Years ago I had to accept the fact that I would never have Serena van der Woodsen hair, the long "I just rolled out of bed like this" hair. My hair is so thick that if I ever tried to grow my hair out too long I would start looking more like Cousin It that an "It Girl."

It all started with a semi-spontaneous trip to a new hair stylist and a photo of Zooey Deschenel to get bangs. Which then turned into "I'm in France for three months, don't speak enough French to navigate a successful haircut and TSA won't allow scissors in my carry-on" hair that was as close as I would get to Serena because I learned that no one in Europe straightens their hair (praise! because that saved me an extra 20 minutes every morning.) And then, in another semi-spontaneous trip to a second new hair stylist and a photo from Pinterest, I kept the bangs and ditched the length.

Now I have accepted the fact that I have a face for shoulder length hair. I'm writing this as a reminder to myself in six months when I have the grand idea to grow my hair out again. Future self, save yourself the frustration of the awkward hair length and split ends and embrace the long bob.

My hair grows really fast. Literally, it shoots out of my head {clearly I'm not exaggerating. but it does grow really fast}. I know a lot of this has to do with genetics, but I think a fairly large amount of it has to do with maintenance. 

Runs in the family. See?

You know those weird people that take vitamins all the time? Guilty. As evidenced in the picture below, I take a total of 9 supplements a day. And I think these have contributed a lot to my hair growth through the years. 

What I take:

1. Liquid B12. Tastes nasty; works wonders for energy levels

2. Prenatal vitamin {no. I'm not pregnant or trying to become pregnant. It just has a lot of Folic Acid & Zinc}

3. Leg Vein health {which has horse chestnut & that helps reverse varicose veins}

4. Biotin, aka the best thing to help with hair growth ever. This stuff is amazing//can't live without it.

When we went to Paris, I didn't have room//weight in my suitcase to take my vitamins, and I could totally tell a difference. My skin was dull, my nails were brittle, my hair was dry & I just felt gross. So one of the first things I did after I got home {after using self tanner, painting my nails, & exfoliating} was to start taking my vitamins again! Man, I missed these things.  

Anyone else have a vitamin routine they would like to share with the class?

-Samantha

P.S. You should totally follow us on here. Promise you won't regret it. 

College students love free things. 

And by free, I mean when their parents pay for things. 

You learn to live without until you go home. 

Haircuts are one of the things most of us forgo. 

Let me tell you, unless you are traveling Europe, 

four months is way to long to go without a haircut.

Somehow messy parisian hair just doesn't look right in America.

Like Samantha, I had a lot  of few split ends trimmed up

and decided to return to my "zoe deschenel" look.

Before 

After

bangs circa 1995.

-Jess

You know in the movie "The Princess Diaries" when Anne Hathaway's character Mia gets a makeover? And her best friend Lilly says, "Hair. Hair grows." 

I mean, I've always wholeheartedly agreed with that. Butttt only in theory. For 99.9% of my life, I've had long hair. Like middle-of-the-back long hair. And while I always agree with Lilly that hair grows, I've never actually put my money where my mouth is. So I decided to do something about it.

Guys. It's crazy long.

Y'all, I'm cutting my hair! The catalyst for this most historic event was when my hair was too long for me to put in a sock bun. Like, how does that even happen...? I'm not like exceptionally attached to my hair, & it isn't my security blanket or anything. But I've just never cut it short before. I've had the same haircut for most of my life (minus the winter I had front bangs in 2nd grade. woof.) , and so, after 20 years, I've decided it's high time to mix things up. 

My hair inspiration.

I like to think of my new look as a "long bob" (is that an oxymoron?). See how short that is? Ok. It's not really that short. It's short for me. Honestly, I'm just looking forward to the fact that it won't take me 30 minutes to dry my hair anymore (which means more sleeping in. helloooo.). This is all going down Tuesday, but I wanted you to know about it before it happens. & to hold me accountable. I'm doing this. For real. It's happening. 

Anyone have any hilarious stories of haircuts gone wrong? I'd hate love to hear them!

-Samantha