Ever since I was young, I’ve always had straight, ultra-fine long hair.

Yup, that’s right — this girlie has never shorn off her locks above her shoulders.

They grew long and straight, and at one point as a young girl, even reached up to my buttocks. Of course, that was also when I was around 6 and shorter, so it was not yet too uncool to grow your hair that long.

In addition to being long, my hair is also so fine and feels like silk to touch.

Even women find it surprising on how fine it is.

“So soft,” they’ll exclaim.

It’s only when I touch other women’s hair that I start realizing just how fine my hair really is — most women’s hair are actually a lot coarser than mine.

Now,don’t get me wrong, am not being egotistical and saying that it’s a good thing because it’s not.

When I used to hang around often at my ex-boyfriend’s place, he said that I was like a dog because I shed hair like crazy. Sure, he loved the way my hair would fall on his shoulders when we hugged, but at the same time, he would always be muttering and sweeping the floor, because there was my hair, all over the place.

Haha, maybe that’s why we broke up. Yup, blaming the breakup on the hair! 🙂

At times however, it scares me. Am afraid that I may go bald as I get older because my hair’s too thin. What if I ran out? 🙁

Given that, hair is actually a big part of me. Every time I take a quick trip to a hair-dresser, I return saddened, hating my new look. It’s like losing a dear friend, who’s always been with you through thick and thin.

Personally, I like having long hair.

As my face is quite round, I think cutting my hair short would make me look like a mushroom (as below).

I am NOT exaggerating. Or a Chinese bao zi whatever you fancy. Anyway, it would just look awful. Trust me.

What’s more, as this lady is already muscular enough through all her exercise at the climbing gym, and too masculine enough via all her wayward opinions, I think the long hair helps in making people think that I’m at least feminine. Of course, we all know that I am not feminine at all, but still, it makes me feel a tad better that I somehow retain a bit of feminity amidst all these strong characteristic of mine.

That, and wearing flowing pink skirts.

The problem with long black straight fine hair though is that it’s also super boring.

Dull, yawn, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..

So given this dilemma, I’d like to jazz it up a bit. But how?

Well, there’s dying your hair.

There was a time when I wanted to dye my long locks, much to my mother’s chagrin. “Don’t do anything to your beautiful hair,” she begged. “I’ll just give you the cash but keep the hair.” That was the time when highlights and hazel nut-colored hair were in fashion.

Highlighted hair is beautiful. I still think that way, and appreciate those women who can regularly maintain properly highlighted hair. Somehow, they look professional and classy.

Unfortunately, dying your hair also destroys the hair.

If you aren’t too careful and not properly maintain it, fizzles and split ends happen. And of course, in this day and age, who has the time to go to a salon every month and give your hair a pampering? Honestly speaking, if it was me, my hair would grow like weeds at Daan Park. Just awful!

What’s more, highlighted hair is not a novelty in Taiwan anymore.

When I arrived in Taiwan and saw that everybody looked somewhat Caucasian with their artificially-colored hair. Not that it doesn’t look nice, but it made never-dyed-black hair somewhat more special to me. Hence, thank god for mom’s advice, but finally had a renewed appreciation for my ebony-colored do and kept it as it is.

Of course, nothing is that simple.

Girls with long straight hair want short curly hair.

Women with curls want them straightened.

The grass is always greener at the other side.

Now, I’ve dabbled into the idea of curling my hair with large wavy curls like Michelle Trachtenberg (as below):

Ain’t it beautiful?

*Swoons*

My friend Lisa suggests that I curl my hair and wear loads of mascara for a more mature look. “Your straight hair makes you look younger. I’d suggest you try curling it for a change so that you can look a bit older. It’s hard to curl it once you’re actually old. By the time you’re 30, you’d just want to stick to straight hair ’cause it makes you look younger.”

Am actually seriously thinking about it. I actually think curly hair done right is very sexy.

The only hangup for now is that:

1) am ultra busy with work right now so spending 3-4 hours in a salon is asking for too much,

2) it costs over NT$4,000 (approx USD130) to curl my hair that long, so who has that spare cash lying around

and 3) I have no clue what I’d look like with curly hair.

What if I hated it?

My friend tells me, “Well, you can always straighten it if it looks terrible,” but for a person who values her hair, it would be so stupid to iron it with curls, then iron it back straight in a short span of time.

Oh, and not counting that whole experiment would cost me almost NT$10,000 and around 8 unproductive hours in a salon!

So anyway, am still thinking about it.

Regardless, it’s interesting however how other people look at the curly hair vs. straight hair debate.

If you googled the question, consensus state that it’s the confidence and personality of a woman that catches the eye of a guy. However, what’s funny is that given a choice, straight hair gets more votes because it’s neater, and looks more feminine.

I found NaturallyCurly’s article, Curly vs. Straight: Which Do Men Prefer?, quite interesting.

There, she chronicles her experiment where she posts two online ads with the exact same content save that one posted her in curls, and the other, with long-straight hair.

Her results?

• The straight profile was viewed 1,606 times for the month, while the curly one received 1,063 views during the month it was posted.
• The flat-ironed look drew 181 e-mails, compared with 60 for the curly profile.
• On the flirtatious side, the stick-straight profile received 120 winks, while curly locks caught winks from 60 men.
• In about 10 percent of the dates, hair made a difference, while confidence was the driving factor in the remainder of the connections.

Oooh my. Makes me NOT want to do anything to my hair ever!

Regardless, as I’ve mentioned earlier, as I’ve never curled my hair, change is also an attractive option. Straight hair can sometimes be boring. 🙂

So yes, right now, am thinking of getting a hair-update.

And being the indecisive Libran, I can’t decide.

So maybe you can help?

Honestly speaking, for guys, what type of hair do you prefer in a woman? Do you like it short, medium-length, or long? Do you like curls or wavy or straight? Now, don’t tell me any generic answers like, “Whatever looks best on her,” because that doesn’t help me decide at all. Yes, we all know what the safe answer is, but please, do you have a preference?

For women, share your hairy experiences as well. I mean, as I’ve always had dull straight hair, maybe those who have had their hair treated can share their experiences. Have you ever regretted deciding to dye, color, straighten or treat your hair? Do share!

Anyway, thanks in advance for sharing. Meanwhile, attention to Flute, Goran and J. Xu. Would you mind leaving me your email addresses on the comment box? I have some news I’d like to share with you, and would want to send you a mail privately.

Thanks all and sorry for the lack of updates! Been extremely busy with work. Hopefully, things would get better going forward.

Btw, had a great weekend. Hope yours was too. Have a good week everyone!