Comments on: help me help others

Question: help me help others

thinkingwoman — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:52:45 -0800

i'm donating my hair to charity. help me find pictures of beautiful, chic, stylish short haircuts!

my hair is long, shapeless, and lives in a ponytail all the time anyway, so i'm cutting it off and donating it to locks of love, a wonderful charity that makes human-hair wigs for people who have lost their hair due to disease, burns, or chemotherapy.

i used to have a little pixie cut that was great, but it was many, many years ago, and want something more up-to-date. (or are pixies with wispy sideburns still cool? i don't even know.) my hair is generally straight, and the bits that aren't usually obey a styling iron. i'm 31 and work in academia, so i can definitely do something young and exciting, but not totally punk-rock.

can anyone point me to some good pictures of celebrities or randomly photographed people with great short cuts?

(if you have a friend with a great cut, you can mefi mail it to me privately. i won't share it.)

By: JaredSeth

JaredSeth — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:19:58 -0800

My wife had these two sites in her bookmarks, which she looked through before deciding on her cut when she gave to LoL a few months ago.

By: radioamy

radioamy — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:27:46 -0800

Hmm...Katie Holmes had a cute bob, which she shortened recently into something a little wispier.

I also like Victoria Beckham's shorter-in-the-back bob look. Man, only Posh Spice could make a neck tat look good.

Good for you for donating your hair to LOL. I was just at an LOL cut-a-thon and it was a really fun event. The wigs they make are amazing!!!

By: BrnP84

BrnP84 — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:09:31 -0800

Meg Ryan looks smokin hot here.

By: liquorice

liquorice — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 17:40:43 -0800

Congratulations! I shaved off my hair a few months ago for 'Shave for a Cure' and I'm loving it! The celebrity style that kept my from back-peddling at the last minute was that of Natalie Portman. My hair hasn't been quite as obedient as its grown out but its been an experience nonetheless!

By: hooray

hooray — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:06:40 -0800

This Japanese site has a bunch of great haircuts (via this thread).

By: canine epigram

canine epigram — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:27:46 -0800

Before you donate, you may want to read this article about Locks of Love, detailing their actual business practices - last I knew, the hair does not go to chemotherapy patients. Allopecia patients are the main focus, and a lot of the hair is sold, not donated.

By: thinkingwoman

thinkingwoman — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:37:22 -0800

fwiw, a close relative lost their hair due to a disease that was not cancer and needed a wig, so i am perfectly happy for the hair to go to whoever needs it.

By: peep

peep — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:19:30 -0800

Selma Blair's hair here makes me insanely jealous. It's a fairly basic short cut, but I wish I could pull off a look like that.

By: DarlingBri

DarlingBri — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 19:43:10 -0800

Someone has a Flickr account dedicated just to short hair: loveitshort. I stumbled across it when coincidentally doing a Flickr search for the tag "short hair."

By: TheSecretDecoderRing

TheSecretDecoderRing — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 20:31:55 -0800

Along with Portman, I've always liked Winona Ryder's short 'dos (1, 2). I'll happily take advantage of any opportunity to extol the beauty of these two women.

Of course, not all women can pull of those looks, but since you say you once sported the pixie look, I'll assume you can. Just watch out for students developing crushes on you if they haven't already.

By: Mael Oui

Mael Oui — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 21:58:36 -0800

I think Agyness Deyn's hair is really cute. It's modern, but it's not too punky. I like the pictures on this page that are about five rows down (Vogue US, March 2007). There are about nine pictures there, and the last one shows the back of her haircut very nicely. It's masculine yet very feminine at the same time. Here are just three (large) pictures to state my case: front, back, more casual (I like how it's parted and not just solid fringe, as her modeling pictures often are).

By: hibery

hibery — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 08:01:06 -0800

Short pixie style cuts are always a good option. I personally love Mia Farrow in rosemary's baby! It's super short but very lovely. And hardly any upkeep/styling needed.

By: radioamy

radioamy — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:02:55 -0800

canine epigram:

The reason that the wigs don't go to many cancer patients is that their hair usually grows back. LOL's wigs custom-made wigs that suction-fit to the child's bare head.

By: canine epigram

canine epigram — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:15:39 -0800

radioamy, that info is right in the link I posted - which I did specifically because the OP mentioned chemotherapy patients, and that's a persistent myth about LOL.

The link also shows how little of the donated hair actually makes it into wigs and provides some alternative suggestions where the author thinks the donations might make more of a difference.