Samantha Clark Cuts it Off!

For anyone who has ever seen me in person or viewed a picture of me, you know that I have long, luxurious hair. It is shiny and silky and when I wash it, it smells like cleanliness. I would go as far to say that my long, luxurious hair is my trademark. Tyra has her fivehead, Conan O'Brien has his dance and I've got my hurr.

There it is.

What you may not know about my hurr is that I've been growing it out for the past year or so. I decided that at least once in my life, I'd like to grow out my hair and donate it to a charity that makes wigs for cancer patients. I've always been the person that says "Oh, that's sooo nice of you!" to people who've donated but then think to myself "Man, I could never do that" while stroking my long, luxurious hair.

Well, about a year and a half ago I decided it was time to suck it up, stop hanging onto my ego and grow my hair really, really long. And so I did.

I decided to donate my hair to an organization called Angel Hair for Kids. For most hair donations, you must donate at least 10 inches and your hair can't be chemically treated (no hair dyes, perms, etc.). No problem. I love having long hair and letting it run free and wild. My least favorite part of the process? Summer. Sweltering heat waves. Having long, luxuriously hot hair constantly sticking to the back of my neck. This has been Toronto's hottest summer that I can remember in a long time, so once we hit 42 degrees (Celsius) in humidity, I knew it was time to chop it all off.

When you go to cut your hair for a donation, you put your hair in either a long braid or a ponytail. You sit in the chair and one second your hair is there, the next you're feeling a cool breeze on the back of your neck.

My ponytail went from this...

...TO THIS!!!

Instead of donating it, I decided to place it gently upon my roommate's pillow day after day and see how long it took for her to move out.

Nah just kidding, I mailed that creepy ponytail off to Angel Hair for Kids. I hope it makes a beautiful wig for a child in need. I apologize for the many, many split ends.

So you might be wondering what I look like with my new 'do. It's eleven inches shorter and the shortest I've had it since I was maybe five. It's like a mix of the "Rihanna" and Demi Moore, circa G.I. Jane. Or a mix of the "Rachel" and the "Halle Berry."

BEHOLD MY NEW HAIR.

I like it. It's shiny (almost like I'm the one wearing a wig!) and it makes me feel like a business professional in somewhere exotic, like Russia. People have finally starting taking me seriously with my new hair. It's so pretty, I don't even mind the odd person asking me if I'm Robin Williams in the middle of being made into a woman.

There are worse celebrity doppelgangers, that's for damn sure.

HA! You all just got punked, big time. That's not my hair. That's not even close to my hair. That was a PHOTOSHOPPED picture created by my main man Zak to try and predict what my hair would look like. Which was a horrible idea on my part. Seeing that picture months before the big cut made me terrified for the actual results.

...which were...for real this time...

This.

I actually do like it--my showering time has been cut in half and it feels so much nicer in the summer. Sometimes I feel a little "mom-ish" but it's growing on me. And totally worth it for a good cause.

And in case you were wondering what my new hair looks like when I'm at work (you know, my job as a trend forecaster), I'll put your mind at ease.

New hair at work in office lighting.

I don't want all of you to think I'm the only person donating hair around here--Zak has joined me in this endeavor as well. He allowed me to donate his old rat tail (grown for a role in a prestigious film). I tossed it in with my ponytail, because every child deserves the chance to have the rat tail (or single bang) of his/her dreams.

And listen up, it takes 10-12 donated ponytails to make one hairpiece, so if you've been thinking about growing and donating, just do it! It's fun, feels good and forces you to make some life changes. Plus, as an added bonus, if you decide to donate your hair, send me a picture of your donated ponytail and I'll make you a collage of something. Maybe pictures of hair. Or cats. Whatever motivates you. So probably cats.