Hairectomy

In January 2009, I went from having 21-inch-long hair to having 1-inch-long hair. It's taking a lot of getting used to. I haven't had hair under 15 inches since my teens. But it's much more convenient, much cooler and cleaner-feeling.

I decided to do it after I read that hair can sell for up to $1000. My plan was to sell the hair and donate part of the proceeds to charity, thus accomplishing more good than I could by donating the hair itself.

But it didn't work out so well. It got hopelessly tangled during the haircut, and the person who had offered me money for it on Hairtrader.com never got around to telling me for sure whether he still wanted it. So I think I'm going to send it to Locks of Love and hope they can still use it.

I don't regret it, though. I'm very happy with the haircut. It's versatile-- I can look like my mother-in-law or I can look like a lesbian or I can look like a punk rock star, depending on how I style it. Works for all sorts of social situations I get into.

I keep reaching back to adjust my hair every time I shift position, and then realizing I don't have to. No more pulling my hair through after me every time my head goes through the collar of a t-shirt. John likes it better too-- he says it even used to get in his way. We'd be sitting on the couch and he'd accidentally lean on my hair. But now that, too, is a problem of the past. I should have done this a long time ago.

A fun shop in Minneapolis

Today John and I went into a little store we had seen a whole bunch of times. We'd been curious about it before, but usually hadn't had the time to check it out. Well, today we did, and we're glad.

It's called Sunny Day Earth Solutions. When you first walk in, you may not be all that impressed-- right now it doesn't have a whole lot of interesting things sitting around in plain view-- but if you look closely, you'll start finding stuff.

I got myself a little bowl made out of recycled chopsticks:




that folds up really flat:



John got himself an LED flashlight:



that you charge by pulling a string:



It gives you about a minute of bright light per pull:



and when you're done pulling the string, it clips neatly onto the end of the flashlight:




So, kinda neat. But that isn't the really, really cool thing about this place. When you talk to the people there-- wow, then you'll get interested.

The guy we talked to is amazing. If you've ever been thinking about setting up solar power in your house or apartment, or switching out your light bulbs for LEDs, he can give you more information about those things than you ever knew existed. Take a look at his credentials page to see all the stuff he's done.

And you can buy those things in the store, too-- all sorts of solar panels, and LED lamps that screw into ordinary light bulb sockets.

We're definitely going to try and talk to him some more. Even though we already light our apartment with fluorescents, we could probably cut our electric bill down to a fraction of that by using LEDs instead. They're expensive when you buy them, but they sure pay for themselves. It would be really cool to run a least some of our electric equipment on solar power, too. And after going to this place, that doesn't seem as far out of our reach as it used to.

Trouble is, they're not getting much business lately... so I really want to spread the word about this place. It's Sunny Day Earth Solutions and it's at 1000 26th Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414. Check it out sometime if you're in the area.