Please excuse my sexism, but if there’s one thing boys don’t understand about girls, it’s the attachment we have to our hair that goes far beyond the fact that it’s literally attached to us. In the same way that dumb and inanimate things like cars hold value to guys, a female’s hair is vastly important. (Unlike cars though, a woman’s hair is exhibited everywhere she is, making it like three thousand times more important.)

If you’re a glass half-full type of person, you might find that haircuts are not entirely depressing. Not only do they change your appearance, they also change your lifestyle for the better (or for worse.) Imagine going from Rapunzel to Miley Cyrus. Certain types of clothing may now be more or less flattering allowing you to change up your style and possibly further emulate the former Disney star beyond the blonde pixiecut. Also, as someone who consistently goes through a bottle of shampoo in a short two weeks, the money spent on things besides shampoo could add up quickly. Additionally I read somewhere once that short hair tends to make you look younger, which may be a drawback for some. On the bright side, maybe you could use the money you saved on shampoo to buy a fake ID.

Personally I keep mine long not only to one day acquire a Kardashian-esque mane, but also because after grueling months spent caring for, detangling, straightening and deep conditioning my locks the immense pain I would feel as my dead ends fell the floor is too much. Despite my melodramatic, drama queen tendencies, I can’t possibly be the only one who’s ever teared up during a haircut or experienced the painful regret which tends to follow.

The days following the cut are the worst—the shock that occurs while brushing when your hair just seems to end abruptly, the confusion you feel when your showers seem to end 10 minutes too early and the worst effect: the total loss of hair versatility. Nothing is worse than when you lose the ability to put all your hair up in one, cohesive, bobby pin-less ponytail.

A personal setback of mine is my striking resemblance to Dora the Explorer when I cut my hair short. I came to this realization following a series of horrible haircuts in the third grade. (On a related side note: bangs are not for the tragically round-faced, like myself.)

Whatever your position on the matter, always enter the salon with a solid foundation of mental preparation before chopping off your hair.