I know this won’t impress many people, but I recently got a haircut. Big deal, you might say. People get their hair cut all the time.

That’s the thing, though. I had not had my hair cut in about 28 months. I wasn’t “growing it out” or working toward a specific goal. Instead, my hair became a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I believe it was late January or early February 2020 when I got my last pre-pandemic haircut. After that, it became very difficult to address that issue. First, non-essential businesses and shops where close contact among workers and customers was necessary — such as a salon — were closed under Ohio’s COVID restrictions. Then, I put off making an appointment until I could get vaccinated. After I had received my full round of shots, I scheduled a haircut. But, the night before my appointment my husband came home sick. Out of an abundance of caution, I canceled because I didn’t want to inadvertently expose my stylist to COVID if Mike had been infected; it turned out that he had not been, but I preferred to be safe rather than sorry.

When I reached out to schedule again, what do you think happened? My stylist replied that she was out of work, sick with COVID.

It seemed that a perfect storm of split ends, extremely shaggy length and wild, uncontrollable curls was to be my destiny.

I have almost always had long hair. In fact, I only had one haircut that I know of before I was in the eighth grade. One day, my dad got sick of hearing me and my mom complain about my tangles, so he sat me down in a kitchen chair that he carried to the basement and gave me a trim. He simply cut the ragged ends off my hair, which was so long at that point that I could sit on it.

Beginning in junior high, I did get my hair cut and styled in the fashion of the day, but I kept the length. Only once in college did I try a short cut, a curly bob with angled bangs that covered one eye. It was cute at first, but as soon as it started to grow it started to look “stacked” with my curls pushing the blunt ends of my hair to an ever wider coif. It wasn’t long before I knew I would be returning to a longer style.

The growth I had experienced over the last two-plus years, though, reached a level I had not achieved in a very long time. Despite my best efforts to condition and care for my hair, anything resembling bangs, layers or an actual style completely disappeared. My hair easily reached my waist in the front and the back, and the ends of some strands split so badly that they formed two hairs instead of one. I had to keep it constantly contained with a headband, a hair barrette or a hair band confining it to a ponytail.

Needless to say, it was quite a relief to finally take a seat in that stylist’s chair. She was hesitant at first, but when I told her I was sure I wanted bangs and layers again, my stylist went right to work. She started by taking 3 inches off the back and worked her way up from there. In the front, the cut was more like 8 inches, finally creating a “hole for my face,” as I so eloquently put it.

Now that a lot of the weight of all that hair is gone, my curls are coiling even more tightly. I am having to learn all over again how to blow dry and style my hair in a way I like. I have already burned my forehead with a curling iron. But it’s worth it to have a fresh start.

What can you do to combat the effects of the past couple of years and get a fresh start?