Yep! I relate!

My mom used to cut her hair when she was upset, and darned if I don't tend to do the same. I did it for YEARS, then I grew the most beautiful dreadlocks. They were long and thick and amazing. Then I made some very positive, but still stressful, changes in my life (in April) and in May one night I got the scissors out and chopped off my dreads. I still had a good 4" of hair left, but I made a mistake by thinking I knew how to use an electric shaver, which I did not know how to use, and ended up shaving all my hair off, except my bangs. My hair is now 1/2" long. *sigh*

Part of me has terrible regret about cutting off my dreads, part of me likes the fresh start. What I do NOT want to do is get back into the old habit of cutting at my hair whenever I'm stressed. Hair is a big thing, it's a part of our bodies and a huge part of our self-image. When I had my dreads I was happy about being in public, now I feel so ugly I refrain from socializing much at all. I hide in my home.

The odd thing about shaving my head this time was that the very next day I met my sisters (2) and our cousin for dinner & one of my sisters told us she'd just found out that she has terminal cancer. I honestly felt like I had somehow 'felt' her illness, felt the terrible grief, before my sis actually told us, and that that was part of why I shaved off my hair. My sister will be having some chemo with the hope of giving her a bit more time on this earth. Above all else, my sister grieves ending her life without her long, blonde hair.

So....yeah...I definitely relate to your post, WaifLikeLilly.