[caption id="attachment_1097" align="alignleft" width="267" caption="My new hair cut! "]<img class="size-medium wp-image-1097" title="CAE Aug 1" src="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/cae-aug-1.jpg?w=267" alt="My new hair cut! " width="267" height="300" />[/caption]

One of the first things that I did in the States was to get my hair cut.  Sure I hugged my parents and all that jazz but I was dying for a hair cut.  My hair has gotten longer and longer over the past year so much so that that two months ago I realized that my hair was more than 10 inches inches long.  It's never been this long in my adult life and I wasn't loving it.  But I knew what 10+ inches meant.

It meant that I could cut my hair and donate it to Locks of Love--a non profit that makes wigs for children who have serious and permanent hair loss.  I figured why not? If I was going to cut my hair and it was going to end up on the  salon floor why not cut it according the Locks of Love requirements and donate it?

So I started telling my friends about my plans.  And I have to say that I was surprised by the varied reactions to my announcement.  The first person I told--a guy friend--thought that it was creepy that I was donating my hair, even if it was for children. I guess that somethings don't translate between cultures very well and this may be one of those things.  Then I told some girl friends and they were more understanding but still a little bit surprised by my choice.<!--more-->

They said things like:  but your hair is so beautiful.  (As if cutting my hair might make it less so.)  Or they mused: are you sure? (Pretty sure.)  Another implied in her comments that long hair is more beautiful on women and that short hair is somehow slightly unfeminine.  I think that for some these are valid concerns.

Yet, I am not someone who is defined by my hair.  For most of my life it's been short and my hair was still beautiful (and I was too).  These comments from both male and female friends made me all the more determined to cut my hair and to donate it.  Ultimately, I think it's your actions and your attitudes that make you a beautiful person--not your clothes, hair or accessories.  (Don't get me wrong, I care about these things and have been known to stand in front a mirror and change my outfit not once but two or three times--still clothes, make up and a pretty necklace are not an end all.)  So I wasn't worried that I'd hate my new haircut or that I'd long for long hair again because that's the thing: hair grows.

It's funny, when I was traveling last month I told some people I'd met in a hostel I was staying in that I walked by a hair salon that afternoon and found myself dying to get my hair cut.  They asked me why I didn't and I told them that I was going to donate my hair in a couple of weeks in the States.  A guy (who, as an aside, I am pretty sure was flirting with me) said: that's so sexy.  And girls and guys a like nodded.

So it's this comment that made me write the post.  This random guy wasn't saying that short hair or alternately long hair was sexy.  Rather it was the act of giving of yourself that was ultimately sexy.  In a world that is obsessed with fashion, dieting, looks and age, it's a good reminder that these exterior markers of who we are are fleeting.