That was brave. Play with it now and again -- use some gel or mousse to encourage it to have a shape and movement. Use combs and barrettes to hold it off your face attractively (hairbands?).
FWIW, I do think Locks of Love is a great mitzvah -- regardless of how you keep your hair's length in the future, you've done a Good Deed.
I'm over forty (odd how I still kinda wince typing that!) and have waist-length hair (as does my Evil Twin brother, but that's another story...). I always wanted really long hair when I was a child, and have kept my hair as long as possible without it looking scraggly. If it would grow another 6 inches, I'd be thrilled. Ah well - it seems to stop at about hip-length, and begins to look a bit ratty even there. But I digress.
I never go on a job interview with my hair down; I don't think I'll be taken seriously (or taken for being as old as I am, which amounts to the same thing). Other than that, I usually wear it down, pulled back by a hairband. If it's hot, I put it up. I play around with hair chachkes now and again, braid ribbons into it... but I don't think I'll ever do as you have done, even for a Good Deed. I don't think I'd know who I am without my hair -- and besides, I've always been vain about it. Sigh.
Just before I turned forty, I started using Special Effects semi-perm dye (Virgin Rose and Burgundy Wine, about half-and-half) to overdye it sort of radioactive beet color. Mid-life crisis and all that. And then I found I *like* it enough to keep doing it (at least as long as it's still fun). It's not too garish (at least, not after the first couple of shampoos), and it matches a lot of my clothes (why dye my hair a color I wouldn't wear?), and when I put it up, I think it's still interview-safe.
Lastly, I looked at some of your pix. Yeah, pulled straight back is unflattering only in that you look prettier with more of your hair around your face. It doesn't make you look *ugly* -- just not as pretty as you can look. And you have wonderful coloring -- and you can find good colors of lipstick and aren't afraid to use 'em! So many of us longhaired women of a certain age are afraid of colorful makeup, but it can be such fun! Maybe the layers-around-the-face bit would look better than just straight down, if you decide to grow it out again. Or maybe using combs or barrette(s) to hold back just the front parts of your hair loosely (and leaving the rest down, or in a ponytail, or putting it up) would do the trick. But as far as "ugly" -- as Harriet Vane would say, take that word, hang a brick round its neck and drown it!
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FWIW, I do think Locks of Love is a great mitzvah -- regardless of how you keep your hair's length in the future, you've done a Good Deed.
I'm over forty (odd how I still kinda wince typing that!) and have waist-length hair (as does my Evil Twin brother, but that's another story...). I always wanted really long hair when I was a child, and have kept my hair as long as possible without it looking scraggly. If it would grow another 6 inches, I'd be thrilled. Ah well - it seems to stop at about hip-length, and begins to look a bit ratty even there. But I digress.
I never go on a job interview with my hair down; I don't think I'll be taken seriously (or taken for being as old as I am, which amounts to the same thing). Other than that, I usually wear it down, pulled back by a hairband. If it's hot, I put it up. I play around with hair chachkes now and again, braid ribbons into it... but I don't think I'll ever do as you have done, even for a Good Deed. I don't think I'd know who I am without my hair -- and besides, I've always been vain about it. Sigh.
Just before I turned forty, I started using Special Effects semi-perm dye (Virgin Rose and Burgundy Wine, about half-and-half) to overdye it sort of radioactive beet color. Mid-life crisis and all that. And then I found I *like* it enough to keep doing it (at least as long as it's still fun). It's not too garish (at least, not after the first couple of shampoos), and it matches a lot of my clothes (why dye my hair a color I wouldn't wear?), and when I put it up, I think it's still interview-safe.
Lastly, I looked at some of your pix. Yeah, pulled straight back is unflattering only in that you look prettier with more of your hair around your face. It doesn't make you look *ugly* -- just not as pretty as you can look. And you have wonderful coloring -- and you can find good colors of lipstick and aren't afraid to use 'em! So many of us longhaired women of a certain age are afraid of colorful makeup, but it can be such fun! Maybe the layers-around-the-face bit would look better than just straight down, if you decide to grow it out again. Or maybe using combs or barrette(s) to hold back just the front parts of your hair loosely (and leaving the rest down, or in a ponytail, or putting it up) would do the trick. But as far as "ugly" -- as Harriet Vane would say, take that word, hang a brick round its neck and drown it!