Victoria's Secret model, Karlie Kloss has recently gotten a lot of crap for her newly chopped hair__. Even though the lingerie brand has finally embraced her chin-length bob and even featured it in their latest campaigns, fans aren't exactly "feeling it." I think she looks so sexy with this short cut, but at the same time I totally relate to the whole long hair obsession thing. I'm not going to lie, I recently had a stylist cut my hair about 3 inches shorter than I had asked and I've been mourning my long locks ever since. What is it with us Latinas and super long hair?
Read more ¿Qué más? Cameron Diaz crying over hair is very Latina!
My mother says I was born with such a ridiculous amount of hair, that when she saw me for the first time her exact words were: "Oh my God this kid has SO much hair." With that full head of hair came length. My hair has always grown pretty long and pretty quickly and there were very few times my mother ever cut it short. It was so thick and so heavy, that even when I wore it curly it would flow down my back. I was constantly advised by relatives like my abuelas, to always keep it long, so I did.
There's this understanding from a young age that long hair is beautiful. Our favorite Disney characters had long hair, our Barbies had long hair, and even some of our favorite celebs. And while this may be a universal mindset, you have to admit that it's kind of hard core within the Latino community.
I'll never forget the response I got when I decided to go super short in college. My hair was dry and damaged from all the coloring and flat-ironing I had put it through my last two years of high school. So I went to my hair stylist who chopped it down to a bob that hit slightly above my collarbone. I was surprisingly comfortable with it. What I wasn't comfortable with was all the criticism I got from everyone around me. I remember even showing off the cut to an old childhood friend (who of course happens to be Latino) and his response was literally just, "Why?"
Since, then I had decided I was never again going to go short. After just a few months my hair was practically hanging down my back again. I recently had a stylist cut a few inches more than I expected (3 inches tops) and it's been like the most dramatic, telenovela thing ever. I practically cried to my mom about it (pathetic I know) and no one really gets what the big deal is.
The truth is chicas, it really isn't a big deal. It's just hair! Like come on, why do we get ourselves so worked up about something as petty as hair? Is it something that's just ingrained in our Latina minds? It's so NOT that serious, and at the end of the day it will grow back.
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