*Now for an article from a blogger that likes to cook, and blog! We like cooking bloggers, especially when they bribe us with cookies (hint hint) for a spot on our blog. Our friend Shanna likes to talk about cookies so much that sometimes we think she is the cookie monster in a woman’s body suit!

When you‚Äôre a girl, and you have long hair, somewhere along the line, someone will probably say something to you about growing your hair out real long–to ten inches at least–to give it away to people who need it.

And on the surface, this will sound like a great idea. You have hair + someone needs hair = easy decision. Of course you should do it. But what you won’t know, and as someone midway through this process I feel it is my duty to tell you, is exactly what that will entail.

Things like:
1. Stray hair everywhere you go: your clothes, your friends’ clothes, your car, your friends’ cars, the bathroom, the kitchen, wrapped around a bottle of water, stuck inside a plastic bag of stuff you’re returning to the store, in a dishtowel, on your pillow, on your shoes, stuck underneath your tights, trapped in your bracelet, wrapped around an earring, inside your purse, inside your wallet, wrapped around your hand while you’re handing someone a pen or a marker or something that you just made them to eat.
2. Increased costs of everything hair-related, since more hair means more shampoo, more conditioner, more hairspray, more pomade, more bobby pins… more elastics that keep breaking beneath the amount of hair you want them to hold.
3. Less time to hang out with friends because you’ll be busy washing, blow-drying and styling your hair, which now takes like an hour itself, not counting all the other upkeep it requires, including but not limited to the cleanup of the aforementioned stray hairs you leave everywhere you go.
4. Headaches from the literal pounds of hair your head is carrying, putting strain on your neck and shoulders and back (although, bonus!, excitement over the way your weight is sure to drop when you finally get to cut it).

Because of all these things, as you can imagine, there will be days, even after months and months and months of patiently waiting for your hair to be long enough, where you will be tempted to head to the local salon and end it all. But hear me out: you shouldn’t. Not only (and most seriously) are you putting yourself through this delayed gratification for a higher purpose (remember how you’re giving it away?) but also, long hair has some pretty great advantages:

1. It’s versatile: Up, down, halfway up, ponytails, pigtails, braids, buns—they’re all at your fingertips.
2. It keeps you warm: Remember how Mom always told you to wear a hat in winter? Long hair = best hat ever because it never goes away, it coordinates with everything you wear and, hello, it’s 100% natural!
3. It makes a good cover: Looking for a place to hide when you run into that bad blind date? Just pull your personal curtain of hair around you and duck. It’s like a built-in disguise.
4. Long hair can bring you love. Remember Rapunzel?
5. And obviously, hello? Guys like it.