Is there anyone \u2013 anyone in the world \u2013 who procrastinates more than somebody who has mid-length hair but can\u2019t decide whether to cut it or grow it? Jeepers creepers.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s like a curse!<\/p>\n
Catch me with my hair at any length that ends between jawline and shoulder and I am the world\u2019s greatest bore about it, reeling off the pros and cons for wearing my hair shorter (\u2018it just looks so good when it\u2019s styled!\u2019) or longer (\u2018it barely needs styling and I can tie it back!\u2019) and greeting any advice with a look of anguish, as if to say,\u00a0you just don\u2019t understand my plight<\/em>.<\/p>\n Because it\u2019s true: people without mid-length hair don\u2019t know how unsettling it is to be stuck in hair purgatory, neither here nor there. Wandering about in hair-do hinterland. Those who have chosen a mid-length on purpose are fine \u2013 some people just love that free and easy swing that neither touches torso nor skims the chin. They are mid-length by choice and are not wracked with the same constant sense of indecision as the mid-lengthers who are \u201cjust passing through\u201d.<\/p>\n Because that\u2019s what it is, isn\u2019t it? For anyone who is growing out a shorter cut. Or, conversely, experimenting with cutting their long hair shorter but not quite up to committing to a bob. The mid-length is a transitional phase, a waiting room, but one you have to stay in for so long you start to wonder whether you might not just save yourself the bother and head for the exit to get things over with. Cut it all off again. Slice in a fringe. Anything \u2013 anything! \u2013 but suffer the boredom of the mid-length era.<\/p>\n Read: How To Grow Out A Bob<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Two things: I am by no means calling mid-length hair boring, I am calling the growing-out phase boring. Secondly, I do realise that there are far greater things to be concerned about in life, that the entire planet seems to be in destruct-and-destroy-mode and AI is potentially about to take over the world, but I\u2019ll say it again: those without mid-length hair simply don\u2019t understand our plight.<\/p>\n We can visualise ourselves with long, luscious hair \u2013 hair that falls silkily down past the shoulders and is weighty enough to hang just so, but we also flick through pictures of ourselves with the short, French Girl bob and lament the loss of our coolness. We grieve the sexy little do that took ten years off and made our necks look long and elegant. The haircut that could be tonged into some kittenish, choppy-looking thing in around eight minutes flat. The style that looked\u00a0different<\/em>, fresh and \u2013 forgive the use of this word \u2013 sassy.<\/p>\n The growing out phase between jaw and shoulder forces us mid-lengthers to swing between our two options almost ceaselessly \u2013 it\u2019s mental torment! How long should we wait? Will we wait and then realise it was all in vain and we should have just kept it short all along?<\/p>\n It\u2019s the hair equivalent of that scene in\u00a0Braveheart\u00a0<\/em>where William Wallace rides along the nervous army telling them to\u00a0Hold! Hold! Hold the line!\u00a0<\/em>He wants them to wait, not to charge too soon. He wants them to grow their hair that bit longer, have a bit of patience.<\/p>\n (Good God, this has to be the worst illustrative example I\u2019ve ever used.)<\/p>\n William Wallace doesn\u2019t want to waste all of that preparation time, all of the anxious gearing-up-for-a-fight pep-talk period, by suddenly panicking and rushing in all guns blazing. (They didn\u2019t have guns, though it wouldn\u2019t have surprised me if they had in the film \u2013\u00a0Braveheart\u00a0<\/em>isn\u2019t exactly known for its historical accuracy.) Had they surged forward, it would have been like chopping all their hair back off before they\u2019d had a chance to see what it was like long.<\/p>\n No, no. This has all fallen apart, this weird little analogy.<\/p>\n All I\u2019m saying is that when you have mid-length hair, because you\u2019re growing out shorter hair, you tend to spend quite a lot of time wondering which way you want to go with it.<\/p>\n I tell you all of this spectacularly useless preamble because last week I had the joy of filming with Sam McKnight again. Sam McKnight MBE; super-hair-stylist, maker of iconic looks (he famously cut Princess Diana\u2019s hair short) and one of the most prolific and inspirational hair stylists in the world.<\/p>\n We were filming him styling the ultimate \u201cSupermodel Do\u201d, which gave\u00a0me<\/em>\u00a0a chance to read some of my brand new book to him (it\u2019s OUT, in case you\u2019ve been hiding under a rock \u2013\u00a0How Not To Be A Supermodel\u00a0<\/em>is available\u00a0here<\/a>) and gave\u00a0him<\/em>\u00a0a chance to regale me with some of his amazing stories from back in the day. It was like Jackanory in the studio on Friday, it really was.<\/p>\n WATCH OUR CHAT<\/a><\/p>\n But the notable part of the conversation was this \u2013 and bear in mind that I had gone into the studio feeling less than ecstatic about the length of my hair, wondering whether it was going to be a bit of a dowdy length to be doing a supermodel makeover on: when I asked Sam how he\u2019d cut my hair if he could do anything he liked with it, he just said, \u2018I\u2019d leave it exactly as it is.\u2019<\/p>\n Imagine that! One of the world\u2019s greatest hair maestros telling you that your hair length, which you\u2019d previously thought was a bit of a \u201cwet blanket\u201d sort of length, was just about spot on!\u00a0Versatile<\/em>, he called it.\u00a0Cool<\/em>.*<\/p>\n It\u2019s possible he just didn\u2019t want to have to get his scissors out, of course. Maybe he thought that I\u2019d say \u2018go on then, chop a bit off!\u2019 and he\u2019d have to wearily start the process of wetting my hair down and putting a gown around my shoulders, etc etc. In a way, he gave me the cleverest answer \u2013 who wouldn\u2019t be flattered by being told that their current hairstyle was quite simply the absolute best one for them?<\/p>\n I don\u2019t care: I\u2019ll take it. At the very least it\u2019ll put a stop to my daily deliberations \u2013 grow it, cut it? \u2013 and motivate me to learn some new styles and techniques. At any rate, I\u2019ve managed to get myself past the treacherous Lord Farquaad stage of mid-length, where the hair sits in a blocky wedge of triangle and makes you look like a medieval lute player.<\/p>\n (I wrote a post about clever tips for growing-out hair on my website\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>, it\u2019s one of the posts I need to move across to Substack for easier reference.)<\/p>\n And so: I think it\u2019s possible I\u2019m at a rare truce with my never-quite-right hair. And I have Sam to thank for this new lease of mid-length life. Maybe I really\u00a0am\u00a0<\/em>at the sweet spot \u2013 could it be\u2026perfect? Because I can tie my hair back but also give it shape and bounce if I curl it but also make it look long and sleek if I straighten?<\/p>\n I was around six weeks away from chopping it all right off again, but perhaps when I go in for my next appointment I\u2019ll say instead,<\/p>\n \u201cJust a little trim.\u201d<\/p>\n You can watch Sam creating the ultimate mid-length glamorous style in our Youtube video\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n *I cannot promise that he said the cool bit, I had to think of another word for the sake of rhythm and flow.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n Trending Products<\/strong>![\"\"](\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F3f20b802-8fac-4af5-a23c-819184254321_4910x2762.jpeg)
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