lori-anne bobs her hair

I made a vow, just out of university, after chopping off my almost-waist-length tresses, that I would never grow my hair long again. Despite my love of long, luxurious locks, my head seems capable of shooting out only thin, limp, stringy hair that, when braided or secured in a pony-tail, amounts to roughly a quarter of a good head of hair.

But in the last couple of years I succumbed to the lure of long hair once again, naively growing it as though this time would be different. Of course, it was not. If anything, it may have been worse because hair (as several friends keep sharing) looses its luster with age. I don't know that mine is any worse - one of the possible blessings of having hair that can't get worse is that it doesn't - but it's still thin, still limp and still stringy, even with a $120 spiral perm - the remnants of which have been mercifully removed.

So a few weeks ago, I surprised everyone (including my husband, who forgot I had warned him it would be gone) and lopped my mid-back-length hair off into a 1920's reminiscent bob. And still it's stringy and still it's thin, but at least it feels healthy and like it has some body and style instead of lying there like a plague on my head.

I'll probably keep it like this for a while before experimenting with other styles. But please, please dear readers, dear friends - if it ever looks like I might be growing it again, just tie me up and take some scissors after me. I'll only thank you for it in the end!