Long hair but always wearing it up

[Yotohelp]

I‘ve got very thick, blonde hair which goes down to my bra strap.

I find it such a faff to style it so it looks good down- it’s straight on top and curly underneath, so takes ages to straighten. It looks frizzy if I try to curl it and I prefer it straight anyway. So I always wear it in a ponytail. Even on nights out or special occasions.

A colleague made a comment- what’s the point in having long hair if you always wear it up? She suggested I cut it to a long bob so it’s easier to style. This colleague used to be a hairdresser so it’s making me think she‘s trying to give me a hint.

What do you think?

Although you say you always wear it up, tomorrow morning you could change your mind and wear it down. Once it’s cut you can’t do that. Plus longer hair up looks different to short hair anyway.

Long hair up has a very different vibe to actual short hair. You could also argue, if I get a look similar to short hair when I tie it up, why do I need to cut it. I have short hair as long hair drags my face down but I sometimes think about trying to grow it long just to tie it up. I like the look Mel Giedroyc has. I also like Kathy Bates' hair in Matlock (when it's up, not down).

Do you like it? If so, stop worrying what other people think.

Was this unprompted out of nowhere, or did you bring the topic up? If you were saying "I am really bored of my hair, do you think I should do something different" then that's very different to her spontaneously criticising you.

If you are bored, then you can cut it - it will grow back! But if your colleague is bored then she will just have to live with it 😆 nothing wrong with always having hair in a ponytail

Alright, my experience:

I had hair, with what sounds like a similar texture to yours, down to my waist until I was 24. Like you, I always wore it up. Then I decided I wanted a change and had it cut into a bob.

It caused a kerfuffle at the salon as it was such a drastic change. The head stylist did it, the other hairdressers gathered round and watched...

So...the first cut was good, but all trims after that were done worse, even though I went back to the same place and asked for it to remain exactly as it was, just shorter.

The weight of the longer hair had had more of an effect than I had realized. When long, my hair was slightly wavy, when short it desperately wanted to turn into frizz, meaning a lot more effort daily needed to tame it. If I didn't do anything special after washing, then it looked like Wendolin's (spelling?) hair out of Wallace and Grommit.

Even when care was taken, instead of the hair curling in at the base on both sides, as it was meant to, the underlying curl meant one side would flip direction as the day wore on, ending up with one side curling under and the other side curling out, which looked ridiculous.

I had to get trims far more often, as you can get away with a lot less work on your hair when it is long and worn up. This obviously cost more time and money, which could ill afford, and this was particularly annoying because I wasn't too happy with the result of the trims anyway.

Finally, and this was the most important for me: only when I couldn't easily pull my hair out of my face did I realize how important that had been for me. Pulled back it was fully out of the way, not falling forward and in the way, as it was with a bob. The hair at the sides of my face felt so intrusive, like having - I don't know - afghan hound's ears (?) at the side of the face.

I got it cut much shorter, because that cut had been so unbearable, and kept that up for a couple of years, but then grew it back out, which took forever, and now have bum length hair which I always wear in a plait.

Tl/dr: if it works for you as it is and you hadn't been considering a change then don't make a change!

I think you'll regret a bob if you want low maintenance styling. Mine is also straight on top and curly underneath and keeping it long makes my life so much easier. It's easy to tie back or put in a bun, or I can take the time to straighten it if I want. When it was short it didn't have enough weight to weigh it down so it was just constantly wild and frizzy meaning I had to straighten it every day and even then it would go wild again the second I stepped outside.

You could start putting it up in different styles, not just a ponytail. A mermaid pleat is super easy and gives a completed different vibe for example.
There’s so much more you can do with long hair, but once you start chopping it seems never ending cutting unless you choose to grow it back and that takes ages. I have recently grown my hair after a decade of short, and I wish I had done it far earlier. It’s far easier to manage long.

I think it could be more maintenance, mine goes fluffy so needs straightening, when i had it shorter i HAD to straighten it and maintain it as it was always down, when longer if i'm feeling lazy i can just very roughly straighten it and tie it up.

What is a mermaid pleat? I can only find references to mermaid plaits

I have long straight hair, and a few front layers, was watching a hairdresser on youtube in dubai, he said to his client who had hair similar to mine, not to have layers as they just poof up you need weight in the hair for it lay smooth. Only very long heavy layers not thined out as a lot of hairdressers seems to want to do.

I have hair that is straight on top and curly underneath and the advice I got a few weeks ago on MN was to brush it only when it is wet and it stops the frizz and keeps the curls. I also added keratin shampoo/conditioner and it works really well.

I often wear mine up as well but there are lots of ways like plaits, French pleats, different buns etc to mix it up a bit nothing wrong in that, I like wearing it long on special occasions rather than trying to maintain a shorter hairstyle.

I probably should have mentioned, I‘ve had short hair before (about 12 years ago!) and it was definitely easier to style. It didn’t end up in a frizz bomb, it was just the same as now but took less time to straighten.

However, I‘ve got this morning off work and have spent some time doing my hair to wear it down. And I really like it!

I‘ve got stuck in a rut of putting it in the same ponytail every day. I‘ll have a look at other simple up-dos, thanks for the suggestions! And I think I‘ll make more of an effort to wear it down for special occasions, because I do really like it.