my 50s this feels like freedom. If you’re hovering, what
are you waiting for?