Of depression bouts and exhilarating haircuts

You know why God destined women to have long hair?

So that we can go chop-chop-chop when we’re down and depressed.

I mean, seriously! Think about it! Do men have that option? Not unless they have long, rockstar-type hair. But for women, it’s such an easy option. You grow your hair so that you can take out all your frustration on your hair rather than go kill the person who caused the frustration.

When I was a kid, I was never allowed to grow my hair. Primarily because I was an asthma patient and my folks felt that if I have too much hair on my head, it’ll lead to unnecessary sweating, which will lead to the next bout of wheezing. Some such logic. So it was always a blunt cut, till just below my ears.

As I grew up, my sister- who was not allowed to cut her hair because she has thick curly hair- started experimenting on me. She took it upon herself to take me to the parlour and then try all sorts of hairstyles on me. Wedge-cut, mushroom-cut, blunt cut, razor-cut, boy-cut- God only knows what and all cut! And I used to sit on the chair and silently cry, because I hated getting my hair cut.

Somewhere in my teens, I started growing my hair. And I used to have nice, silky, straight hair (‘used to’ in bold-italics-underline). So I would take real good care of it. Oil it every week, brush it like every half an hour, try different hairstyles, etc. I used to be known for my hair. I hardly experimented with it, and the most I would do was trim the ends. But it never grew till my waist. It just refused to.

Once I came to Hyderabad, the water completely destroyed my hair. It started falling like the rain falls in Cherapunji- heavily and ALL THE TIME! The texture became rough. And then I went and got a step-cut. That was the end of my hair as I knew it.
I did try to grow it out many times. Each time I go for a haircut, I think “Ok, this is the last time I’m cutting it. I’m going to let it grow. I’m NOT going to chop it off again.”

But here is the problem with me. If I get depressed with something (mostly guy-trouble), I simply HAVE to do something. And by something, I mean, I need to do some type of make-over to make myself feel better. Sounds sad, I know. But I would rather look better than cut a vein or some such bullshit. So every time I get depressed, I either go buy some new dress or get a haircut. One time, I even got a piercing done- third stud in my ear (I realize I’m on the verge of being put in the ‘Cuckoo’ box).

Another reason- even if they’re just trimming the hair a bit, these parlours will charge a minimum of 400 bucks. So I’m like, What the hell, I’m paying this much, I might as well get a proper haircut!

You get the picture?

The last time I had a haircut was in June. Again, the same resolve. That I will let it grow this time. I even went and bought hair serums and a hair straightening iron to style it well.

What was I thinking??

Because hair may come, hair may go. But guy-troubles? They’re a permanent fixture.

So off I marched to the parlour on Saturday afternoon (Yup, I WALKED nearly two kilometres in the hot afternoon sun. I was THAT pissed). I sat in the chair and told the lady, “Just cut it off. Make it short. Do whatever you like.” So she did. Now my formerly bra-hook-length hair (I’m sorry, I don’t know how else to explain the length :/) is now a little below my ears. It’s not exactly a boy-cut, but somewhere along the same lines. And yes, I look like a 7th-standard kid now. Not girl. Kid.

And I felt SO much better after I got it done! It was like half my depression had been chopped away with the hair! I’m still not talking to my guy, but that’s another story. I have my brand new haircut to fuss over right now. Men can wait. ;)

So there you go ladies! Next time you are down-in-the-dumps, don’t bother to slash your wrists or get drunk or make sobbing phone calls. Just go get a haircut. There are so many fun things you can do to your hair! Trust me, it’s the BEST therapy! :)

What do you do when you need a depression-fix?