The Chop: from long balayage to long bob.

The time had come.

I needed to part with my dried-out balayag-ed-till-the-death hair.

I’d been growing my hair for probably about two or three years.

I liked it long; I liked the versatility of long hair, but long hair just did not suit my lifestyle anymore. I always felt that it sat too flat against my head, and had no volume (fine hair, lots of it, you know the deal)  Unless I spent a huge amount of time blow drying, curling, messing and spraying, it just stayed in a top knot on my head.

It got tangled, it got damaged and a combination of salt water, chlorine, bleach and the sun meant that the condition was horrible, despite the absurd amount of treatments I was using to rehabilitate it.

So it was happening.

After canvassing options from my most trusted advisors, I knew what I wanted. Something like this:

And this time, I took a huge gamble. I went to someone new. I made my first appointment with the amazing Jaye Edwards of Edwards and Co Salon in Surry Hills (and Melbourne for you ladies down south).

Jaye came so highly recommended from the other girls at Mamamia (along with a stack of celebrity clients *wink wink*) so I felt secure enough to take a chance.

Lara Bingle on fitness, fake tan and getting hair like hers

I got to the salon and felt at ease immediately.

I sat down to  explain to Jaye that I wanted a change and he actually listed to me (shock!) and suggested ways to make my vision workable for my hair and lifestyle. I listed Lara Bingle, Zoe Foster and Jennifer Lawrence as muses, and explained what I wanted with the colour.

Jaye was really polite in describing the current condition of my hair, but we both knew it had to go.

So with one snip - and then quite a few more - it did.

Given how much balayage I had previously subjected my hair to, I knew that I wasn't going to achieve my old platinum blonde look at the first appointment (unless I wanted to opt for a full head of bleach- which I didn't) but it's pretty damn close. Another round of foils and we'll be there.

I couldn't be happier with the result. I wanted easy, beachy, messy waves and thats exactly what I got. Jaye added some texture around the bottom, but listened when I said I didn't want big layers chopped in. He also gave me some shaping around my face.

I love the cut, I love the colour and I've received so many compliments over the last few days I'm so glad I made the chop.

Have you had a major hair transformation recently, or are you considering one? We’d love to feature you on The Glow. Get in touch: emily@theglow.com.au