Seven inches of dark brown hair landed on the floor of the salon, falling from the scissors in tattered clumps.

Seven inches of stress and split ends made my head and heart feel lighter, once removed.

My new cut isn't really short; it's just that the ends graze my shoulders and not my nipples. The color has been refreshed as well, a warm deep chocolatey brown with bittersweet reddish highlights, the latter not by design, but because of natural variations in my 'real' hair color that work with the dye. I like it. It reminds me of all those Italian women in leather jackets riding mopeds through the streets of Venice and Rome.

Seven inches of hair cut off, and I'm seven times happier.

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